Haslam breakfasts with the press

Knoxville's mayor talks to reporters about gubernatorial intention at Noshville

Email | Print By A.C. Kleinheider

Bill Haslam

Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam was in town today to meet the press and outline his vision on the Nashville leg of his gubernatorial announcement tour. Eschewing the downscale homeyness of Pete's Cafe, the location of his Knoxville announcement, Haslam chose to meet reporters today for breakfast at Noshville, a well-known meeting place for Nashville's business and political elite.

In his opening statement to reporters, Haslam laid out the hard road ahead. "The reality is our state is facing a critical time," he said. "I am ready to take on this challenge."

Faced with a prospect of a 19-month campaign, Haslam was optimistic, noting that when he ran for Knoxville Mayor in 2002, the year-long campaign served to make him a better mayor.

After saying Gov. Phil Bredesen "has done a lot of great things," Haslam outlined the three major areas he would focus on as governor: budget management, K-12 education and business recruitment.

Haslam takes both a long-term and short-term view of the problems facing the state. In the short term, he said business recruitment is a necessity to keep Tennesseans employed and keep the economy moving.

Haslam noted that his family's company, Pilot Oil, has grown exponentially over time and yet remains based in Tennessee. As an ambassador of the state, he said he could sell Tennessee as a top business location by sharing the Pilot story.

In the long view, however, Haslam sees education as a top priority. He does not see a correlation between the dollars spent on education and outcomes. For Haslam, innovation is the key. Pointing out the bad news of Tennessee's current rank among states in education, he sees a brighter side.

"The good news is that there are a lot of creative entrepreneurial solutions out there [to boost student achievement]," Haslam explained.

On the budget, Haslam was clear that while revenues have declined, new taxes are not the answer and an income tax is "definitely" not.

"The income tax is off the table," Haslam said. "Everyone recognizes that."

Haslam would not commit to taking any kind of anti-tax pledge, noting that there are several examples of politicians who took such pledges only to recognize later they "weren't such a good idea."

"I'd have to look at the specifics of [any pledge]," Haslam explained. "Oftentimes, these tax pledges are somewhat of a gimmick."

Haslam explained that because Tennessee will be a "sales tax state," revenues will continue to fluctuate. The Knoxville Mayor stated that a leveling off of expenses is needed.

"That $750 million dollar rainy-day fund," Haslam asserted. "It wasn't enough."

Haslam demurred from offering specific areas of the state budget that needed trimming. Instead, he said what's needed is simply good management.

"We need to drastically restructure state government to be more nimble and efficient," he said.

One thing Haslam said Tennessee could change is the way the state buys things. Being smarter about the value government gets per expenditure could lead to savings.

Another Haslam beef concerns the management of the sales tax throughout Tennessee's history. He noted that state officials continue to raise the tax rate while increasing areas that are exempt. Haslam would not commit to eliminating any exemption, nor did he offer up any potential eliminations. But his tax outlook makes it unlikely that a Governor Haslam would look at targeted sales tax reductions or exemptions.

"Would I like to lower the food tax? Sure. We just may not be in the position to do so."

Haslam was non-committal on other issues, too. While he was familiar with the Tennessee plan on judicial selection, Haslam told reporters he needs to study the issue more before he can offer a detailed position on how to deal with the sunsetting plan.

As for the controversial abortion resolution SJR 127, which would give the legislature the ability to outlaw abortion were the federal government to overturn Roe v. Wade, Haslam expressed sympathy with the pro-life cause but did not explicitly say he supported the measure.

On the subject of his opposition, Haslam deferred on making any strong statement of contrast with specific candidates, saying only that he posseses the executive experience necessary to lead the state during this time in a way that other candidates may lack.

One thing Haslam did not seem overly concerned with was what could become a glut of the East Tennesseans in the race were Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey to join in. Haslam noted that Ramsey has not announced his candidacy and that while geographic concerns were important, there are other variables in play.

"Of course geography is a factor, but these things have a way of working themselves out."