District 32 senate race draws pair

by Drew Harris for the Bartlett Express
October 31, 2004

In the race for the Tennessee Senate position for District 32, Democratic challenger Pete Parker will face Republican incumbent Mark Norris.

Parker, the owner of a shoe store in Dyersburg, said he is running for the position to help Tennesseeans gain economic security and health care.

"I look at people every day who can't pay their medical bills and can't eat," he said. "They have to put a pair of shoes on lay-away. These people need health care, and they need more job prospects."

Parker said he was familiar with problems throughout the district, not just in Dyer and Lauderdale counties. With family and friends in Shelby County, he said he has a vested interest in this part of the state too.

"I am very aware of the issues in Shelby County," he said. "Shelby County is going to have to be more competitive to keep corporations from moving to Arkansas and Mississippi."

On the other side of the ballot is Norris, a resident of Collierville. A farmer and lawyer for the firm Armstrong Allen, Norris also wants to help seniors afford health care. During his tenure in the legislature, he has fought to pass a constitutional referendum that would exempt seniors from paying a homestead property tax, increasing money that could be spent on medicine or medical appointment.

"I helped to successfully pass the constitutional referendum the first time (it went through)," he said. "And I need to be re-elected so that I can go back to Nashville and see it through again."

Constitutional referendums must go through the legislature twice before they can be made into law.

Other than the homestead property tax exemption, Norris said his two top priorities would be to stop the Memphis payroll tax and to make the Shelby County School district a special school district.

"A special school district would help save the Shelby County School system," he said. "Mayor Herenton continues to push toward consolidation, and I am sponsoring legislation that would fix the district boundaries, safeguarding the system against consolidation."