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Wamp, Tennessee gubernatorial candidate, details '20/20 Vision'

Published July 27th, 2009 | 0 Comments

JOHNSON CITY — After 15 years of service in Congress, U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp said his decision to leave is final. However, Wamp is hopeful that he will soon be undertaking a new political challenge.

Wamp, a Republican out of Chattanooga, said he has been a candidate for Tennessee governor in the 2010 race since December 2008 and since Bill Frist hinted that he would not be running. Wamp, who has visited 53 counties so far this year, said he has always been more motivated by impact than by money or power, and he believes serving as governor is how he can have the biggest impact.

“I honestly think the best way to do that is to be governor for four to eight years and try to improve the state,” Wamp said. “I’ve lived here all my life. I love Tennessee. I raised my family here. By far the best people, by far the most beautiful state, but I know we can do better.”

Tennessee is currently 47th in the nation in health and 42nd in education, Wamp said. Aside from improvements in those areas, Wamp said he would like to see what he called a “dynamic production agenda” set for the state. He said this agenda needs to be put into place for Tennesseans to have jobs that they can maintain and provide for their families, and also to make the state more production oriented to bring in revenues to address other matters.

“I think that takes strong leadership,” he said. “It takes determined and dynamic, energetic leadership, and so I tell people often that we need our next governor to set an agenda.”

Wamp has dubbed his agenda “20/20 Vision,” which he said is a plan for what he thinks the state needs to look like by the year 2020 and what is needed to get there. He said there must be a renewed focus on agriculture, manufacturing and infrastructure. Wamp also said growing existing industry is as important as bringing in new.

“If somebody doesn’t make it, build it or grow it, you can’t service it or sell it,” he said.

Also, Wamp wants an emphasis placed on education, in particular reading, which he called a “linchpin” in state education reform.

“This 20/20 Vision would have children reading much better earlier,” he said. “Step one in education is reading.”

Wamp said he is concerned because Tennessee does not test for reading proficiency until the third grade and said three-fourths of eighth-grade students in the state do not meet minimum proficiency in reading and math. Wamp said students must begin learning how to read English proficiently at the kindergarten level.

As part of his plan, Wamp also wants to see the health of Tennesseans addressed.

“This 20/20 Vision has us on the move,” he said. “On the move economically, on the move upward in terms of education and reading, and on the move literally on this issue of wellness and health because we’re 47th out of 50 in health.”

While he said regulation and legislation is not necessary, Wamp said he would like to see a grass-roots effort to see Tennesseans get more active. Wamp said Tennesseans are overmedicated at every level, particularly children.

“All the data and research is in. The most effective antidepressant in the history of the world is sweat,” he said. “It works. Children need to move, they need to sweat.”

Although he is behind fellow Republican gubernatorial candidates Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey and Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam in early campaign fund-raising efforts, Wamp is unconcerned and said he has the base and support necessary to win the governorship.

“Nobody is giving me money because I’ll still be the lieutenant governor even if I don’t run or if I lose,” Wamp said. “Nobody is giving me money because my family owns a billion dollar empire and they owe me. They’re giving me money because they think I’ll be the next governor or a good governor.”

Wamp said it won’t be money that will determine the next governor, but will instead come down to vision, dynamic leadership and proven results, all of which he feels he has.

“The vision is the 20/20 Vision,” he said. “What do we want our state to look like and what do we need to do to get there? Dynamic leadership is the ability to fire up the troops and mobilize the masses and carry people forward and articulate what it is we need to do as a state. The proven results is a 15-year record that I’m proud to stand on, where I’ve got a consistent, 100 percent record on constitutional issues like life, marriage, guns, taxes, immigration.”

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