I have watched the list of potential candidates appear on the Chattanoogan polls for the 2022 Hamilton County mayor’s race, from Bo Watson to Tim Boyd. How fun these polls are for the community.
With each potential candidate listed in the Chattanoogan polls, I can immediately associate the candidate to their profession or employment, or how they have earned a living. Of course, there is much more depth to these folks.
I genuinely appreciate what all the elected do for Hamilton County, and put their name in the hat to serve the community.
If I made a flash card for each name listed in the polls on Chattanoogan, and asked you to quickly associate the name with a profession or business, what would you come up with?
Ok, so here go my name flash cards,
Matt Hullander = Hullco
Bo Watson = Physical Therapy
Sabrena Smedley = Real Estate Broker
Tim Boyd = Engineer
Greg Martin = Real Estate
Mike Walden = Walden Security
Weston Wamp = I cannot associate a place of employment or profession.
I am going to ask as a mere villager, Weston, where do you work?
Weston has formally announced that he is running for Hamilton County mayor.
I believe the public will insist on reasonable information that includes employment history. After all, the county mayor is the CEO of Hamilton County government, and the mayoral candidates are applying for the top job. The budget of county government is around $800 million plus. Electing or hiring a person to keep services operating with an estimated 7,000 plus employees with an $800 million budget warrants indepth scrutiny of the candidates.
The public cares about services, how funds are spent, and managed. Especially, when county government wants to increase property taxes.
Weston reports that he is a venture capitalist, founded the Millennial Debt Foundation nonprofit in 2019, and was appointed to the Board of Regents by Governor Bill Lee in 2019.
The Board of Regents is a non-paid board position that meets quarterly, according to online sources. That appointment began in 2019. No income there.
The Millennial Debt Foundation was also founded in 2019. GuideStar posted the initial 2019 IRS 1099 where Weston reports no income or salary received from the $110,000 in nonprofit startup funds. The 1099 for the Millennial Debt Foundation lists Nick Macco and Travis Truett as non-paid board members, along with Weston as the nonprofit president. No salary is reported for Weston.
Weston also produces a podcast series for the Issue One nonprofit called Swamp Stories. The stories provide insight into political debacles, and are well done and interesting. As it turns out, the nonprofit Issue One funds the Swamp Stories most likely through a contract reported in the nonprofit's 1099’s that lists a contract with Zach Wamp Consulting for the last several years. The Issue One contract has compensated Zach Wamp Consulting approximately $119,000 to $136,000 annually over the previous three years, according to the GuideStar 1099 for Issue One. There are several seasons of Swamp Stories produced likely under the Zach Wamp Consulting contract with Issue One.
There was a period of employment for Weston fundraising for a venture capital fund called Dynamo around 2016. In an article titled, Dynamo Weston Energizes Transportation Tech, Weston was quoted, “My senior partners started and bootstrapped a company called Access America Transport in 2002. It grew to $500 million in sales and was one of the largest freight brokerages in the U.S. before merging with Coyote Logistics in 2014 and subsequently selling to UPS for $1.8 billion in 2015. Over the last several years they started several more transportation-related ventures including AAT Carriers, Reliance Partners, and Steam Logistics.”
The same article reports, “Lamp Post Group principal Weston Wamp understands the fundraising struggles that startups go through after experiencing the same obstacles when he was running for the U.S. Congress.”
Perhaps, Weston does not need a job, as a Lamp Post principal. Either way, the public needs to know the employment history for all mayoral candidates.
Is Weston a principal of Lamp Post Group? If so, this should be known. I can find no mention of Weston’s role as a principal since the 2016 article.
The local political buzz is the question of Weston’s lifestyle that includes a $600,000 Black Creek home acquired in 2016, and many dependents to support. Where does Weston work to support his lifestyle? It is a simple question for a person that is asking to be charged with $800 million as a county mayor.
Weston can clarify the employment with a simple time line resume; most professionals keep one on hand. Again, being county mayor is a huge responsibility job, and Weston is applying for it through elected office. The public deserves to know employment history at a minimum.
All candidates should provide a timeline resume of their employment, and all potential conflicts of interest should be identified, as Hamilton County government does not need its own Swamp Stories.
It is our government too, so ask the questions that need to be asked.
April Eidson
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For all of my adult life, April Eidson has had vendetta against me and my family. I do not believe I have ever met Mrs. Eidson, but that has never stopped her from spreading falsehoods and innuendo about me.
She fashions herself a good government advocate, but she lacks credibility because she trades in conspiracy theories and personal insults about people with whom she disagrees.
People like April are the reason fewer and fewer good people run for elected office. She appears to enjoy intimidating and attacking others. Just like all bullies.
As for her allegations and questions about where I work:
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After years of serving as a Founding Director of Lamp Post Group, I was one of the co-founders of the initial Dynamo Fund. I named the fund and led the fundraising of the first-of-its-kind logistics-focused $18 million venture capital fund. Dozens of Chattanooga’s most prominent business leaders are investors in the fund and are very pleased with the fund’s performance. In 2017, I departed Dynamo and sold my ownership stake to the other partners. It was a very positive outcome for me and Shelby.
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Since that time I have been self-employed, serving as a consultant and conservative voice of a national reform organization, hosting a successful podcast called Swamp Stories. That business engagement has nothing to do with Zach Wamp Consulting, as Mrs. Eidson wrongly alleges.
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In 2019, I launched the Millennial Debt Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit which advocates for stewardship within government. In 2020, after we raised startup funding from Tennessee business leaders and were awarded a grant by an esteemed conservative foundation, I began working as a contractor to the Millennial Debt Foundation, serving as its Executive Director and President. I’m quite proud of the work that our team, which includes School Board Chair Tucker McClendon, has accomplished. We have convened digital and in-person events related to the national debt that have included Tennessee Governors Bill Lee and Bill Haslam as well as national conservative leaders such as Sen. Tim Scott, Sen. Marco Rubio, Sen. Mike Lee, Sen. Joni Ernst, Sen. Lindsey Graham, Sen. James Lankford, Rep. Dan Crenshaw, Rep. Byron Donalds, Rep. Trey Gowdy, former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Sen. Bob Corker.
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Lastly, like a lot of people, Shelby and I live in a home that we built five years ago that has appreciated significantly in value in the last year.
It will be interesting to see if Mrs. Eidson is equally curious about how Matt Hullander derives his income.
In addition to having four beautiful children, Shelby and I have enjoyed a string of successes in business and the nonprofit sector in the years since I ran for Congress in 2014. I’m sorry if that disappoints Mrs. Eidson and her insatiable appetite for a good conspiracy theory.
Weston Wamp
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The pen is mightier that the sword. Even though it is a metonymic adage, it’s an idiom that can do some real blood letting. I compliment April Eidson for her writing skills. However, when the verbiage becomes so obvious as a vendetta, not only does it become glaringly obvious, it also serves no positive purpose and reflects badly on the writer.
Hamilton County has been blessed to have Jim Coppinger as our county mayor. It doesn’t mean I agree with everything he has done, rather his overall job performance has helped us move forward in a big way. He has worked well with others and that is a sign of a good leader.
Now we are blessed to have two good candidates for the same office and both have the tools and skill sets to do a good job. They both come from good families who have contributed to the well being of Hamilton County. Weston has been very open about how he has earned his living and the fruits of his labor have enabled many families to enjoy a good lifestyle. He not only has a creative mind, he also knows how to follow through and make things happen. As well as Bill Hullander did with Hullco, Matt has taken it to a new level.
Weston had a wonderful idea of a series of debates where we could see how he and Matt respond. April could have brought that out in her “hit piece” but I guess it’s more important to her to play out her real agenda. Earlier she wrote about Weston and Coty and labeled their candidacies as “nepotism”, which they are not. Neither is Matt’s, although his father Bill holds a public office.
J. Pat Williams
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Dear Mr. Weston Wamp,
With the opening line of your response to the letter from April Eidson in the Opinion Section of The Chattanoogan.com, you sound like a petty little child complaining about being picked on.
Until I read that opening line of your response I would have voted for you, but no matter how grand you think of yourself, words do matter, and perhaps you are not the person to lead Hamilton County into the future.
Temper the anger inside before posting to a public forum, as your written words can change minds.
Just think, had you not penned those first three lines, you would not have turned off this voter from voting for you.
Dwayne Cales
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No, Mr. Cales, it is not Weston who sounds like the petulant child. Ms. Eidson has consistently been the bully for as long as I have been following this online news source.
I applaud Weston Wamp for calling her out and calling a spade a spade.
Wayne Cook
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I normally read the opinion piece of this page with great interest, you can tell quite a lot about someone’s philosophy in their writings.
It appears in the initial post by April she included some time and research as she combed thru the various sources trying to find out how much and what type of “hands on” work experience the county mayoral candidate truly has. When you elect someone to be mayor, you are hiring them to look after your whole county’s well being, in essence. After reading the candidates response, I still don’t see the answer to her question as to what he currently does as a “job”, not saying he doesn’t have one, just don’t see it expounded on. Yes, he dropped a lot of names of high ranking government officials from across the nation, but they aren’t applying for the job, they already have one.
Being qualified to run a county as complicated and populated as Hamilton takes tremendous experience, maturity and people skills. I have three children and their families that live in Hamilton, every political decision there peaks my interest since it can enhance or hurt their futures. Please, when choosing leaders for their home county of Hamilton, elect the most highly qualified person available. You are paying the same salary to whom ever is chosen, so get the top shelf, most level headed, intelligent candidate possible, it costs you the same salary as hiring an unqualified person. Be sure they have the “hands on” experience. It’s your future and tax money at stake.
Joe Blevins
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I am finding this opinion article and responses very interesting!
This past Saturday my husband and I were discussing all the candidates and I said, “Now what does Weston Wamp do?” And his response was, “I literally have no idea- I have heard him on the radio but I don’t really know.”
I would imagine we are not the only Chattanoogans having this conversation.
I try to read everything on the Chattanoogan with an open mind. It is definitely my humble opinion that it would have been better for Mr. Wamp to simply say where he works or what he does rather than talking about his (or his family’s) conflict with Ms. Eidson.
Taking the high road is always, always best but so rare in anything political. Instead of a breath of fresh air this seems like more of the same jab throwing. And boy am I ready for that breath of fresh air.
Stephanie Hoewischer
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Often politicians ask for rain and then fret when the storm comes. Weston Wamp, lacking experience, has been working towards a government job for several years. He recently announced his candidacy for county mayor, which pays approximately $180,000 annually.
Yet now, as qualification storm bands roll in challenging his candidacy, unforgivably, his defense turns into a Trump-like temper huff, displaying a lack of maturity and steadiness needed for this critical job.
Johnny Jones