"Of any group in the state, you ought to be against punishing those who produce," Hilleary said.
Hilleary was part of a forum TBR held Tuesday in Nashville that was also attended by gubernatorial hopefuls Phil Bredesen, Jim Henry, Randy Nichols and Charles Smith.
Henry thanked TBR for holding the event, saying he had been trying to get Hilleary to debate him for 42 days without receiving even a reply from the congressman. Henry then planted the blame for many of the state’s fiscal problems on federal legislators like Hilleary and their unfunded mandates.
Hilleary saved his barbs for Democratic front-runner Bredesen. At one point, talking about the need for charter schools in Tennessee, Hilleary took an apparent shot at Bredesen when he said, "I don’t have to check with the TEA (Tennessee Education Association) before I come out in favor or not in favor of charter schools."
Bredesen steered clear of such remarks, touting instead his status as a former CEO in attempting to sway TBR in his favor. He acknowledged that although he was aware most TBR members favored a state income tax, he didn’t feel one was necessary considering the 6 percent annual growth in state revenues over the last decade.
Saying the state had mismanaged its revenues during the "up business cycle" of the late 1990s, Bredesen pointed to the need for a steady handed governor that could grow the economy to lead Tennessee out of its current budget mess.
Concerning the state’s lower bond rating, Bredesen said it’s not just a state’s financial situation that is used to determine a rating, but also a state’s leadership and the confidence that the rating agencies have in that leadership that determines bond ratings.
"I can restore that," Bredesen said.
Asked about TennCare, all five candidates said they supported salvaging the program and reforming it. They highlighted the need for tighter eligibility requirements, reduced benefit packages and better management.
Henry advocated hiring one managed care organization to manage TennCare. Bredesen said the state needed to hire away some of the talent in states like Texas where managed care has worked on a statewide basis.
On education, Bredesen said the state ranks 50th in the nation only in per pupil expenditure, not academic achievement. He highlighted SAT scores in the state being above average and asked TBR members why business people would be more interested in input than output.
"The amount we spend is not a measure of our educational system," Bredesen said. "We should not be one dimensional in our analysis."
On the question of bringing jobs to Tennessee, Hilleary said shoring up public education in the state would lead to increased business activity. Bredesen emphasized his work in bringing Dell Computer to Middle Tennessee and said he relishes the idea of courting new business to the state as governor. Smith said Tennessee is sending corporations the wrong signal by performing poorly in education, closing state parks and funding the state budget with nonrecurring revenue, which leads to low bond ratings.
Not surprisingly, all five candidates said they opposed new business taxes for Tennessee.
Henry, founder and CEO of Omnivisions, described business taxes as "awful." Hilleary said business takes the brunt of taxes and is government’s "whipping boy" because no one has figured out how to make a compelling 30-second television advertisement arguing against taxing businesses that will bring about an emotional response in the general public.
According to Hilleary, business taxes would not increase under his watch as governor and he argued that no other candidate at the forum was willing to make such a binding statement.
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