Last week, Judy Woodruff, PBS senior Washington correspondent, was the keynote speaker at the WTCI BeMore Awards which honored a number of non-profit organizations in the Chattanooga Area. It was a great event though Ms. Woodruff’s speech, chronicling the state of Washington politics, was a bit discouraging to those of us who are concerned about the state of our nation.

Ms. Woodruff cited examples of the dire state of partisan politics in Washington. Throughout her long career in Washington, she said it used to be very common to see members of the two parties sitting and eating together, talking about issues. No more, she said. Saying it was worse than she had ever seen it, she lamented about the adverse effect this lack of communication was having on our democratic process. She indicated that it is so bad that for one party member to even be talking with another party member could result in being labeled as a “traitor.” She stressed the importance of the communication process in finding common ground and being able to resolve conflicts.

“Interesting,” you may say, “but why is he telling us this?” I’m telling you this because Ms. Woodruff’s comments drove home once again the huge gap in philosophies between the two parties. And, managing this type of “gap” is one of the things that differentiates me in this Congressional race. I can navigate my way expertly through potentially volatile situations. While maintaining my conservative principles, I can and will seek out those with whom I can find common ground.

I have spent many years of my career meeting goals in spite of bureaucratic barriers and managing conflict between opposing forces. I never get discouraged and I never give up.

It is never going to get better in Washington as long as we keep sending representatives there who are dividers and polarizers. It isn’t enough anymore to be a politician or a “party person.” We have to turn the ship around and send some folks to Washington who can look past the “politics” and do something—someone who has a unique skill set to start building relationships to help get us out of the mess we are in.

Tommy Crangle is a candidate for the Republican nomination to the U.S. Congress in Tennessee’s 3rd District in 2010. He is a local businessman, a licensed Professional Engineer, a former electric utility executive and has been to Iraq six times since 2004. In 2004 he was the senior advisor to the Iraqi government for electricity. As such he was the primary contact with the Iraqi electric utility and in developing the strategy for the expenditure of $5.4 billion toward the rebuilding of the decimated Iraqi electric system that serves over 25 million people.