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WEEK OF MAY 6 - 12, 2010
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McWherter Stumps for Votes in North Nashville
Democratic Candidate will speak to area historic 59 year old Faculty Breakfast Club May 16 at the Maxwell House, GET YOUR TICKETS
By Ronald W. Weathersby
Gubernatorial candidate Mike McWherter the son of legendary Tennessee’s 46th Governor, Ned Ray McWherter is bringing his message May 16, 2010 of economic expansion and job creation to North Nashville to the 59 year old Faculty Breakfast Club of Fisk University, Meharry Medical College, Tennessee State University and Vanderbilt University, a recent associate member .
Dr. James A. Hefner, President of the Faculty Breakfast Club invites the Public to hear the candidate.
McWherter, a resident of Jackson says his background as a small business owner and Northwest Tennessee native has better prepared him to serve as the state’s chief executive than his Republican opponents he describes as “career politicians” especially as the state and nation begins the process of emerging from a two-year-old recession. Creating jobs is his number one priority McWherter said at a candidates’ forum held at Middle Tennessee State University last month.
“We’ve got to provide tax incentives for small businesses,” McWherter says in his stump speech. “As rough as these times are, we’re Tennesseans, we have been through worse, and we have pulled through and built a better, stronger economy. We must pull together and rededicate ourselves to the basics.”
Those basics according to McWherter, the only Democratic candidate to file a petition to run for governor in the November general election facing no primary challengers in August, according to the Tennessee Division of Elections include opposing a state income tax and pledged to give tax breaks to Tennessee businesses that create jobs — including small businesses and rural farm operations, developing a skilled workforce by linking the state’s economic development strategy needs to community colleges and technology centers and, building on the state’s traditional economic cornerstones, including the automotive and healthcare industries while increasing investments in emerging industries like clean energy technology.
His message of job creation has resonated with a majority of Tennessee’s urban population including a vast majority of African American voters for good reason. Currently Tennessee’s adjusted unemployment rate was 10.6 percent in March, down from the February rate of 10.7 percent. Black unemployment in Davidson County now hovers around 17 percent. Both the state rate compares unfavorably to the national overall rate of 9.7 percent. National unemployment rates for African Americans are nearly 17 percent.
Aside from strengthening the community colleges McWherter also believes the state can do a better job of preparing students to enter college or a vocational school. Here is the message about K through 12 education from the Website www.mikemcwherter.com:
“Mike is a father who understands the importance of having strong K-12 schools and a fully funded Basic Education Program (BEP). As governor, he’ll maintain high standards in the classroom, improve graduation rates, and make sure teachers have the resources they need to give our kids a quality education.”
Additionally, McWherter is prepared to continue the nationally acclaimed progress exhibited by “Tennessee’s nationally recognized pre-kindergarten program” is a model for the country and that early childhood education is one of the best investments we can make by making (pre-K) available to every family that wants their child to attend.”
Real disparities in black and white incomes and opportunities being ignored by Republican candidates.
The two leading candidates for governor have been relatively silent regarding economic prospects for African Americans in the state whose median income is $33,625 compared to whites in the state whose median income is more than $1,000 higher monthly.
One of his Republican rivals is airing a television commercial in which he claims to have created 11,000 jobs. However, about half of those jobs were added to his company’s payroll through mergers and acquisitions. At MTSU McWherter hit the candidate’s claims hard, “Tennessee needs a governor who actually knows what we’re going through,” Mike McWherter said. “These are serious times, and these times require more from a candidate than simply juggling numbers on his TV ads to inflate his accomplishments. Tennesseans will see through those tricks, take the measure of the man, and say ‘If he’s willing to stretch the truth on jobs, how can we trust him with the economy?’”
Former potential Democratic rival House Majority Leader Kim McMillan decided to instead run for mayor of Clarksville recently endorsed McWherter for governor in a written statement. “Mike McWherter would be an outstanding governor who will put the needs of Tennessee’s working families first.”Over the past few months I’ve gotten to know Mike better as we campaigned across the state, and in that time I found that he cares deeply for Tennessee families who struggle to make ends and he understands what needs to be done to get our economy back on track and get Tennesseans back to work.”
On the other hand McWherter’s opponents are following a thread-bare strategy that is at best disingenuous and at worst an outright lie. Congressman Zach Wamp is trumpeting what he calls “Tennessee Values” on his Website stating, “Zach has a strong and solid 15-year record when it comes to protecting the unborn and on issues dealing with the sanctity of life. Zach’s record is 100% pro-life and he fully supports SJR127. As Governor, Zach will continue his 100% record in protecting the unborn.”
The statement obviously attracts many individuals on the religious right but the question must be asked of Wamp and all the other folks who parrot his rhetoric: What have you done to actually introduce and pass legislation to protect “the sanctity of life?” When you were a member of a Republican Congress and Senate along with a Republican president where was the legislation to back-up the rhetoric?
Wamp also touches on the issue of gun rights which is a paper tiger Republicans raise in every election even though no Democratic candidate has championed any legislation that could remotely be construed as anti-gun.
The other Republican front runner Knoxville mayor, Bill Haslam sees Wamp on values and amps up the rhetoric by claiming he would, “work to preserve traditional marriage”.
McWherter ‘s political game plan will evidently mirror that of former Nashville mayor and current governor Phil Bredesen who after serving two terms cannot seek re-election. Bredesen was extremely successful in not allowing his Republican opponents to define him as a person and a politician and shot-stopping the social issues which have derailed many statewide Democratic candidates. McWherter will have to cut into the Republican’s stronghold amongst white men in particular and white voters in general while encouraging a near record turnout of the Democratic base vote in November.
While announcing his candidacy last summer McWherter said he will go out and campaign everyday and take the fight directly to the people of Tennessee, “I wanted to say I had been in all 95 counties. ... The bottom line is we’re going to do whatever it takes to win this race. I always thought I would win the Democratic primary, and now I will turn more of my attention to the general election as we move forward into the fall.”
Mike McWherter earned a law degree from Vanderbilt University and worked in private practice in Nashville before moving to Jackson to start his own business and work in the community. He is the chairman of the Bank Board of First State Bank, headquartered in Union City, and serves on the board of directors for the Jackson Energy Authority.
The 59 year old Faculty Breakfast Club holds monthly Sunday breakfast meetings September through May. Subjects of interest and significance are discussed by distinguished guests and club members in areas of art, business, education, human relations, medicine, music, politics, religion, science, sports and travel.
The officers of the the Faculty Breakfast Club are: Dr. James A. Hefner, President, Dr. Patricia Juarez, Vice President, Mrs. Lula Brooks, Recording Secretary, Mrs. Rita Warren, Corresponding Secretary, Dr. Charles Fancher, Treasurer, Mr. Marcellus Brooks, Parliamentarian, Dr. Reavis Mitchell, Historian, Dr. Lucius Outlaw, Immediate Past President.
The Faculty Breakfast is open to the public and will be held at the Metro Center Maxwell House, Sunday, May 16, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
Tickets are $20.00 and may be purchased from members: Ms. Fatima Barnes, Mr. and Mrs. Marcellus Brooks, Dr. William Butler, Ms. Leslie Carroll, Dr. Vera Stevens Chatman, Dr. Paulette Coleman, Dr. Carol Creswell-Betsch, Dr. Joseph and Ambassador Rachel Diggs, Drs. Charles and Evelyn Fancher, Drs. Roosevelt and Marquetta Faulkner, Ms. Lifran Fort, Mrs. Nannie Fort, Dr. and Mrs. James A. Hefner, Dr. Edward Isibor, Drs. Arthur and Millicent Jackson, Mrs. Mattie Johnson, Drs. Melvin and Marci Johnson, Drs. Paul D. and Patricia M. Juarez, Mrs. Veonnie McKinnie, Dr. and Ms. N. Horace Mann, Jr., Dr. and Mrs. Nebraska Mays, Drs. Reavis and Patricia Mitchell, Dr. Beverly I. Moran, Drs. Lucius and Frieda Outlaw, Mrs. Rosetta Miller-Perry, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Poole, Dr. Ray Richardson, Mr. and Mrs. Marvin D. Spears, Mrs. Chaminade C. Stanford, Mrs. Gwendolyn Stover, Dr. and Mrs. Robert Vowels, Mrs. Rita Warren, Mrs. Virginia Westbrook, Dr. Daphne F. Young.
Tickets may also be purchased or at the Tennessee Tribune Newspaper Office, Tennessee Tribune Bldg., 1501 Jefferson Street. 615 321 3268. Deadline May 10, 2010. Additional information call 615 310 1413 or 615 509 3181.
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