Tony Shipley
Encyclopedia
Anthony "Tony" Paul Shipley is the State Representative for the Tennessee House of Representatives
2nd District in Sullivan County.
Born in Blountville, Tennessee
, Shipley is a graduate of Sullivan Central High School and also a 1976 graduate of the University of Tennessee
with a Bachelor of Arts
degree.
After retiring out out of the U.S. Air Force as a Lieutenant Colonel
, Shipley taught school in Sullivan County, and also enrolled at Northeast State Community College at Blountville, Tennessee
where he graduated from the Paramedic program. Shipley later started the now defunct Highland Ambulance Service, registered the now defunct Highlander Industrial Controls, LLC with the Tennessee Secretary of State, and briefly held an affiliate broker real estate license from April 4, 2006 to April 3, 2008.
Shipley intially filed his 2008 ss-8005:Statement of Disclosure of Interests form with the Tennessee Ethics Commission, disclosing information that listed MapSync as a source of income for both himself and his wife Susan. According to the MapSync corporate web site, "...MapSync is a leader in the development and implementation of GIS & GPS Solutions for local government and public utilities."
by 326 votes. In 2010, he was re-elected to the 107th General Assembly, once again defeating Democrat
Nathan Vaughn, this time with more than 60% of the electorate.
and the Tennessee Psychologists Association. In 2010, his second year in office, he was selected as Legislator of the Year by the Rural Health Association of Tennessee.
Secretary, House Government Operations Committee
Member, House Transportation Committee
Member, House General Sub-committee of Transportation
Member, Joint Fiscal Review Committee
Member, Joint Committee on Diabetes Prevention
Chair, Republican Caucus Task Force on Energy
The so-called "racist" "blackbird" mailer depicted the heads of Barack Obama
, Nancy Pelosi
, and Nathan Vaughn
(his opponent within the Tennessee House 2nd District general election; a pro-life Democrat considered conservative by party standards) digitally manipulated onto blackbird bodies with a caption claiming that Nathan Vaughn was part of the "...liberal, big government flock."
" DADT federal law (that came into effect after Shipley retired from the U.S. Air Force Reserves) and that he wouldn't support "softening adoption laws" by allowing same-sex couples to adopt, despite the fact that Tennessee state law already allowed same-sex adoptions.
DADT became a political issue in the 1992 U.S. presidential election with Bill Clinton
and others citing the brutal murder of gay Navy
petty officer Allen R. Schindler, Jr.
by shipmate Terry M. Helvey (with the aid of an accomplice), leaving a "nearly-unrecognizable corpse". After Bill Clinton won the presidency, the U.S. Congress rushed to enact the existing gay ban policy into federal law, outflanking Clinton's planned repeal effort. Clinton called for legislation to overturn the ban, but it encountered intense opposition by the Joint Chiefs of Staff
, members of Congress, and portions of the public. DADT emerged as a compromise policy.
DADT prohibits U.S. military personnel from discriminating against or harassing "closeted
' gay
or bisexual
service members or applicants, while barring openly gay or bisexual persons from military service. The restrictions are mandated by United States federal law (
In September 2005, the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military – a think tank
affiliated with the University of California, Santa Barbara
, and renamed the Michael D. Palm Center in October 2006 – issued a news release revealing they had found a 1999 FORSCOM Regulation (500-3-3 RC Unit Commander's Handbook) that allowed the active duty deployment of Army Reservists and National Guard troops who say that they are gay or who are accused of being gay. U.S. Army Forces Command spokesperson Kim Waldron later confirmed the regulation and indicated that it was intended to prevent Reservists and National Guard members from pretending to be gay to escape combat.
A congressional bill to repeal DADT was enacted in December 2010, specifying that the policy would remain in place until the President
, the Secretary of Defense
, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
certified that repeal would not harm military readiness, followed by a 60-day waiting period. A July 6, 2011 ruling from a federal appeals court barred further enforcement of the U.S. military's ban on openly gay service members. President Obama
, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta
, and Admiral Mike Mullen
, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sent that certification to Congress on July 22, 2011, setting the end of DADT for September 20, 2011.
Tennessee House of Representatives
The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee.-Constitutional requirements:...
2nd District in Sullivan County.
Born in Blountville, Tennessee
Blountville, Tennessee
Blountville is an unincorporated town and census-designated place in Sullivan County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 3,074 at the 2010 census...
, Shipley is a graduate of Sullivan Central High School and also a 1976 graduate of the University of Tennessee
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
with a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree.
After retiring out out of the U.S. Air Force as a Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
, Shipley taught school in Sullivan County, and also enrolled at Northeast State Community College at Blountville, Tennessee
Blountville, Tennessee
Blountville is an unincorporated town and census-designated place in Sullivan County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 3,074 at the 2010 census...
where he graduated from the Paramedic program. Shipley later started the now defunct Highland Ambulance Service, registered the now defunct Highlander Industrial Controls, LLC with the Tennessee Secretary of State, and briefly held an affiliate broker real estate license from April 4, 2006 to April 3, 2008.
Shipley intially filed his 2008 ss-8005:Statement of Disclosure of Interests form with the Tennessee Ethics Commission, disclosing information that listed MapSync as a source of income for both himself and his wife Susan. According to the MapSync corporate web site, "...MapSync is a leader in the development and implementation of GIS & GPS Solutions for local government and public utilities."
Political Campaigns
Shipley was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives as a member of the 106th General Assembly in 2008 after defeating three-term incumbent Nathan VaughnNathan Vaughn
Nathan Vaughn is a Tennessee politician. He was elected to the 103rd, 104th, and 105th General Assemblies as the member of the Tennessee House of Representatives representing the 2nd district, which is a part of Sullivan County. He was narrowly defeated by Republican challenger Tony Shipley in...
by 326 votes. In 2010, he was re-elected to the 107th General Assembly, once again defeating Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
Nathan Vaughn, this time with more than 60% of the electorate.
TNGA House Committe Assignments
Shipley serves on the House Health and Human Services and Transportation Committees as well as the Public Safety and Professional Occupations Sub-committees. He was awarded Legislator of the Year 2009, his first year in office, by both the American Automobile AssociationAmerican Automobile Association
AAA , formerly known as the American Automobile Association, is a federation of 51 independently operated motor clubs throughout North America. AAA is a not-for-profit member service organization with more than 51 million members. AAA provides services to its members such as travel, automotive,...
and the Tennessee Psychologists Association. In 2010, his second year in office, he was selected as Legislator of the Year by the Rural Health Association of Tennessee.
Secretary, House Government Operations Committee
Member, House Transportation Committee
Member, House General Sub-committee of Transportation
Member, Joint Fiscal Review Committee
Member, Joint Committee on Diabetes Prevention
Chair, Republican Caucus Task Force on Energy
Questionable "Blackbird" Campaign Mailers
Despite these accolades, Rep. Shipley incurred the ire of many Tennesseans, due to his district mailing racially-charged fliers against his African-American general election opponent and perceived fear-mongering during both the 2008 and 2010 Tennessee election seasons.The so-called "racist" "blackbird" mailer depicted the heads of Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
, Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi is the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives and served as the 60th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011...
, and Nathan Vaughn
Nathan Vaughn
Nathan Vaughn is a Tennessee politician. He was elected to the 103rd, 104th, and 105th General Assemblies as the member of the Tennessee House of Representatives representing the 2nd district, which is a part of Sullivan County. He was narrowly defeated by Republican challenger Tony Shipley in...
(his opponent within the Tennessee House 2nd District general election; a pro-life Democrat considered conservative by party standards) digitally manipulated onto blackbird bodies with a caption claiming that Nathan Vaughn was part of the "...liberal, big government flock."
Prophesizes God Dropping "California Off Into The Sea"
According to a children's rights advocate, Representative Shipley claimed that "They can do whatever they want out in California, with gays passing babies around, and violating God's law, but when God drops California off into the sea, they will have to deal with the consequences of their actions," further explaining that allowing homosexuals to adopt "ain't gonna fly-I'm sorry, I'm a Southern Baptist, I'm a Christian" with "traditional values, as opposed to any of the alternative things."Tennessee Secession From The United States of America
Shipley was also accused of secessionist rhetoric for his reported statement that "If they [meaning "secular progressives"] keep pushing and pushing and pushing--they're pushing us too far, and something will happen--just like we did in 1860," despite the fact that his district was pro-Union during the Civil War he alluded to and he later denied ever advocating secession."Never Paid No Attention To" U.S. Military "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" DADT Policy
In the Tennessee General Assembly press room, Shipley has become known as "Captain Apocalypse" for his insistence that the proliferation of LGBT rights will incur catastrophic divine wrath. In an interview Shipley was also accused of being ignorant of national and state laws for saying that he "never paid no attention to" the military's "Don't Ask, Don't TellDon't ask, don't tell
"Don't ask, don't tell" was the official United States policy on homosexuals serving in the military from December 21, 1993 to September 20, 2011. The policy prohibited military personnel from discriminating against or harassing closeted homosexual or bisexual service members or applicants, while...
" DADT federal law (that came into effect after Shipley retired from the U.S. Air Force Reserves) and that he wouldn't support "softening adoption laws" by allowing same-sex couples to adopt, despite the fact that Tennessee state law already allowed same-sex adoptions.
DADT became a political issue in the 1992 U.S. presidential election with Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
and others citing the brutal murder of gay Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
petty officer Allen R. Schindler, Jr.
Allen R. Schindler, Jr.
Allen R. Schindler, Jr. was an Americ Radioman Petty Officer Third Class in the United States Navy who was murdered for being gay. He was killed in a public toilet in Sasebo, Nagasaki, Japan by shipmate Terry M. Helvey, who acted with the aid of an accomplice, Charles Vins, in what Esquire called...
by shipmate Terry M. Helvey (with the aid of an accomplice), leaving a "nearly-unrecognizable corpse". After Bill Clinton won the presidency, the U.S. Congress rushed to enact the existing gay ban policy into federal law, outflanking Clinton's planned repeal effort. Clinton called for legislation to overturn the ban, but it encountered intense opposition by the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Joint Chiefs of Staff
The Joint Chiefs of Staff is a body of senior uniformed leaders in the United States Department of Defense who advise the Secretary of Defense, the Homeland Security Council, the National Security Council and the President on military matters...
, members of Congress, and portions of the public. DADT emerged as a compromise policy.
DADT prohibits U.S. military personnel from discriminating against or harassing "closeted
Closeted
Closeted and in the closet are metaphors used to describe lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning and intersex people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and sexual behavior.-Background:In late 20th...
' gay
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
or bisexual
Bisexuality
Bisexuality is sexual behavior or an orientation involving physical or romantic attraction to both males and females, especially with regard to men and women. It is one of the three main classifications of sexual orientation, along with a heterosexual and a homosexual orientation, all a part of the...
service members or applicants, while barring openly gay or bisexual persons from military service. The restrictions are mandated by United States federal law (
In September 2005, the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military – a think tank
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...
affiliated with the University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
, and renamed the Michael D. Palm Center in October 2006 – issued a news release revealing they had found a 1999 FORSCOM Regulation (500-3-3 RC Unit Commander's Handbook) that allowed the active duty deployment of Army Reservists and National Guard troops who say that they are gay or who are accused of being gay. U.S. Army Forces Command spokesperson Kim Waldron later confirmed the regulation and indicated that it was intended to prevent Reservists and National Guard members from pretending to be gay to escape combat.
A congressional bill to repeal DADT was enacted in December 2010, specifying that the policy would remain in place until the President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
, the Secretary of Defense
United States Secretary of Defense
The Secretary of Defense is the head and chief executive officer of the Department of Defense of the United States of America. This position corresponds to what is generally known as a Defense Minister in other countries...
, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is by law the highest ranking military officer in the United States Armed Forces, and is the principal military adviser to the President of the United States, the National Security Council, the Homeland Security Council and the Secretary of Defense...
certified that repeal would not harm military readiness, followed by a 60-day waiting period. A July 6, 2011 ruling from a federal appeals court barred further enforcement of the U.S. military's ban on openly gay service members. President Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta
Leon Panetta
Leon Edward Panetta is the 23rd and current United States Secretary of Defense, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama since 2011. Prior to taking office, he served as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency...
, and Admiral Mike Mullen
Michael Mullen
Michael Glenn "Mike" Mullen is a retired United States Navy four-star admiral, who served as the 17th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from October 1, 2007 to September 30, 2011. Mullen previously served as the Navy's 28th Chief of Naval Operations from July 22, 2005 to September 29, 2007...
, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sent that certification to Congress on July 22, 2011, setting the end of DADT for September 20, 2011.
Self-Described "Statesman" Suggests Bodily Harm Directed Toward Felllow Republican
Even his fellow party members have expressed irritation with Shipley. Tennessee Senator Brian Kelsey (R) explained that "Tennesseans must still live under the threat of the state income tax" due to Shipley's failure to get the House to act on Kelsey's measure. Shipley, claiming that he wanted to act like a "statesman" rather than "Attila the Hun," told reporters that he went along with the House budget subcommittee's refusal to even consider the Kelsey/Shipley resolution. In response to Kelsey's criticism of Shipley's inaction, Rep. Shipley responded that "Brian Kelsey ought to have his head cracked."Shipley's Proposal for "Reasonable Suspicion" Search Warrants
In April 2009, Shipley authored a controversial piece of legislation, HB1961. This measure was written to give law enforcement authorities the power to execute search warrants once they met the threshold of "reasonable suspicion." The Tennessee Attorney General rules the measure unconstitutional, as it violated the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution, which mandates that search warrants must be served once the threshold of probable cause has been met. Shipley removed the bill from consideration as was quoted in the press as saying that the bill would not impact American citizens, even though nothing in the bill indicated that this was the case. Shipley went on to say "Do we fully intend to allow those who would destroy the Constitution and who would destroy the very rights we defend? Do we intend to allow them to have that protection behind the document of the Constitution? This was intended to be applied to those who would terrorize U.S. citizens.... I think the attorney general and the U.S. Supreme Court in some cases where we have external threats to the United States are overreaching a bit. That’s my personal opinion.”Personal Life
Shipley lists information that he is "Protestant" on his official biographical web page that is hosted by the Tennessee General Assembly, is married to his wife Susan, and they together have five children.External links
- http://www.tonyshipley.com/ Campaign website
- http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/house/members/h2.htm Tennessee House Member Tony Shipley