Story Published:
Mar 16, 2010 at 10:11 PM CST
Story Updated:
Mar 17, 2010 at 3:53 PM CST
Joe Wilmoth, who announced late last week that he is running for the Tennessee Senate to represent the people of the 15th district, met for an exclusive interview with UCDailyNews today.
Mr. Wilmoth said that this is the first political race he has ever seriously pursued. He decided to pursue this race at this time, he said because “There are so many things happening in our government – if we continue in the way that we are going today, our children and grandchildren are not going to have a chance. The people have got to take back over government. It’s getting to a point now that a man just wanting to start a business – without quite a bit of money – there’s just no way they can get in it. It’s a different time and I think we need to leave this place better than we came into it.”
“I know I don’t have a lot of years,” said Wilmoth, “but I would like to accomplish something. Seems like we’ve soured on jobs. I believe that working for some good incentives for businesses, we can bring quality jobs for our kids and grandkids to be able to stay in this area if they want to.”
“I’ve always said I’ve never been a Democrat or Republican…I’ve voted for both. I've voted for a lot of my friends -- people I believed in -- who were Democrat. On the national side, I lean toward Republican because of the morals and values, but I am an independent because I vote both ways. I’m a Christian first. I just want to see what’s best for our city, state, country, and children.”
“I went back through and looked at the bills written in the House and Senate last year. Most of those are written to control people. I believe that the government belongs to the people and they should have control. They go in with certain agendas and push it through to their own party and I think we should go down to help the people, not a certain group.”
When asked about key strengths, Wilmoth said “My morals are my key strength. I don’t want to go down to help myself, but my kids and grandkids….I want to make a difference for them.”
“I would like an advisor from each county to help work together and help me understand strategies to help all of the areas. I have a lot of plans that I’m not quite ready to talk about, but I really want it to be about the people as a whole and not one group.”
