Free Republic

<p>By what's going on at their state Capitol, Tennessee taxpayers like Charles Brandt of Hendersonville think that Tennessee and Connecticut are much closer politically these days.</p> <p>As July 1 approaches, budget deliberations here flirt more with shutting down state government as a last-ditch way that legislative leaders can force passage of an income tax.</p>

<p>State Rep. Mae Beavers faces a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation probe into whether she falsified her application to run for election in 2000 by misstating her address.</p> <p>Wilson County District Attorney Tom P. Thompson Jr. said a public records search for Beavers shows she used two addresses - one within her 57th House district for voter registration and nominating petitions and one within the county but outside her district on tax and loan documents. The investigation centers on whether she improperly claimed to reside within her election district.</p>

<p>The people of Tennessee were not supposed to win yesterday.</p> <p>Working people like those who drove by the state Capitol in their big rigs honking horns.</p> <p>Stay-at-home moms who stood at Legislative Plaza with signs in one hand and children on the other.</p>