Editors Note:
Rob Mitchell sent The Tennessee Star this “Open Letter to All 2018 Tennessee Gubernatorial Candidates and Citizens,” with the following note:
“As I begin to explore the possibilities of a candidacy for Tennessee Governor I believe that ideas and experience should be considered. I would appreciate your consideration of my open letter for publication.
Rob Mitchell
Rutherford County Assessor of Property”
We are running Mr. Mitchell’s letter in its entirety, as he sent it to us.
Dear Tennessee Star, my fellow Tennesseans, and would-be Gubernatorial Candidates:
We do not need a gas tax increase when our State has a tax collection surplus. The knee jerk reaction of raising taxes to solve management issues must stop. The issues both our thriving and our struggling communities alike are caused by poor management and worse policies. The next governor should immediately Repeal and Reform the state gas tax and sales tax. 2018 candidates, will you do that?
My proposal would be to reduce the state portion of the sales tax by one cent or more and transfer that equivalent option of sales tax to local communities. These additional funds could be earmarked for infrastructure. The best government is local government and the most effective is conservative in it’s approach to spending.
I will move immediately to repeal. 2018 candidates, will you?
We have many communities in Tennessee that are struggling. Yet we design our economic development plans to attract opportunity to already thriving communities.This causes crime and congestion issues in these communities which their tax bases cannot begin to address. While the collapsing tax bases in less affluent communities places burden on them of equal or greater magnitude. This is especially true if we consider the reduction in the quality of life and decreased life expectancy in these areas.
I recognized the impact privatization of State Parks such as Fall Creek Falls would have on our local communities. I publicly fought against it and lobbied widely for the cessation of plans to sell our community treasures to the highest bidder. We won that battle and saved hundreds of jobs in Van Buren and surrounding counties. I will fight for what is right. 2018 candidates, will you?
Five years as an elected official in the fastest growing county in Tennessee and eighteen months studying the budgets and expenditures of all 95 of Tennessee’s counties has provided me with an innate understanding of the challenges and opportunities to revitalize our great state. Government is a system connected and one must be careful of the overall impact of ideas when put into practice. A novice to managing in government may not understand the nuances.
We all know there are great challenges ahead of us in Tennessee. We have ahead of us, as citizens, many choices. We have an opportunity in 2018 to select someone who will lead our state in a direction of prosperity or continue in a direction of economic and political schism.
Our nation elected as President an individual who told us the truth even if we found it uncomfortable. I ask you the paraphrased question Ronald Reagan asked of all Americans, ” Do you feel better off and less stressed today than you were four years ago?” To that I will add, “Are our communities better now than they were when we were growing up twenty or thirty years ago?”
I will stand on a record of management and service. I stand on a record of honesty and keeping promises.
Don’t get fooled again! Put Tennessee First!
Tennessee needs a workhorse not a show pony for chief executive. Simple, common-sense conservative solutions are what we need for Tennessee. I can provide simple workable solutions. Can they?
Sincerely,
Rob Mitchell
Murfreesboro, TN
Every challenge we have as a State relates directly to a lack of understanding of how best to utilize tax policy to bring and foster opportunity. I am deeply concerned by the growing rift between affluent communities and struggling communities in our State. Several counties are perilously close to administrative and economic collapse. Yet the State continues to pursue the same path that has left many rural communities with no employment opportunities. Due to the declining tax base their infrastructure is crumbling and their schools are suffering. Electing more millionaires to lead our state will get us more of the same. I worry about the future our children face.
Well sir I think you were describing Sen. Mae Beavers.