------------------------------------------------------------------------------ NewsBank, inc. - The Commercial Appeal - 1998 - Article with Citation ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Headline: SUNDQUIST ASKS NEW TERM TO CAP HIS AGENDA \ GOVERNOR VISITS OLD W. TENN POWER BASES Date: October 17, 1998 Section: Metro Page: B1 Edition: Final Dateline: SELMER, Tenn. Length: 871 words Author: Richard Locker The Commercial Appeal\ Nashville Bureau Chief Index Terms: GOVERNOR TN CAMPAIGN SHELBY CO Text: Gov. Don Sundquist toured the southwestern Tennessee counties of his old congressional district Friday, asking voters to allow him to serve one more term to complete his agenda for the state. The governor launched a nine-day, 52-county bus tour at his Shelby County campaign headquarters in East Memphis and a rally in Bartlett before winding down U.S. 64 through Fayette, Hardeman and McNairy counties to ask his political base of 16 years to elect him an eighth and final time. Sundquist is expected to win over six-time candidate Democrat John Jay Hooker Nov. 3 with what could be a record margin in a statewide election since Republicans began seriously contesting gubernatorial elections nearly three decades ago. "This year, I have two opponents: one is the nominee I'm running against and the other is apathy," Sundquist told a crowd of about 75 people here on the McNairy County Courthouse lawn. "Elections can be lost. I don't take this one for granted." At each stop, Sundquist summarized the chief accomplishments of his first term and asked for another four years to continue the work. "We're getting things done," he told a crowd of about 125 at W. J. Freeman Park in Bartlett. "We're giving children an excellent education, providing economic opportunity, protecting public safety and health, and protecting our environment. . . We've done all that not by raising taxes but we're doing it by managing spending, being smart about how we spend our money, retooling our government for the 21st Century.So I'm asking for a second term as governor so I can finish the work that we started. I want to make sure that we complete the reforms that we worked so hard to achieve." Sundquist cited his welfare reforms, the completion of funding for the 1992 Basic Education Program begun by former governor Ned McWherter, and cleaner air and water as key accomplishments. The landmark Families First welfare program imposed a two-year time limit on adult welfare recipients who are able to work and, as a result of both that and the booming economy, the welfare rolls have been cut by nearly 60 percent of adults who are not disabled, elderly or their caregivers. The BEP program has increased state funding for K-12 public schools by more than $1 billion a year from when it began six years ago. Sundquist said he wants to continue to improve education, particularly turning his attention to higher education. A task force he appointed two years ago is expected to deliver recommendations for streamlining the higher education system early next year. He also wants to streamline government, by merging some of the 22 Cabinet-level executive branch departments. In an interview with The Commercial Appeal editorial board on Thursday, the governor said he wants to combine the departments of Labor and Employment Security into one agency that has a new focus on job training. Sundquist was confronted by a group of eight advocates for more home-based, long-term care for the elderly and disabled at the early-morning kickoff at his Eastgate Shopping Center headquarters. Alternatives to life in nursing homes was a major issue in the state legislature this year but lobbying by the private nursing home industry stymied any attempt to divert any public funding into home-based care. "We wanted the governor to know the big issue in our state right now is long-term care," said Dawn Russell, a physically handicapped member of the activist group ADAPT. "What we're asking is that they redistribute some of that money to home-based services. About $750 million a year is going to nursing homes - 99 percent of the money available." The governor spoke briefly with the group. "You have one view - to take money from one thing and put it into another," he told them. At the editorial board session, he said he is looking at ways of channeling more money into home-based care "without creating a massive new open-ended entitlement" program and without diverting money from nursing home care. In Bartlett, Sundquist urged voters to re-elect state Rep. W.C. `Bubba' Pleasant (R-Bartlett), who is being challenged by Democrat Sandra S. McQuain and independent candidate David Ward. "I count on Bubba as part of my base support in the legislature. He's a common sense conservative. He's a team player and he's an effective representative for Bartlett," he said. Senate Speaker and Lt. Gov. John Wilder of Somerville introduced the governor at each stop from Somerville east, and the Democratic legislator and the Republican governor heaped praise on each other. The tour continued Friday to Chester and Henderson counties. It will resume Monday in Middle Tennessee. \ Call reporter Richard Locker at (615) 255-4923 or E-mail him at locker@gomemphis.com Caption: photo Copyright 1998 The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN Accession Number: 9810170116 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------