I’m not writing today to recommend any candidate for any office; Lord knows there has been enough of that going on to last a lifetime. My wife and I have definite core values that are unshakable, and we don’t need anyone to tell us how their values line up precisely with ours. Conversely, I don’t feel everyone has a right or an obligation to hear my opinion...If you’re reading this it’s because you choose to, nothing else.

Of the current list of candidates for governor, there is only one that I will never vote for again. I say “again,” because I actually did vote for him when he ran and lost to Marilyn Lloyd for the Third District Congressional seat in ‘92, and again when he won in ‘94. I don’t think I’ve ever been as proud as I was in '94. It was the Gingrich revolution, the Contract with America, the Republicans had won a majority in the House and Senate. Most important of all, this candidate promised to run for no more than six consecutive terms. It was a promise he showed no signs of reneging on, and based on that I was prepared to vote for him for senator, governor, even Chattanooga City Councilman should he take the notion to hang it up and come home.

I was ready and willing to put whoever he endorsed to the head of the line when considering who I would vote for as his successor. I was convinced that no amount of pressure from the party or those who benefited from his office would cause him to back away from his promise to give up the seat after 12 years. His promise.

You see, this candidate was all about his pledge every single time he was re-elected, right up until his 12 years were about to expire. He was considering a run for the U.S. Senate, a run I fully intended to support. I don’t know exactly what transpired, but most likely a conversation with soon-to-be Senator Corker made him realize there was no way Corker would be outspent, and any notion he may have had of serving in the Senate was quelled.

Again, I can only imagine, but I think he decided to seek the Third Congressional seat for a seventh time, despite his promise, after some encouragement by the people around him. By this point, many new voters had come into play since his first election and (more importantly) many had died that could remember his pledge. He then announced that he had been wrong and it really took a man with his experience and clout to make a difference in the House of Representatives, and so he was running for a seventh term after all. With no apologies, just like that, he was candidate for seventh time, brushing aside the fact that he had distinctly promised not to be.

And with that, I then determined that no matter what his politics in the future, my consideration for him was done, no matter what public office he should decide to seek. He’s the one who has to live with his decision, as all of us have to with our own. The fact is, I can’t tell my daughter it’s okay to break a promise because of expediency – even political expediency. The people who re-elected him and those who are pushing for his ascendancy to governor of Tennessee will have to deal with these facts on their own.

Zach Wamp, I will never vote for you again. You are a good person. I only wish you had kept your promise.

Steve Milling
bidmor@epbfi.com

* * *

I am sorry you are not going to vote for Zach Wamp due to the fact he broke
a promise that was made years ago. We are in a crisis right now, and I
can't understand someone refusing to vote for the best man to get us out of that crisis just because he broke a promise years ago.

At the time he made the promise, he was probably really meaning to do that, the circumstances were
different than they are now. Zach Wamp is the man for the job, and his record proves that.

You yourself said he is a good man but you don't want to vote
for him because of this? People, wake up and be aware of what is going on
around you, take a minute and look at what is happening to your freedoms and
our country. I have watched Zach Wamp a long time; he is the man for the job.

Bud Mansel
Bud9391@wmconnect.com

* * *

Mr Milling articulated his opinion very well concerning Zach Wamp, and I agree with him. Mr. Wamp has the same characteristics of all of the career politicians who went before him and all that will come after him. They will say and do anything to get in office and stay in office, and the term limit promise he made is a perfect example of this. I imagine that had he kept his promise, I would have voted for him for governor. Like Mr. Milling, I will never vote for him again for any office.

We the sheeple, excuse me, people keep electing the same ones year after year, and they keep spending our money with no regard as to how we want it allocated. Wake up people and put some fresh faces in the government. If they don't perform, vote them out also.

David Smith

* * *

Circumstances change, and things in Washington were very volatile when Zach decided to run for his seventh time. The circumstances just were not right for him to stand aside. We needed experienced representation, and it just was not the time for Zach to step down. He ran because it was the right thing to do for the people of the third district. I for one and glad that he listened to his constituency when we asked him not to abandon us, changed his mind and stayed where he could do some good. Now he is running for governor, and I know that he will be a good one.

Marlyn Robinson

* * *

You are quite right, Ms. Robinson. "Circumstances change." I can tell you exactly what changed that opened the way for Zach Wamp to break his term-limits pledge: the steam went out of the term-limits movement, and Zach perceived it was no longer risky to break his promise. He figured he could get away with it--and he was right.

I have yet to get Zach or any of his supporters to answer this simple question: If Zach will break campaign promises when it becomes convenient for him to do so, how can we possibly know which of the promises he makes now he will keep and which will ultimately become too inconvenient and go the way of his term-limits pledge? I think it's a fair question. One that, as I said, has never been answered.

Zach broke this promise not once, but two or three times. He must think the voters are slow learners. And you know what? He's probably right again.

Ray Minner
Collegedale, Tenn.
minnerray@gmail.com

* * *

As a young voter at that time, I am so glad that Mr. Wamp broke that promise. I had a chance to meet Mr. Wamp a few years back outside the political realm. I have never met a man who is more sincere about caring for people. And really trying to do what is best for them and not for himself. People may not agree with
me, but I have noticed, this man will come out and say when he is wrong. Not
many people ever humble themselves in this manner anymore. Even if he knew
he would fluff a few feathers, and possibly lose votes, he still put it on the line and ran because of people like me who needed him. Not because I needed a job, or any under the table deal. Just because my family and I deserved the best man for
the job at that time, and he was it.

I had always hoped he would one day run for this office. I can't imagine a better time for someone like Wamp to take this seat. Just like so many times before at that particular time, he was the best. And in the
crisis we are in, he is the best.

Come August, I will step up and cast my vote for this man who once again, I need him. And if he becomes our governor, I will have no doubt he is giving it his all to do what is best, not for himself, but for all the people of this great state.

Valarie Ward
Chattanooga