Mark Pody

Pody owned a financial planning and insurance firm.

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Pody's campaign website highlighted the following issues:[15]

Jobs

Excerpt: "I am very “pro small business.” Small businesses, not the government create jobs because the government cannot “create” jobs without using citizens’ tax dollars to do so."

Education

Excerpt: "Parents are to be the primary educators in both academic and behavioral areas. As a culture, however, we have relinquished much of that child rearing responsibility to the public school system. If we’re to gain back a responsible society we need to start with responsible parents demonstrating to their children that education begins at home and not in the classroom."

Social entitlements

Excerpt: "'Hand Up - Not Hand Out'. We need a plan where we are helping people find a way to work themselves back into the workforce."

Traditional values

Excerpt: "I am pro life. I believe that life starts at the point of conception. Prayer in school should be a choice of the student. No child should be ridiculed or not allowed to pray. Marriage should be between 1 man and 1 woman."

Term limits

Excerpt: "I believe in term limits. Our President and Our governors have term limits. We need the same for our senators and representatives."

Hotel tax

In February 2014, Pody supported a proposal to raise hotel taxes in Wilson County, Tennessee, which boasts one of the highest hotel taxes in the country. Pody has argued that if the city council or county commission of which he represents supported a measure, he would bring a proposal forward in the State House. “I said if something came to me from local people, and it had two-thirds majority in the city council or county commission that I would carry it down at the Capitol,” Pody said in an interview. “It’s my duty to support the local people and do whatever they want. I wasn’t trying to pass judgment as to whether I liked it or didn’t like it. I’m not jumping up and down with any tax increase. I even talked to the tea party people and told them I’m caught this way,” said Pody.[16]

Teachers' union bill

The Tennessee Tea Party emailed an alert about 20 House Republicans in March 2011 for refusing to take a strong public stand on a dominating issues: teachers’ union collective bargaining.

The Tennessee Tea Party's “action alert” encouraged Tennesseans sympathetic to their cause to pressure middle-of-the-road Republicans to get on board with conservative efforts to ban collective bargaining for public school teachers.

“I generally don’t take a firm stand on a bill until it’s completed, especially if there’s a great chance it’s going to be amended,” said Rep. Vince Dean.

Dean added that the legislation still has a long way to go before becoming law.

Rep. Scotty Campbell said he avoided taking a position because that’s what Gov. Bill Haslam had done.

“I was trying to follow his lead, and I think that was the commendable thing to do on this issue in particular,” said Campbell. “I didn’t campaign on it, it wasn’t part of my agenda and I think there are bigger matters facing us, like the economy, jobs, and the need to pass a balanced budget, which we of course have to do.”

Rep. Mark Pody said he would informally polling teachers in his district to see whether or not they favor union collective bargaining.

When the Tennessee Report asked whether he thinks unions are a positive influence in education, Pody said, “That’s exactly why I am going to the schools — to see what is best for the students.”[17]