Bredesen calls for unity

By John Commins Staff Writer

NASHVILLE — Phillip Norman Bredesen was sworn in at midday Saturday as Tennessee’s 48 th governor.

With temperatures hovering around 21 degrees, and before a crowd of about 3,000 shivering supporters at the Legislative Plaza, Mr. Bredesen, 59, a Democrat, took the oath of office using his childhood Bible.

His wife, Andrea Conte, and son, Ben, were at his side, and a giant Tennessee flag was in the background.

"I stand before you today believing we are poised at a time of great opportunity and growth in Tennessee, if we have the courage — and we will — to seize the moment," the new governor said in a 10-minute address.

He vowed to be a governor for all Tennesseans, and he called on the state’s lawmakers to do the same.

"When I raised my hand and took the oath of office a few minutes ago, those differences — Democrat and Republican, political friend and foe, big city and small town, East, West, Middle — all faded away, and I became simply, without fear or favor, the governor of all the people of Tennessee," he said.

Gov. Bredesen said Tennessee has "fallen into the trap of seeing just two ways of looking at our government."

"One way is the expansive view: more revenue, more responsibilities for government," he said. "The second is a more restricted view: cut expenses, fewer services.

"I want to say today that there is a third way," the new governor said. "The third way is common sense."

That includes setting priorities, just as families do, in tough economic times, he said.

"We have to get control of the budget and TennCare, and the work of the next few months will largely be achieving this. We h ave to get our economy growing and creating more and better jobs," he said. "We will accomplish these goals."

Gov. Bredesen also was joined on the stage by his Cabinet; most of the state’s congressional delegation; state legislators; former Govs. Ned McWherter, Winfield Dunn and Lamar Alexander, now a U.S. senator; and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, RTennessee.

Outgoing Republican Gov. Don Sundquist, who was constitutionally prohibited from seeking a third four-year term, wished Gov. Bredesen well in a brief farewell address. He also took one last opportunity to defend his unsuccessful attempts at passing an income tax.

"We know we have difficult times ahead nationally. Other states are now feeling the pain we have felt in Tennessee for the last several years," former Gov. Sundquist said. "We in Tennessee have already started the debate, and we are better prepared because of it. We had the courage to speak out and seek a brighter future."

Cold weather Saturday and 7 inches of snow in Nashville on Thursday forced the cancellation of the inaugural parade and prompted many supporters from across the state to stay home, Bredesen administration officials said.

Will Pinkston, a spokesman for Gov. Bredesen, said he was pleased with the turnout for the 45-minute ceremony, "considering the bone-chilling temperatures."

Thousands of supporters later attended Saturday night’s inaugural ball held at the Opryland Hotel on the outskirts of Nashville.

Gov. Bredesen’s message of unity and optimism, and the shortness of the address, were well received by lawmakers and supporters in the crowd.

"My first thought was it was cold, it was short, it was good," said state Sen. David Fowler, RSignal Mountain. "My second thought was it was a positive speech.

"A fter the last two years in particular it was nice to have someone say we have problems but we will address them," he said. "The optimistic tone he set is very positive and very much needed."

House Minority Leader Tre Hargett, R-Bartlett, said he’s been impressed, so far, with Gov. Bredesen’s outreach to Republicans. "We are going to have a good relationship," Rep. Hargett said. "There is going to be an open door for him to walk through to work with us, and I feel pretty confident it’s going to be the same for us."

Rep. Hargett said Gov. Bredesen knows he needs to address immediately issues like Tenn-Care, shaky revenue collections and the teacher pay equalization mandate.

"If any of the three legs of that stool fail, we’ve got an immediate problem," Rep. Hargett said. Lizzie Dickerson, an educator from Memphis, said she was encouraged by Gov. Bredesen’s call for unity.

"He is the governor of all the people, regardless of their political affiliation," Ms. Dickerson said. She said she wants Gov. Bredesen to focus on education and "presenting a budget we can live with."

To ny Poole, a factory worker from McKenzie, Tenn., said the first issue Gov. Bredesen will have to address will be Tenn-Care, the state’s $5.9 billion health care plan.

"TennCare is a mess, and it’s expensive," Mr. Poole said.

Mary Biddy, a Kroger cashier from Murfreesboro, Tenn., said she liked what she heard.

"Honestly, though, I didn’t hear a lot of it," Ms. Biddy said. "I had my coat pulled up over my head."

In an earlier interview with The Associated Press, Gov. Bredesen said he ran for governor because the state faces so many challenges, and he believes he’s the right man to tackle them. "If I can look back after a year and we got through a budget year successfully and made some real progress on TennCare, that’d be a heck of a year," Gov. Bredesen said.

Gov. Bredesen said he believes he is uniquely qualified to repair problems with Tenn-Care because of his expertise in health care.

TennCare is the state’s $5.9 billion health insurance program that serves 1.4 million Tennesseans who are Medicaid eligible, uninsurable because of medical conditions or uninsured children.

Before entering Tennessee politics, Gov. Bredesen founded HealthAmerica, which bought and turned around troubled HMOs at a time when managed care was in its infancy. He built the company into the nation’s second-largest manager of health plans and later sold it for $47 million.

Earlier, the new governor said his first year will be one of assessment and he doesn’t plan a major legislation package. He said his first three months likely will be the toughest of his four-year term, especially since he must draft a budget by March 1.

He said he will take it slow his first week, talking with his Cabinet and legislators, and moving into the governor’s office and mansion.

Although Gov. Bredesen owns a million-dollar home in Nashville, he said the people of Tennessee expect him to live in the governor’s mansion. He said he will keep his other home as a retreat of sorts.

"We’ll still have a place to decompress," he said.

Gov. Bredesen also has put his financial holdings — his net worth is at least $100 million — in a blind trust to avoid any conflict of interest. He also is debating what to do with his $85,000 annual salary as governor. He may use the money to raise the pay of his senior staff, some of whom could make double or triple in the private sector what they will make working for state government, he said.

Only 20,000 tickets were available for Saturday night’s ball, so Gov. Bredesen arranged for museums and attractions across the state to waive their admission fees Saturday as a way other Tennesseans could enjoy the inaugural.

Among those sites waiving their fees were: Hunter Museum of American Art; Creative Discovery Museum; Chattanooga Regional History Museum; Chattanooga Zoo; Arrowhead/Aerospace Cultural Center, Manchester, Tenn.; Museum Center at Five Points, Cleveland, Te n n .; Red Clay State Historical Park; and McMinn County Living Heritage Museum, Athens, Te n n .

The Associated Press contributed to this story.