Ronnie Hart

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  www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080115/ - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 1/15/2008    Last Visited: 1/15/2008  

  The state Department of Commerce and Insurance has sued Ronnie Hart, president and chief executive of the Tennessee Restaurant Association, contending that he mismanaged the workers' compensation fund and dipped into reserves without proper approval.
  
  The suit says that Hart's company, Hospitality Management Plus, was sometimes paid double the contracted rate in the nearly 10 years it ran the fund, and that Hart traded on personal relationships with the trust's board to "induce them to approve otherwise excessive fees."
  
  Hart, a fixture in the restaurant industry who makes roughly $102,000 a year as the group's top lobbyist, says he did nothing wrong while running the fund, which was set up to pay injured workers' medical bills.
  
  Suit: Hart was overpaid
  
  Hart said he no prior experience running a worker's compensation fund, but he learned on the job from 1993 to 1995, when the restaurant association hired a firm to administer the trust.
  
  Hart started a for-profit company to run the fund starting in 1996.
  
  Each year from 1998 to 2005, Hart's company was paid more than the contracted amount for running the fund, according to the state's lawsuit.In 2004, for example, Hart's company was paid $642,000 in administrative fees - or more than double the $315,000 a year called for in his contract, the suit says.
  
  Hart and his company were also paid $662,438 in marketing fees from 2003 to 2005 without the trust board's permission, the suit contends.
  ...
  Hart acknowledged that the Franklin-based consulting company was partly owned by his son, Clint Hart.
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  Lobbyists Ronnie Hart, left, and Josh Hilton wait outside House chambers in 2002.Hart, Tennessean Restaurant Association head, has been sued. (FILE / THE TENNESSEAN)

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  www.discount-cigarettes-store.com/news.php?news_article - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 12/25/2007    Last Visited: 2/16/2008  

  Tennessee Restaurant Association president Ronnie Hart said he plans to petition the state legislature to remove the 21-and-over exemption at its next session in January.
  
  "It is unlevel.We were opposed to that, and we will continue to be opposed to that.We're going to try to get that removed as an exemption in this coming session," he said.
  
  Still, Hart isn't optimistic that change will come soon, knowing that opposition to changing the law exists.
  
  "That's not going to stop us from trying," Hart said."We're going to try and go back to getting that removed, because it is unfair."
  
  Hart said he'd also heard rumblings that some would not only like to keep the exemption, but lower the age requirement.
  
  "We already hear that there are people who want to take (it from) 21 to 18.We're opposed to that.Where it's going to go, we don't know," he said.

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  www.nashvillecitypaper.com/~citypaper/news.php?viewStor - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 8/16/2007    Last Visited: 8/16/2007  

  Ronnie Hart, president and chief executive officer of the Tennessee Restaurant Association, a chapter of the National Restaurant Association, said organizations like his â€" as well as the companies handling credit card processing â€" have also worked to keep businesses in the loop.
  
  "We've been keeping our membership informed of this for some time.Hopefully all of our folks have had the change completed, or are in the process of having the change completed," Hart said.
  
  Hart's organization includes 2,300 member properties across the state, one-third of which are in Middle Tennessee.
  
  But according to Hart, there are still some businesses who may not have heard about the changes, or who may find it too expensive to update their credit card processing equipment.Updates can cost up to several thousand dollars for a single restaurant, Hart estimated, and possibly more for large and complex systems used by chains.
  
  "I have to admit, we had time to work on it," Hart said."I think most people are trying to get this fixed.It's not a cheap thing to do."
  
  Hart said restaurants may be the most common targets of the suits because of the volume of customers served.Larger restaurants, whether corporate or independent, can get 70 to 80 percent of their business from credit cards.
  
  "It's unfortunate that we have people in this country who are looking for things like this to sue somebody over," Hart said.

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  www.tnpoliticsblog.com/2007/12/tuke_wont_challenge_alex - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 12/6/2007    Last Visited: 12/8/2007  

  Tennessee Restaurant Association president Ronnie Hart said he plans to petition the state legislature to remove the 21-and-over exemption at its next session in January, but lawmakers say the exemption is unlikely to change.

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  www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/Content?oid=oid%3A27697 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 4/27/2007    Last Visited: 4/27/2007  

  03/22/2007 | Issue 943 - Ron Hart
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  "We always said if a bill like this came along, we'd support it," says Ronnie Hart, executive director of TRA.

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  nashville.bizjournals.com/nashville/stories/2008/07/28/ - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 7/29/2008    Last Visited: 7/30/2008  

  Longtime Tennessee Restaurant Association CEO Ronnie Hart retired at the end of June.

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  www.wsmv.com/news/14948555/detail.html - [Cached Version]
  Last Visited: 12/31/2007  

  Tennessee Restaurant Association President and CEO Ronnie Hart said he is lobbying for the 21 & up exemption to be eliminated.
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  Hart said many restaurants are becoming 21 & up to accommodate smokers, drawing away the customers of family restaurants that can't change.
  
  He also said the change has cost some employees their jobs.

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  olbroad.com/2007/12/28/ - [Cached Version]
  Last Visited: 10/26/2008  

  Tennessee Restaurant Association President and CEO Ronnie Hart said he is lobbying for the 21-and-up exemption to be eliminated because too many owners are not following the "spirit of the law." He said it's also cost some employees their jobs, as the exemption doesn't allow the businesses using it to employ anyone under 21.

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  www.wztv.com/newsroom/top_stories/vid_464.shtml - [Cached Version]
  Last Visited: 11/29/2007  

  Tennessee Restaurant Association President and CEO Ronnie Hart says, "I think more and more people are using debit cards and debit versus credit now.
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  Ronnie Hart says, "I would look for it to be a convenience for my customers, irregardless of what business I'm in.

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  thetra.com/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=5 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 5/11/2008    Last Visited: 5/11/2008  

  Ronnie Hart

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