WASHINGTON – Zach Wamp, Republican candidate for Governor, was joined today by Stefan Jacoby, President and CEO of Volkswagen of America, to talk about Volkswagen’s new auto assembly plant in Chattanooga and Wamp’s plans to launch a new “production agenda” as Tennessee’s next governor to move the state from third to first in automotive manufacturing.

Wamp and Jacoby were the featured speakers at this morning’s closing session of the Tennessee Valley Corridor National Technology Summit in Washington, D.C.

Jacoby outlined Volkswagen’s $1 billion investment in its new manufacturing plant in Tennessee that is expected to create more than 11,000 new jobs in the state. Jacoby said the plant would open soon with new mid-size sedans rolling off the Chattanooga assembly line early next year.

Wamp saluted Volkswagen and many other manufacturers that have recently invested in communities large and small throughout his East Tennessee congressional district, including Wacker Chemie, Alstom and Confluence Solar.

“As governor, I will create a strong new production agenda for Tennessee with a major focus on automotive manufacturing and related industries to create thousands of new jobs,” Wamp said. “Because for every job we can create in Tennessee to make it, build it or grow it, we can then create seven or eight more service, support and small business jobs. A strong new production agenda is priority one to help more Tennessee families and communities in every county in our state.”

During the Tennessee Valley Corridor event, Wamp was joined by hundreds of business, education and economic leaders from across the Tennessee Valley, as well as U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker and U.S. Reps. John Duncan, Lincoln Davis, Bart Gordon, Heath Shuler and Phil Roe for discussions on energy innovation, advanced transportation, education and workforce development and national security during the nonprofit organization’s 23rd summit meeting since Wamp formed the Corridor in 1995.

Wamp’s 20/20 Vision For an Even Better Tennessee includes plans for job creation in the critical areas of manufacturing, defense, information technology, health care services, agri-business, engineering, transportation and the rapidly expanding bio-fuel and energy sectors.

As governor, Wamp intends to leverage the state’s existing strengths and its growing base of automobile manufacturing and related industries to aid the development and recruitment of more high-tech jobs and create powerful new economic engines in every region of the state.

For more information about Zach Wamp and his campaign for governor, including his 20/20 Vision For an Even Better Tennessee, please visit the campaign online at www.ZachWamp.com.

By Mike Morrow
Nashville Examiner

You can tell Zach Wamp doesn’t really want to be a party pooper on the subject.

But it has become clear in Wamp’s campaign appearances recently that he’s heard a little too much about Tennessee’s victory in the Race to the Top competition, simply because everyone is missing what Wamp believes is a fundamental priority.

“You can talk about Race to the Top and the Tennessee Diploma Project, but let me tell you, unless we improve early childhood reading, that’s not going to work,” Wamp, a Republican candidate for governor, said. “You can raise standards for 8th grade teachers, but if 40 percent of their students are reading at 4th grade levels or lower, they’re not going to meet those standards.”

The issue strikes at the core of one of Wamp’s major campaign themes. He has been relentless in emphasizing the need to know if children read well enough by the time they get to the third grade. If not, he warns, that student might lose out.

Wamp does not criticize Race to the Top or the Tennessee Diploma Project. He is making the point that without attention to early childhood reading, those big-concept programs don’t stand as much chance of success as they might otherwise.

Read more here.

By Jackson Baker
The Memphis Flyer

Chattanooga congressman Zach Wamp on Wednesday became the first gubernatorial candidate of either party to sign a pledge committing himself to returning all federal funds generated by indigent care at the Med back to the Med, a step that he said would guarantee the Med’s financial survival for the next several years.

Wamp, a Republican, was backed by a bipartisan group of Shelby County commissioners, commissioners-elect, and Sheriff Mark Luttrell, a GOP candidate for county mayor, as he stated his commitment to the pledge (a signed copy of which was displayed) in front of the Med entrance on Jefferson Avenue.

Copies of the pledge, prepared by unanimous vote of the county commission, had been sent to all gubernatorial candidates back in April, and Wamp is so far the only candidate to respond with an actual signature and full commitment.

At least one other candidate, Knoxville mayor Bill Haslam, a Republican, has indicated he would probably not sign the pledge, though Haslam promised to seek other remedies to fully fund the Med. Yet to be heard from are Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey of Blountville, a Republican, and Jackson businessman Mike McWherter, the s0ole remaining Democrat in the governor’s r ace.

Although both Wamp and the county officials gathered with him characterized the event as “non-political” — a case, said the congressman, of “doing the right thing” — its political impact was potentially formidable.

All county officials present praised Wamp for his action. GOP commissioner Mike Ritz, one of the originators of the pledge and one who had not previously stated his support for a particular gubernatorial candidate, said that if Wamp remained the only candidate signing the pledge, he believed the Republican commissioners, as a group, would endorse Wamp. And he said that, in such a case, he would help to organize such a unified approach.

The two Democrats present, commissioners Sidney Chism and Steve Mulroy, suggested that they would remain within party ranks in supporting a candidate for governor, but both agreed that Wamp would be likely to gain support in Shelby County. Asked whether he thought the Republicans on the commission would support Wamp en masse, Mulroy said, “They should.”

Mulroy said he thought Wamp’s decision to sign the full-funding pledge would have a strong positive impact on the Chattanooga congressman’s prospects in Shelby County, while negative reaction elsewhere in the state from hospitals that have been sharing Med-generated funds for indigent care would be negligible.

Read more here. Video from the announcement is below.

By Tracie Simer
Jackson Sun

Tennessee has a lot of work to do in order for the wealth, health and education of its citizens to improve, said U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp.

Wamp, who is one of three major Republican candidates running for governor, made a few stops in Madison County Wednesday to highlight his plans.

At a lunch meeting at Premiere Place, Wamp shared his plan, the “20/20 Vision for an Even Better Tennessee,” which includes a diverse economy, an emphasis on early childhood reading, preventative health care and stricter sentences for repeat offenders.

“I’m going to stand on the Constitution and claim our sovereignty as a state,” he said. “That is a critical issue today. The federal government is running over us right now on this.”

Other states that are struggling have issues with spending, with values and are in decay, Wamp said. Leadership will determine Tennessee’s future, he said.

Wamp said he wants to reclaim the industrial and agricultural base of Tennessee’s economy. The state should also include technology, defense and other industries as part of the economic make up, he said.

Education is another important issue, Wamp said.

“Education has to improve,” he said. “Education means jobs. The earliest model for education is mom and dad educating their children, teaching values. Tennessee has a constitutional responsibility to teach children and we’re not doing it well.”

Read the full article here.

 He has traveled throughout Tennessee, hitting the campaign trail, talking about issues that matter to folks, telling people which candidacy is best in the governor’s race.

He gets good reviews for his speaking skills. It makes you wonder what his future in politics might be. The name is Wamp.

Not Zach Wamp. The congressman’s son, Weston Wamp.

“I’ve learned a lot from my old man,” he says.

So right off the bat, Weston Wamp shows an appreciation of seniority and an ability to refer to another political figure in colorful terms. There’s some potential.

Weston Wamp is 23. His current occupation is helping his father, the eight-term U.S. representative from Chattanooga who is running for governor, get elected. You get the impression he wouldn’t consider any other place in life.

Candidates routinely appoint surrogates to stand in for them at speaking engagements. They simply can’t be in more than one place at a time. It’s common for family members, frequently spouses, to pinch-hit for the candidate. Sometimes it’s a business associate or someone especially suited for the occasion. Zach and Kim Wamp’s daughter, Coty, has also spoken for her father.

But every now and then, you hear — or overhear — someone mention that Weston Wamp is impressive on the stump, which naturally makes somebody who’s heard maybe too many political speeches want to look up a fresh face. It turns out Weston Wamp is much less interested in Weston Wamp right now than in Zach Wamp’s prospects of being governor.

Read the full article here.