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Roy Herron and Perry County's 25% unemployment
I don't know enough about Roy Herron. I only recently found out that Perry County is in his district and that he may be running for governor. That got me thinking. Does anyone know of legislative efforts by Herron to try to get road money into Perry County over the past few years? I haven't started looking, but I'm very interested and figured you all would know, especially his early supporters.
Herron may be a great guy for all I know, and I suspect this post will bring that out, but what stands out to me right now is that a county he represents has 25% unemployment and hasn't had much success with elected officials securing funds for the roads they need to attract jobs.
I know Herron isn't the only elected official representing the area. If you know who those are, I'd love to know their names, too, Democrat or Republican. Like I said, I'm just beginning to ask these questions.
We have an opportunity to reward and advance leadership and put candidates on notice that their record matters. What candidates want for Tennessee is a fine discussion, but we cannot leave out of that discussion what they actually delivered. I may be pleasantly surprised by what Herron has tried to do to help Perry County. In fact, I hope I am, but I have a major road block to overcome before considering Herron for Governor., and I hope you can help.
Thanks for your response.
Herron may be a great guy for all I know, and I suspect this post will bring that out, but what stands out to me right now is that a county he represents has 25% unemployment and hasn't had much success with elected officials securing funds for the roads they need to attract jobs.
I know Herron isn't the only elected official representing the area. If you know who those are, I'd love to know their names, too, Democrat or Republican. Like I said, I'm just beginning to ask these questions.
We have an opportunity to reward and advance leadership and put candidates on notice that their record matters. What candidates want for Tennessee is a fine discussion, but we cannot leave out of that discussion what they actually delivered. I may be pleasantly surprised by what Herron has tried to do to help Perry County. In fact, I hope I am, but I have a major road block to overcome before considering Herron for Governor., and I hope you can help.
Thanks for your response.
Comment
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Comment by Christian Grantham on May 1, 2009 at 1:18pm -
Me either. I haven't even looked at who the candidates are, but when I say Roy Herron running, the first thing I thought was "Lord, just what we need. The do-nothing branch of the Democratic party exporting 25% unemployment all across the state." I could be completely wrong, but that should give you a sense of the challenge he has with me right now. It should be very easy for him to show what effort he took.
I want to make the party better, and every gubernatorial candidate's record demonstrates where they will take Tennessee. I want to be sure I reward the right candidates while making it difficult for those who explain away do nothing. 25% unemployment is an outrageous failure of leadership that should have Democrats asking tough questions.
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Comment by Ben Vos on May 1, 2009 at 1:00pm -
By the way, I'm not a supporter of a particular candidate, and certainly don't know much about Herron's record. HOWEVER... I'm learning a fair bit about Perry Co. Here's a contact form to reach County Mayor John Carroll. He might have some answers.
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Comment by Ben Vos on May 1, 2009 at 12:54pm
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Here's some info about a town festival in Linden this spring. The Blooming Arts Festival is part of an economic development initiative in the community. The closing of the Fisher Dynamics plant is recent enough (Fall 2008) that the plant is still listed on the company's website. This plant closing affected not only the jobs at the plant, but the entire economy in the community, since this was a primary source of income coming into the county.
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Comment by Christian Grantham on May 1, 2009 at 12:51pm
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Ben, thanks! I know Herron "is just one guy and has responsibility for a 9-county region." That's why I'm asking this. He wants to be one guy with responsibility of 96 counties, and this concerns me. Sure, Rep. Blackburn has a lot to answer for, too, but she isn't running for Governor. Roy is. If Perry county is a "relatively small part of Herron's district," it will be an even smaller part of his responsibility as Governor.
I hope this question doesn't upset his supporters. It's pretty important. I don't know what Roy has done for a small part of his district that now has 25% unemployment, but the answer will reveal what he'd do for them when they are an even smaller portion of his plate as Governor, and that's something I will need answered before considering Roy for Governor.
i don't know enough about the other candidates as well, but Roy starts off with a huge road block with me that the others don't at this point, and I'm not one to accept anything less than a straight forward list of efforts by Roy to help Perry County.
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Comment by Ben Vos on May 1, 2009 at 12:42pm
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Did a little more research from the Census data (2000) available online, and it appears that Perry County is a relatively small part of Herron's district. There are (as of 2000) 32K in Obion, 35K in Weakley, 31K in Henry, 17K in Benton, 26K in Henderson, 12K in Decatur, 13K in Stewart, and only 8K in Lake and 8K in Perry.
Much of Herron's district is in US House District 8, where Rep. John Tanner has been working very hard to provide economic opportunity and to implement the stimulus package. Marsha Blackburn, on the other hand, has done next to nothing for her constituents in Perry County.
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Comment by Ben Vos on May 1, 2009 at 12:27pm
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That's Marsha Blackburn's congressional district (7th district), which includes parts of suburban Memphis and Williamson County. While those parts of her district continue to boom, Perry County is being left behind.
I don't think you can blame Herron for the problems. You can blame the districting and take a look at Marsha Blackburn's record. Perry County is a political ghetto in a "red state" district.
But I don't know why more hasn't been done to improve economic conditions, educational opportunities, etc., in Perry County. He is just one guy and has responsibility for a 9-county region.
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