Gubernatorial candidate Haslam stops in Dyersburg

Gubernatorial candidate and Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam and his wife, Crissy, stopped in Dyersburg on Friday on their quick tour of West Tennessee. Haslam, recently re-elected as Knoxville mayor with 87 percent of the vote, named balancing the budget with recurring funds, job recruitment and K-12 education as the three top issues the next governor of Tennessee will be facing. [Click to enlarge]

Their tour included two breakfasts in Obion County and a tight schedule with stops in Dyersburg, Halls, Covington and Memphis. Haslam announced his intention to run for Tennessee's top elected position in January and has since balanced the duties of Knoxville mayor with a grassroots campaign across the state.

"Since (January) I've been working my way around the state," said Haslam. "I've spent a lot of time at libraries, schools, farms and coffee shops. Actually, (I am a gubernatorial candidate) because I have loved having the chance to be mayor and being governor is (also) an executive job. It is not a legislative job. And I have loved the fact that you can make a big difference as a mayor. The chance to serve in public office is a really unique opportunity."

In the Aug. 5, 2010 primary, Haslam will face fellow candidates Shelby County District Attorney General Bill Gibbons, Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey and U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp to earn the Republican slot in the governor's race.

On Friday, Haslam spoke candidly about the qualifications he feels are essential for the next governor of Tennessee and what he believes are the state's biggest challenges.

"We have a lot facing us. But I think the new governor when he or she walks in the door the first day, is going to face three really big challenges," said Haslam, who said the budget crisis, unemployment rate and K-12 education rank first on his list of immediate concerns.

"I do think those are the three most critical challenges facing us and I think that is going to be true for whoever the next governor is," said Haslam. "People are all the time saying, 'Well, what do you want to do as governor?' And there's a lot of things I'd like to do, but those are three things you are going to have to do from day one."

The state budget crisis:

"(The challenge) starts with a budget that is critically in the hole," said Haslam. "Our state budget is $29 billion. We ended up this year about $1.3 billion short. The problem is, that we balanced that this year by taking money out of the savings account and by the federal stimulus money that came into the state. And neither of those sources of revenue will be around for the next governor. So, the next governor needs to have a background and experience in managing very difficult financial situations and I have done that as a mayor. Knoxville is in the best financial position of its history. It has the highest credit rating, the lowest property tax and the most money in our savings account that we've ever had."

The need for jobs:

"The second big challenge is about jobs," said Haslam. "As you know, unemployment is a huge issue around the state. Statewide, we are almost 11 percent and many of our rural counties are looking at numbers way above that. So our next governor needs to be not just good - but great - at recruiting jobs and has to have had experience having done that personally. And I've done that as mayor of Knoxville. We've been ranked one of the top 10 cities in the country very consistently for the last three years in terms of recruiting and retaining jobs."

Addressing education:

"And then the last big challenge is about K-12 education," said Haslam, who said Tennessee schools rank 42nd out of the 50 states in education. "If we are going to recruit the jobs we want and have the kind of state we want, we can't drag the bottom in terms of education results."

Haslam agrees with some of Gov. Phil Bredesen's initiatives for statewide educational reform. He believes the Tennessee Diploma Project is making a big difference in high school curriculum and practices throughout Tennessee, but wonders if funds will be available to keep expanding the state's pre-K program.

"Gov. Bredesen has pushed for some reform," said Haslam. "The biggest is something called the Tennessee Diploma Project, which is going to require some additional requirements in (high school) curriculum to graduate. And maybe the most important piece of that is that we are now going to start measuring our TCAP results (by) comparing ourselves to the national average rather than just using our own scorecard, which is what we have been doing. And I think the results are going to show that we are not performing as well as we thought we were.

"A little background on that: Right now with TCAP tests, the federal government lets each state set their own bar for what's deemed to be proficient and Tennessee set our bar really low," Haslam continued. "Last year, 90 percent of our children were rated proficient or above at their grade level. Next year, when we adopt the national standards, if our kids perform like they did this past year, only 25 percent will be deemed proficient because we will be measuring ourselves the way the rest of the country does. So that will be a huge wakeup call to the state."

In Knoxville, Haslam has also addressed education in programs like Project GRAD and Knox Achieves, aimed at increasing the high school graduation rate and college attendance rate.

"In Tennessee, our rate of people with some sort of post-secondary education is really far behind the national average. I think we could make a real concentrated effort to increase the opportunities for high school students to go on to further education," said Haslam. "The reform that has come about because of the Tennessee Diploma Project is very important. Pre-K is a very difficult decision. Gov Bredesen has been pushing for universal pre-K. Pre-K in every school. Right now, I don't know how we have the funds to expand pre-K to where we have it in every school, so I couldn't honestly tell you, 'Oh, yeah, I promise we are going to do that,' because I don't know how we are going to pay for that. So my recommendation would be to continue pre-K in the schools where we are doing it now, which is primarily focused in a lot of our high-need areas. And then wait to get more results in before we think about expanding Pre-K."

Tennessee's strengths and weaknesses:

"In terms of Tennessee's greatest strengths, I think we have a state full of people with good values and a good work ethic. The fact that we don't have a state income tax, I think, is a strong point for the state," said Haslam. "(But) we can't keep ranking 42nd out of 50 states and be who we want to be in terms of attracting jobs. So if you ask me what our greatest weakness is right now, that might be it. Ranking 42nd out of 50 is a problem if we want to attract the jobs that we want."

Background:

Prior to serving as mayor of Knoxville, Haslam joined the family business and led the Pilot Corporation for 18 years as president and CEO, growing the company from 800 employees to 14,000. He later increased his business skills by launching Saks Direct, an Internet retail business.

"There are so many important things you learn when you run an organization," said Haslam. "You learn about hiring great people to help you. You learn about you have revenues and expenses and there is no magic box in the middle called 'government' that makes it work. And you learn that you have to be very focused about what you are doing. You could be overwhelmed with the needs. Unless you are focused about what you are trying to do, you are not going to get good results. Having run a large organization before and having made those decisions is great preparation for doing that as governor. Being governor is an executive job and the state is a $29 billion budget - with a B - and has 40,000 employees."

Haslam feels his experience in business and Knoxville's current financial standing make him the right choice for the next governor of Tennessee.

"I think the next governor is going to deal with (financial and employment) issues regardless of their background and so I can say that it's important that you have that background as the next governor in terms of creating jobs and addressing a very difficult state budget. Those are just critical things that the next governor should have as part of their resume when they walk into office the first day."

"I do think (Knoxville's financial status) is something I intend to talk about a lot," continued Haslam. "I think we have a great financial record in the city of Knoxville and the best way to judge somebody is not what they say they will do, but by what they have done in the past. And we are very proud to run on our record in Knoxville."

Haslam also shared his views on TennCare, the Employee Free Choice Act, the state highway fund and projects like the Port of Cates Landing.

TennCare:

"TennCare is a critical part of what we do in state government," said Haslam. "It is about 25 percent of our state budget, we spend about $7.5 billion a year. And TennCare reform is obviously a big piece of that. Our job in state government with TennCare is to make sure we provide health care to those folks that need it. And that we cut out any fraud and abuse so that the people who really need it receive the funds that they should. When you spend $7.5 billion every year on something, we need to make sure we are doing it right."

Employee Free Choice Act:

"The Employee Free Choice Act is really much more of a federal issue," said Haslam. "My personal opinion on it is that taking away the right to a secret ballot in anything is not helpful, and I do worry about the harmful effects of that. So, that's one of those things that we are kind of captive in, if it (becomes) a federal law. But I am not in favor of that."

Highway fund - road paving and improvements:

"We have a real problem in the state with our highway fund," said Haslam. "We basically fund it with the tax you pay when you buy gasoline and diesel fuel. And right now, everybody is using less gas, which is a good thing, because we are driving more fuel-efficient cars and people are driving less because of the economy. Unfortunately, the price of asphalt has tripled in the last 20 years, so the funds that we need to keep our roads and bridges in shape are becoming more and more critical. And that will be a challenge that the next governor of the state faces. Right now, our highway fund is incredibly underfunded if we are going to keep our roads up."

Cates Landing:

"The Port of Cates Landing - that's the kind of infrastructure project that I think really is important for our state, where we can spend one-time money that will help make our state more attractive for industry to come in," said Haslam. "I think we need to do that. Now the reality is, in the economic times we are facing now, it is difficult for everybody. I haven't been to the site, but I want to do that. To meet with the people involved so I can understand the project better. And I intend to do that during the campaign."

Additional information for this article was obtained from www.billhaslam.com.