It has been honor to serve as your representative on the County Commissioner these past six years, and I thank you for that opportunity.
When we first offered ourselves to public service six years ago, we were answering the call to lead our County forward; to grapple with growth in land use, to preserve and protect our precious school system; to nurture our natural resources; to restrain the tendency of government to grow bigger, not better; to enhance our quality of life here in West Tennessee.
It was the eve of the Revolution of Republicans and right-thinking Democrats in Washington who wanted to return control of government to the people. They called it ‘Devolution’ – replacing federal control over health care, education, and transport with local control – returning your tax dollars through block grants and other means rather than retaining them in Washington. We were going to realize a return on our investment; share and share alike.
Six years later, can any of us say we are getting a dollar’s worth of service for a dollar’s worth of tax? Are you getting a fair return on your investment?
Every day now we hear about a budget surplus in Washington. But, in Tennessee, it is different. Some say there is a deficit. Some say the answer is to let Nashville keep our share of state-shared taxes. Ladies and gentlemen, we must not let that happen.
There is a bottleneck in Nashville. If we are going to break it, it will take teamwork. The kind of team work we have had here during the last two years as local elected officials pulled together to meet the State mandate for a 20 year land use plan – aldermen, mayors, commissioners at all levels doing their best to devise a plan for the betterment of all.
Tennessee needs teamwork. We need elected officials in Nashville who know HOW to work with those who DO the work of government in our hometowns – your local representatives to whom the power of the people was to have been returned.
We need trust in Tennessee. Recent events have shaken our trust. The TennCare and day care nightmares are in the news daily. Child support payments never come from Nashville and on and on. Now there is a credibility gap, which must be closed before we can move forward.
As we gather together here today in Millington, the heart of West Tennessee, I can see and feel the momentum this State needs to move forward. Here we are in the largest County in the State, just north of the fastest growing city in the State. We do not have any time to waste – we must move forward.
I have really cherished the six years I have spent representing Millington, Arlington, Lakeland, Bartlett, Collierville, Germantown, Raleigh, Frayser, Fisherville, Woodstock, and Shelby Forest, and I know there is more work to be done in County government, but there is obviously work to be done in Nashville. We owe our Senator, Tom Leatherwood, a debt of gratitude for all he has done for this district. His departure from the Senate will leave a large void.
But I have been heartened and strengthened over the last several months by your encouragement to move forward; to take our brand of teamwork to Nashville to represent the great counties of Shelby, Tipton, and Lauderdale in our State’s capital; to be your next State Senator.
If that is your will, and the will of your neighbors and other friends, then it is my desire to represent you there as I have tried to do here. I am humbled by your trust and heartened by your support.
Therefore, I cannot think of a better time or more appropriate place than this to make it official here, with my friends in Millington, north of the Loosahatchie, and declare that I want to be your next State Senator and declare my candidacy for that office.
