McWherter brings campaign to Oneida

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Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike McWherter addresses supporters at the Oneida Municipal Building Friday morning as state Rep. Les Winningham looks on.

Gubernatorial candidate Mike McWherter talked jobs, education and health care during a visit to Oneida Friday morning.

McWherter, 54, is a Jackson businessman and father of two, and is the son of former Tennessee Governor Ned R. McWherter. He is seeking his party’s nomination to succeed term-limited Gov. Phil Bredesen.

Meeting with a room-full of local party operatives and supporters at the Oneida Municipal Services Building, McWherter addressed several issues currently impacting the state and fielded questions from his audience.

McWherter is the second candidate in the governor’s race to visit Scott County. Chattanooga Congressman Zach Wamp, who is seeking the Republican nomination, visited Huntsville in January.

When addressing the issue of creating jobs, McWherter stressed infrastructure development—both roads and broadband Internet capabilities—on several occasions.

“Before we sell ourselves, we need to have the infrastructure in place,” he said. “After the infrastructure is in place, we can go out and sell, sell, sell.”

McWherter said that Gov. Bredesen has laid the foundation by successfully recruiting Volkswagon and Hemlock to Tennessee, and the focus should be on suppliers for those manufacturers.

“We need [the suppliers] in Tennessee,” he said. “They probably wouldn’t want to set up next to Volkswagon and compete for the labor force, but they would want to be close enough to deliver parts to Volkswagon in a timely manner.”

In response to a question from his audience, McWherter said he is opposed to a state income tax. A troubled economy has led to significant revenue shortfalls, but McWherter pointed out that just three years ago, there was so much revenue surplus at the state level that legislators were given grant funding to distribute in their districts.

“Once we put our people back to work, they’ll start spending again and we’ll have the revenue to move this state forward,” McWherter said, adding that the lack of an income tax is attractive to prospective employers looking to set up shop in Tennessee.

On education, McWherter stressed the need for higher standards in schools—pointing out that fewer than half of Tennessee’s high schools have a physics instructor on faculty—to better prepare students for higher education. He pointed out that only Louisiana and Arkansas graduate fewer residents per capita from higher education than Tennessee.

“That means, ladies and gentlemen, that Mississippi is graduating more students from higher education than we are. That is totally unacceptable,” he said.

On health care, McWherter said it’s too soon to determine the exact future of TennCare until the health care reform debate is completed at the federal level. McWherter’s father championed the TennCare program, the success of which was lauded in early years.

Hours after McWherter’s visit to Oneida, state Sen. Jim Kyle announced that he was withdrawing from the gubernatorial race, leaving McWherter alone at the front of the race for the Democratic nomination. Former House majority leader and Bredesen advisor Kim McMillan is also running.