Metro Pulse/Insights/Phil Bredesen

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by Bill Carey

One candidate is qualified, the other is not. That is why I am endorsing Phil Bredesen over Van Hilleary. Given the state of affairs in Tennessee; given the fact that people have lost faith in their government; given the state's problems in the area of economic development; given the fact that the number one fiscal quandary in Tennessee is the long-term future of the managed care program called TennCare; I believe Bredesen will do a better job than Hilleary.

Bredesen's track record is impressive. He was raised in a working class, single-parent household, then overcame his background and earned a spot at one of the finest colleges in America. After college, he held several jobs in high-tech fields before he ended up in Nashville in the mid-1970s. In 1980, he came up with the idea for a new managed-care company. He convinced several people to risk their money in the venture, which under his leadership grew into a publicly traded firm with 6,000 employees.

Bredesen took over as mayor of Nashville at a time when the citizenry there had lost faith in their government. But he achieved a tremendous amount as mayor, and in the opinion of most people in Nashville—Republican and Democrat— Bredesen left the city and its citizens in better shape than he found it. Much has been made of the city's NHL arena and NFL stadium (both of which, admittedly, cost more than they should have). But Bredesen deserves credit for building a glorious downtown public library, financing about $450 million in schools, getting the city out from under a decades-old busing order, and merging the city's two public hospitals. And as far as economic development is concerned, Bredesen played a key role in bringing hospital giant HCA back to Tennessee—the single greatest economic coup for Tennessee since the 1980s.

Hilleary, meanwhile, has little experience leading anything except his Air Force ROTC battalion while he was an undergraduate at the University of Tennessee. He drifted during his formative years. A member of one of the wealthiest families in Rhea County, Hilleary drew a check from the family textile business, then started graduate school at UT, then left UT to go to law school, then decided he didn't want to be a lawyer. To his credit, Hilleary navigated cargo planes for the Air Force during Desert Storm (although, as a former naval officer, I strongly believe that too much has been made of his military record in relation to this campaign).

Upon his return from the war, Hilleary started into politics and was elected to Congress as a part of the Republican landslide of 1994. He has obviously had a lot of worthwhile experience as a Congressman. But he has not emerged as a leader, even among colleagues that share his right-wing ideology. He has taken stances that are in my opinion damaging to the interest of Tennessee's citizen: stances against environmental protection; against the state's right to tax Internet service; even a stance for allowing states to individually lower the minimum wage.

The way Hilleary has run his campaign highlights his lack of credentials. He has spent little time talking about his own background and spent most of his energy attacking his opponent. Hilleary's entire case has been based on three arguments. The first is that Bredesen has not made a pledge to oppose an income tax in his second term. But the last time I checked, the governor would have to be re-elected to have a second term and will therefore have plenty of time to make pledges then. In an age in which tax-free Internet shopping becomes more popular every day; in which the tax-exempt service economy grows more every day; and in which states around us are reducing their sales taxes and increasing the millions of dollars that Tennesseans pour into other states, it would be terribly irresponsible to make long-term commitments such as the one Hilleary and his allies in the talk-radio circuit demand. What if Congress does what retail chains are already asking and passes sales tax exemptions for books, music, clothing, and other things that are now commonly bought on the Internet? Would Hilleary then advocate raising Tennessee's sales tax to 14 cents, or passing a statewide property tax, or pass a ridiculously high wheel tax?

Hilleary's second tactic has been to warn that Bredesen is about to break the law by spending over $250,000 on his own campaign. However, there is no legitimate law against Bredesen doing this, even if he had. (There is a state law against it, but it would be declared unconstitutional if anyone in Tennessee had the guts to challenge it.) Bredesen had, as of mid-September, raised over $6 million from other Tennesseans in this race. Since the Republican president of the United States has nothing better to do in the middle of a war debate than make fundraising trips to Tennessee in order to keep the Volunteer State in GOP hands, Bredesen is right to keep his options open in this regard.

Finally, Hilleary has attacked Bredesen for raising property taxes as mayor. However, the property tax rate in Metro Nashville was lower when Bredesen left office than when he came into office (and much lower than the combined city-county tax rate for people who live in Knoxville). True, many people in Nashville paid more in property taxes when Bredesen left office than when he came into office. But that's because their property was worth more, and Bredesen deserves some of the credit for that real estate boom.

Yes, Bredesen is more qualified. He has well-thought-out ideas about how to reform TennCare and a commendable strategy for melding K through 12 and higher education into a more coherent system. As a successful businessman, he seems more qualified to recruit good companies to Tennessee and more capable of turning around the horrific trend under which Tennessee's per capita income has fallen from 30th in the United States in 1995 to 35th today. And he has proven that he knows how to lead legislative bodies, something the next governor will desperately need.