PROBLEM STATEMENTS:

(a) An attack on American citizens has caused a modern-day Civil War among Tennesseans. Under this political regime, no one is safe. As the next Governor of the State of Tennessee, I want to "Make Tennessee Whole Again!"

Atwater's Goal and Strategies

(1) Injustice is being carried out across the State of Tennessee under the “color of law”. Under my administration as the next Governor, the silence would be broken, and political and judicial abuse would be investigated through a mutual agency brought into the State of Tennessee.

(2) In the first 90 days of my administration, I would perform a forensic investigation of all governmental financial dealings across the State of Tennessee, governmental contracts, tax incentives accountability, PPP distributions, state and federal funds, rural financial disparities, CARES Act, Medicaid mismanagement, lack of distribution of TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), etc.

(3) There will never be economic equity and justice to all Tennesseans until this microscopic investigation is performed to disclose all alleged economic abuse and inequities that promote systemic racism, implicit bias, and economic disparities in black, brown, and poor white communities.

(4) Gentrification and displacement are the systemic result of these insidious economic manifestations to push underserved and marginalized Tennesseans further into economic despair intentionally. The Right to Work must be abolished, and as the next Governor, I will take this legislative law to task. Certainly, it should never be permanently written in our Tennessee Constitution.

(5) With the spotlight on police brutality, ICE, Memphis Safe Task Force, and judicial misconduct in the State of Tennessee, I believe that we need to revisit term limits, absolute and qualified immunity as it relates to police officers, politicians, and judges.

(6) As the next Governor of the State of Tennessee, I believe that if we, as Tennesseans, work to ensure that we follow the law, then politicians, government workers, judicial actors, and police officers must also follow the law and the Constitution.

(7) As a forward-thinking Governor, I would consider the notion of “citizen-agents” comprising Millennials, Gen X, Gen Y, Gen Z, Generation Alpha, and any other group that would like to see the State of Tennessee move toward greater equity.

(8) The public is justifiably cynical about the hollow promises of so many lifelong professional politicians who are often purchased with special-interest money. From the responses on my ATWATER FOR GOVERNOR’S questionnaires, large numbers of Tennesseans feel that a political system without limits is a stacked deck. Any system that allows incumbents to amass so much power and attention in office that challengers can rarely win is surely in need of a corrective. Therefore, as the next Governor, I would entertain campaign contribution investigations as it relates to lobbyists, government contracts, and developments.

(9) The fervent miscarriage of justice I experienced in the Tennessee Judicial System, it led me to run for Governor of the State of Tennessee. If I can be violated in a judicial system that is supposed to be fair, impartial, and render due process, anyone in this State of Tennessee can be violated.

(10) Based on 14,000 community questionnaires compiled during my campaign engagements, Tennesseans across the state listed their concerns about political and judicial corruption. Political corruption is a difficult concept to define; therefore, I would solicit an array of experts to address this task. A proper definition of corruption requires a multi-dimensional approach.

(11)From my life experience and the feedback of copious Tennesseans, there is a closed-net fraternal order of judicial order that exists in the State of Tennessee that gives way to extrusive abuse of power and overreach of the law, which often goes unpunished due to qualified immunity and no term limits.

(12) Systemic racism, implicit and cultural biases can lead a judicial actor to commit insidious crimes against citizens that sometimes do not have proper legal representation.

(13) Political corruption undermines democracy and good governance by flouting or even subverting formal processes. Corruption in elections and in the legislature reduces accountability and distorts representation in policymaking; corruption in the judiciary compromises the rule of law; and corruption in public administration results in the inefficient provision of services. For Tennesseans, it violates a basic principle of democracy regarding the centrality of civic virtue. More generally, corruption erodes the institutional capacity of government if procedures are disregarded, resources are siphoned off, and public offices are bought and sold. Corruption undermines the legitimacy of government and such democratic values as trust and tolerance.

(14) Recent evidence suggests that the variation in the levels of corruption amongst high-income democracies can vary significantly depending on the level of accountability of decision-makers. Evidence of recent incidents in the State of Tennessee also shows that corruption and bribery can adversely impact trust in institutions. Corruption can also impact the government’s provision of goods and services. It increases the costs of goods and services, which arise from efficiency loss. In the absence of corruption, governmental projects might be cost-effective at their true costs; however, once corruption costs are included, projects may not be cost-effective, so they are not executed, distorting the provision of goods and services.

(15) “Corruption has a direct impact on the validity of human rights, largely for two reasons. On one side, corruption deprives societies of important resources that could be used for basic needs, such as public health, education, infrastructure, or security.

(16) On the other hand, corruption has direct damaging consequences in general on the functioning of state institutions, and in particular on the administration of justice. Corruption decreases public trust in justice and weakens the capacity of judicial systems to guarantee the protection of human rights, and it affects the tasks and duties of judges, prosecutors, lawyers, and other legal professionals.

(17) By seeking impunity, corruption has a devastating effect on the judicial system as a whole. One of the goals of human rights is to fight corruption and its implications on the administration of justice, and to act against corruption through an independent and strong administration of justice. For this, the United Nations Convention against Corruption is a fundamental instrument for the protection of human rights for Tennesseans. As the next potential Governor, I would actively solicit guidance from the United Nations.

(18) There will be no change in the State of Tennessee until global and outside eyes have shed light on legal atrocities going on in the political and judicial system that have caused great harm to the citizens in the State of Tennessee. When you allow a judge to arrest seven-year-old children, it is time for radical changes in our judicial system that are supposed to protect the welfare of the people.

(19) Corruption in the Tennessee Judicial System undermines the core of the administration of justice, generating a substantial obstacle to the right to an impartial trial, and severely undermining the population’s trust in the judiciary.

(20) Corruption has a variety of faces, bribery being only one of them; another being political corruption, much more unattainable and imprecise. Its broad range of action enables it not only to influence the judicial system, but all the sectors of state administration as well.

(21) I believe also that more women must be equally integrated into the judiciary to simulate the gender perspective and bring equal visibility and representation to the court.  I also believe in an intergenerational approach to the judicial stage to bring a healthy balance to the scale of justice; therefore, I am in support of term limits.

TBA- Specific Protocol