By Brad Hicks
Johnson City Press
July 28, 2009

After 15 years of service in Congress, U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp said his decision to leave is final. However, he is hopeful that he will soon be undertaking a new political challenge.

Wamp, a Republican out of Chattanooga, said he has been a candidate for Tennessee governor in the 2010 race since December 2008 and since Bill Frist hinted that he would not be running. Wamp, who has visited 53 counties so far this year, said he has always been more motivated by impact than by money or power, and he believes serving as governor is how he can have the biggest impact.

“I honestly think the best way to do that is to be governor for four to eight years and try to improve the state,” he said. “I’ve lived here all my life. I love Tennessee. I raised my family here. By far the best people, by far the most beautiful state, but I know we can do better.”

Tennessee is currently 47th in the nation in health and 42nd in education, Wamp said. Aside from improvements in those areas, he said he would like to see what he called a “dynamic production agenda” set for the state. He said this agenda needs to be put into place for Tennesseans to have jobs that they can maintain and provide for their families, and also to make the state more production-oriented to bring in revenues to address other matters.

“I think that takes strong leadership,” he said. “It takes determined and dynamic, energetic leadership, and so I tell people often that we need our next governor to set an agenda.”

Wamp has dubbed his agenda “20/20 Vision,” which he said is a plan for what he thinks the state needs to look like by the year 2020 and what is needed to get there. He said there must be a renewed focus on agriculture, manufacturing and infrastructure. He also said growing existing industry is as important as bringing in new.

“If somebody doesn’t make it, build it or grow it, you can’t service it or sell it,” he said.

Also, Wamp wants an emphasis placed on education, in particular reading, which he called a “linchpin” in state education reform.

“This 20/20 Vision would have children reading much better earlier,” he said. “Step one in education is reading.”

Read the entire article here.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 22, 2009

Nashville, Tenn. – Zach Wamp, Republican candidate for Governor, announced today the names of an outstanding group of Tennesseans who will be helping him raise the funds needed for his growing statewide campaign for Governor. Wamp also named Mandy Runnels, former Finance Director for the Tennessee Republican Party, former Assistant Director of Strategic Giving at the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action, and an associate of the RJD Group in Nashville, as his Campaign Finance Director.

“I am honored and grateful that so many strong leaders of our great state are willing to lend their time and their talents to help us raise the funds it is going to take to carry my campaign for Governor to the people of Tennessee,” Wamp said. “These folks are top-notch business, civic and political leaders, and they will be key players in helping us multiply the deep financial support we have already enjoyed to date.”

Joining Bill Baxter, a leading Knoxville business executive, former TVA board chairman and former Tennessee Economic & Community Development Commissioner, who Wamp had previously announced as his Statewide Finance Chairman, as the latest members of the Zach Wamp for Governor state finance team are:

“We have worked hard to earn the support of these influential leaders over the first six months of this long campaign,” Wamp said. “This is a clear indication that top notch business leaders all across the state not only believe I am the best candidate, but that with the proper resources, we will win this campaign.”

Wamp said his state finance committee will continue to expand as more and more leaders sign on board. According to recent fundraising disclosures, Wamp raised more in campaign funds during the first six months of 2009 than all but one other of the nine major Republican and Democrat candidates in the race for Governor.

Just last week, an independent poll released by the Southern Political Report and published by The Tennessean, showed Wamp as the Republican voters’ top choice and out in front of all other Republican candidates seeking the August 2010 Republican gubernatorial nomination.

From better schools and universities to healthier children and families — from more high-wage jobs to a modern infrastructure with better roads, bridges and broadband — from strong and conservative state fiscal management to just saying “no” to a state income tax – Zach Wamp has a clear 20/20 vision of what we need to do to create an even better and brighter Tennessee and to move our state up in the national rankings.

The founder of the nationally-recognized “Tennessee Valley Technology Corridor” economic development organization, Zach Wamp has become well-known as a dynamic and visionary leader during the past 15 years of serving Tennessee’s 3rd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Wamp and his wife, Kim, live in Chattanooga, and they have a son, Weston, a recent graduate of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, and a daughter, Coty, who is a student at UT Knoxville.

For more information about Zach Wamp and to get involved in his campaign for Governor, please visit www.ZachWamp.com

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By Heather Mullinix
The Crossville Chronicle
July 22, 2009

While politics can often divide a community, Zach Wamp, eight-term Congressman and candidate for governor in 2010, hopes it can help bring the community together.

“I was talking with Denver Cole (Cumberland County Election Commissioner) earlier and he told me about some of the conflicts in the community,” Wamp told the Chronicle Monday. “One of my goals is to try to pull Republicans together in Cumberland County. A campaign can pull the party together around a shared set of principles and goals, and maybe even a candidate.”

Wamp has been traveling the state since January of this year, visiting 53 of Tennessee’s 95 counties. He hopes to visit every county in the state before the election in November 2010. The primary will be held in August 2010.

“I’ve been at this six months already,” Wamp said. “The bad part of constant campaigning is the voters and donors get weary. The good part of a long campaign is the candidates are more knowledgeable and, if they are smart, they listen and learn what the major challenges are and try to find solutions.”

While Wamp said he was still in the process of listening, learning and leading, he had developed a platform for his campaign that focuses on a vision for the state in the year 2020.

“The next governor is going to be able to shape what our state looks like in 2020,” Wamp said.

His platform includes developing jobs and industry; improving education; and health care.

“While Tennessee’s unemployment rate continues to climb, we need dynamic leadership centered in the production agenda,” Wamp said. “I have this mantra that is someone doesn’t build it, make it or grow it, you can’t service it or sell it. Any economic development program needs to include production in agriculture, manufacturing and infrastructure.”

Wamp noted Tennessee is currently third in automotive industry in the country and third in green energy jobs. He pointed to his involvement with the Tennessee Valley Technology Corridor which has targeted transportation and energy for new industrial growth.

“The success in the past year speaks for itself, with Volkswagen and Wacker Chemical making $1 billion investments and bringing 15,000 jobs in the next three years,” Wamp said. “In both cases, it is making us more resilient. We need that same kind of leadership in Middle and West Tennessee.”

Wamp believes the state could become first in the country in automotive and green technologies.

He said agriculture holds tremendous promise with the development of biofuels and to expand in the commodities industry.

“Agriculture is key as we try to lead on some of these sectors like energy,” Wamp said. “And the commodities sector of soybean in the west and tobacco in the east are still staples of our economy and needs attention to bring about growth.”

In education, Wamp believes reading skills are the cornerstone of improved educational opportunities.

“It’s the one issue that is connected to every other,” Wamp said. “Step one is basic reading.”

Read the entire article here.

Nashville, Tenn. – A new independent survey of early Tennessee voter preferences in the 2010 Governor’s race shows Zach Wamp leading all other Republican candidates by a significant margin.

The poll conducted by the InsiderAdvantage organization for The Tennessean and published by the respected Southern Political Report is the first independent survey in Tennessee’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign. More information about the survey can be found online at www.southernpoliticalreport.com.

The survey shows that Zach Wamp leads the field of declared Republican candidates with 22 percent of the vote, followed by Bill Haslam at 15 percent, Ron Ramsey at 7 percent, and Bill Gibbons at 4 percent. The remaining 52 percent of Republican voters surveyed were either still undecided in the race or named other candidates.

“As we have traveled and campaigned across the state, we have really felt the momentum shift our way in county after county,” Wamp said. “So while it is still early, I am very pleased and grateful for the early grassroots support we have received and by the results from this first independent survey of the campaign. But we will not rest on our laurels. We still have lots of work to do to reach out to thousands of other Tennesseans in the months ahead.”

According to the poll, Mike McWherter, the son of former Tennessee Governor Ned McWherter, is the early leader among the Democratic candidates. The Tennessean reports that the poll was conducted by InsiderAdvantage/Southern Political Report on July 13 among 604 registered voters in Tennessee, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percent, and that the data was weighted for age, race, gender and political affiliation.

From better schools and universities to healthier children and families — from more high-wage jobs to a modern infrastructure with better roads, bridges and broadband — from strong and conservative state fiscal management to just saying “no” to a state income tax — Zach has a clear 20/20 vision of what we need to do to create an even better and brighter Tennessee and to move our state up in the national rankings.

The founder of the nationally-recognized “Tennessee Valley Technology Corridor” economic development organization, Zach has become well-known as a dynamic and visionary leader during the past 15 years of serving Tennessee’s 3rd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Wamp and his wife, Kim, live in Chattanooga, and they have a son, Weston, a recent graduate of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, and a daughter, Coty, who is a student at UT Knoxville.

by Naomi Snyder
The Tennessean
July 12, 2009

The Davidson County Republican Party picked its favorites Saturday for the governor’s race while chomping on barbecue at Centennial Park: Tennessee Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey and U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp.

The two tied, with 59 votes each in a straw poll of 175 people who showed up for the $20-per-head event.

Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam, whose campaign expected to report this week raising the most money among Republicans, with about $3.8 million, came in third, with 29 votes.

But Davidson County Republican Party Chairwoman Kathleen Starnes emphasized that it’s early yet in the race for governor — with more than a year of campaigning still to go before the 2010 vote.

Jumping wholeheartedly into their early campaigns, five Republican Party candidates for governor braved the rain Saturday under a pavilion in Centennial Park to garner support among party loyalists, while Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame artist Jerry Foster performed a song that was critical of the United Nations and tenure for teachers.

Matt Collins, the first vice chairman of the Davidson County Republican Party, said there’s a struggle going on in the Republican Party “between fiscal conservatives, social conservatives and constitutional conservatives.”

Candidates share views

Saturday’s event was important because it gave the gubernatorial candidates a chance to highlight where they stand, he said.

Wamp, for example, said he had a solid conservative record on “life, marriage, guns, taxes and immigration.” He emphasized economic development and the fight against obesity and diabetes in children through education, not legislation.

On one of the key issues during the last state legislative session, allowing concealed weapon permit holders to carry their guns into parks and establishments where alcohol is served, Wamp said he would have signed the bill as governor but preferred language that would differentiate between a restaurant and a bar.

A strip club that serves alcohol is “the kind of place where you don’t want a fight,” he said.

Senate Speaker Ramsey said he would trust the 230,000 gun permit holders “in any park in Tennessee.”

Wearing cowboy boots and blue slacks, he pointed out his record as a legislator in Tennessee since 1992, taking credit for helping to defeat a state income tax and gaining Republican control of the House and Senate. He also said he and fellow Republicans got rid of state funding for family planning organization Planned Parenthood, to the crowd’s applause.

Haslam, on the other hand, the former president of family-owned truck stop retailer Pilot Corp., said the key issues are the state’s budget problems, the economy and education.

He said the state’s educational standards are too lax, and he touted his record as Knoxville mayor in increasing that city’s rainy day fund, improving the city’s credit rating and lowering its debt.

Bill Gibbons, the district attorney for Shelby County, said he wanted to push for tougher sentencing laws, saying it was possible to be convicted twice of robbing homes and not spend any time in jail.

“We have a broken system,” he said.

Read the entire story here.

By John Gullion, Citizen Tribune Managing Editor
July 5, 2009

Article Excerpts

After 14 years in Congress, U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp is an old hand.

With a crowded schedule to keep, the candidate for Tennessee governor waits for patiently for the signal that the small talk has stopped and the interview has begun. Once he receives that prod – and a relatively slight indication as to which direction the interviewer wants to go – he’s off.

Each question yields a detailed, multi-layered answer with Wamp driving the interview through the talking points he wants to hit.

Leaning forward in his chair with his hands thrust out ahead, Wamp works through his plans for the state. He doesn’t come off as over-rehearsed, just confidant and assured in what he believes he can accomplish.

He is careful – even as he lays out his education or health care plans – to pay homage to the pillars of the national Republican Party. He barely slows down as he throws out his positions on abortion, gun control and gay marriage. For the record, he is anti-all three.

But that’s not how he’ll separate himself from what is already a growing field of Republican candidates, so he doesn’t linger there long. Without being prompted, he steers back to why he is the man to lead Tennessee’s still newly Republican legislative branch and why his 20/20 vision – planning for what Tennessee will be in the year 2020 – makes him the man to lead Tennessee.

“I’ve been in 53 counties since Jan. 3 and there are a lot of economic needs in this state but they’re different,” Wamp said. “The 20/20 vision is that we have a dynamic economic development agenda.”

Part of that economic development plan, Wamp said, will be for the rest of the state to regionalize its focus – even across state boundaries – to attract industries. He cited Volkswagen in Chattanooga as an example.

Another big part of his economic plan will be to refocus the state’s investment in infrastructure.

“It’s been since Lamar (Alexander) since we’ve had an infrastructure governor that said we’ve got to invest in infrastructure in order to grow economically,” Wamp said, adding that the funding formula for how to build roads – heavily reliant on a gas tax – needs an overhaul.

“That’s the wrong way to collect your revenues for infrastructure,” he said, “through a gas tax that’s in decline. That’s one area that we’re going to have to change.”

Another area that is going to have to change in Tennessee is education. Specifically, reading at an early age.

“We’re not reading proficiently early enough,” Wamp said. “The schools that are successful with reading, they start benchmarking in kindergarten to see if they are reading. If they’re not, they pull them out and give them an hour’s worth of direction instruction, phonics to teach kids how to read.

“Starting in third grade in Tennessee they start reading for content. If they don’t know how to read and everybody starts reading for content, they’re behind and they never catch up. There’s a straight line between third grade students that can’t read and the 28,000 that dropped out of school last year.”

Read the full article.

By Michael Thomason

The Advocate and Democrat

July 7, 2009

Calling it his “2020 vision,” U.S. Congressman Zach Wamp brought his campaign for Tennessee governor to Monroe County Thursday, speaking before the county’s republican party at Donna’s Restaurant in Madisonville.

Wamp told a supportive crowd that Tennessee needs vision, saying, “Tennessee needs a governor who can envision what our state will look like in 2020. Growing and attracting the jobs of the future is priority number one. We need a governor who is proactive, not reactive.”

During his half hour speech, Wamp touched on state rights, the technology corridor he helped kick off nearly a decade ago and the need for improving education in the state.

“Education is a concern,” he said. “Tennessee is 42nd out of 50 states in education. We can do better. Reading is the key. We need to start kids reading in kindergarten and by the third grade make sure they’re reading and understanding what they’re reading. Studies have shown that kids who aren’t proficient at reading will have trouble in the world.”

Wamp also talked about health care and health issues, saying Tennesseans as a whole need to take better care of their health.

“We have an obesity problem in the state,” he said. “and that has lead to a type 2 diabetes problem. We have to do better.”

Wamp said he has faith in his candidacy, believing his 15 years in congress and his experiences in the business world before that have prepared him for the state’s top job.

“Money is not everything,” he said. “The richest candidate does not always win. The best candidate with the brightest ideas will win.”

Read the entire article here.

Says His Campaign for Governor is Clicking on all Fronts

Nashville, Tenn. — Although late contributions are still being tallied and his official campaign finance report will not be filed until closer to the July 15th reporting deadline, Zach Wamp announced today that he has already raised and will report more than $1.2 million for his campaign for Governor.  Just as importantly, Wamp said his campaign has been able to bank away more than $1 million of those funds for use next year in his 2010 gubernatorial campaign.

“I could not be more grateful to so many folks all across Tennessee who have contributed so early and so generously to our campaign,” Zach said.  “At the beginning of this year, we set an internal goal and built a plan to raise $1 million by June 30th.  But thanks to the support of so many regular Tennesseans, we not only blew by that goal, but we were able to actually bank away the first million we will need when the real campaign begins next year.”

Unlike other campaigns, the preliminary totals that Wamp announced today do not include any roll-over funds from any previous campaign committees.

“While our early fundraising success and cash-on-hand are very important, they are only one part of a winning campaign, Zach said. “And we believe we are the only campaign on the Republican side that is putting in place what it will take to win on every other important front.”

Wamp said in addition to raising more than $1.2 million and having more than $1 million in the bank, that he also already has in place:

-  A strong and experienced campaign management team — led by the former Tennessee Republican Party    chairman Bob Davis and a group of other seasoned Tennessee campaign professionals;

-  A rapidly-growing Statewide Leadership Team (with more than 250 key leaders announced last week) of leaders, volunteers and fundraisers already actively at work organizing in their local communities and counties across the state;

-  A rapidly-growing statewide political organization that features experienced and committed Zach Wamp for Governor County Chairs or Co-Chairs already in place in 25 of the top 30 Republican voting counties that will account for nearly 80% of the likely GOP primary vote in 2010, and in several more Tennessee counties.

-  Early leadership for a number of key statewide coalitions forming in support of Wamp’s candidacy — such as the notable “Veterans for Zach Wamp Leadership Team” announced earlier this week.

- A group of nationally acclaimed, yet Tennessee experienced, polling, advertising, direct mail and voter contact professionals who are already at work and know how to win tough campaigns.

In addition, Wamp said he now has also put in place a strong Statewide Finance Committee (to be announced soon), led by Knoxville business executive and former TVA chairman Bill Baxter, as well as a planned series of regional and county fundraising events during the second half of 2009 that will help grow his fundraising success.

“I have really felt the momentum begin to shift our way, especially in the last few weeks, in counties all across the state,” Zach said. “And at the end of the day, this race is going to be decided by the people and not by the big money crowd. So I am deeply grateful to all of those regular Tennesseans who are sharing their ideas, their advice and their financial support as we work together to create an even better and brighter Tennessee.”

From better schools and universities to healthier children and families — from more high-wage jobs to a modern infrastructure with better roads, bridges and broadband — from strong and conservative state fiscal management to just saying “no” to a state income tax — Zach has a clear 20/20 vision of what we need to do to create an even better and brighter Tennessee and to move our state up in the national rankings.

The founder of the nationally-recognized “Tennessee Valley Technology Corridor” economic development organization, Zach has become well-known as a dynamic and visionary leader during the past 15 years of serving Tennessee’s 3rd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Wamp and his wife, Kim, live in Chattanooga, and they have a son, Weston, and a daughter, Coty, who is a student at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

To get involved in the campaign or to learn more about Zach Wamp, please visit www.ZachWamp.com.

By Zach Wamp
Knoxville News Sentinel
June 2, 2009

Schools are wrapping up for the year, and across the state, many children and teens eagerly await the promise of summer. But learning doesn’t end with summer vacation or even with a diploma. Education is a lifelong journey that begins at conception and continues to the grave.

Most education discussions are narrowly focused on the K-12 and college years. But in the 21st century, it is much more expansive, and our efforts to educate Tennesseans should reflect the differing needs of individuals at every stage of life.

It starts in the womb. A growing body of research supports the role that DHA omega-3 fatty acids play in the development of a healthy baby. DHA is a major structural fat in the brain and eyes, which benefits brain, eye and nervous system development and reportedly leads to better verbal skills, fewer behavior problems and even higher IQs. Research also shows that children whose mothers exercised 30 minutes a day during pregnancy score higher on standard IQ tests than the children of more sedentary mothers. And exercise combined with breastfeeding for up to nine months will raise a typical child’s IQ to about 14 points above average, according to psychologist Richard E. Nisbett.

Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times recently wrote that good education correlates closely to higher IQ and, “while IQ doesn’t measure pure intellect – differences do matter, and a higher IQ correlates to greater success in life.” Because proper brain development occurs in the womb, we can educate pregnant mothers on how to prepare children for success.

Whichever schooling option suits a family’s needs, whether public, private, religious, magnet, charter or home school, as a child advances to kindergarten and later high school, basic reading skills and hard work are fundamental to academic success. Having books in the home and reading aloud to children can help them learn to read, imagine, create and write.

Reading skills are important to scholastic success and to learning for a lifetime. Research points to third-grade reading scores as a good predictor of later academic success, and those who don’t read well by the end of third grade often struggle to understand content in other classes.

Intensive education programs also can help prepare students in underserved communities for success. One such option, the Knowledge Is Power Program, has 66 schools across the country, including two middle schools in Memphis and Nashville. One of the core features of these schools’ approach is that hard work and character matter for success. Despite the fact that 80 percent of the students live in low-income households, IQ scores of KIPP students match those of students at expensive private schools, and more than 80 percent of KIPP alumni go on to college.

Individuals have different strengths, and not all students want to attend a four-year college, despite some of the advantages of earning a college degree. That’s why community colleges and vocational and technical schools are so important. Community colleges provide an excellent education whether a student wants to complete an associate’s degree or certificate program. Vocational and technical schools offer training for trades or skilled craft labor.

Education continues well into adulthood. For those who did not finish high school, there are adult education programs available in Tennessee. High school graduates are better qualified for the work force and are able to get better-paying jobs, which can improve a family’s standard of living with an increased income. Boosting participation in these programs will only increase the economic opportunities and the earning potential of Tennessee families.

U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp represents Tennessee’s 3rd Congressional District, which includes Oak Ridge and Chattanooga.