Audio clip
Chuck Fleischmann
Republican Chuck Fleischmann said he'll fight wasteful spending and oppose Democrats' plans for a public health insurance option if elected to Congress.
Along with five others in his party, Mr. Fleischmann is hoping to succeed U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., who's running for governor.
"Government, unlike private enterprise, does not know how to control itself," Mr. Fleischmann, an Ooltewah Republican, said Monday at the Hamilton County Pachyderm Club in downtown Chattanooga.
He railed against Democrats' plan for a public health insurance option, saying it would kill private insurance. He also took government spending in general to task.
"We need to control earmarks ... but we need to be sure we have TVA sufficiently funded with our locks that Zach Wamp fought so hard for," he said. "But studies on honeybees and mud wasps ... that's got to be stopped."
One of Mr. Fleischmann's potential Democratic opponents said that sounded a bit like double-speak.
"I'm for responsible spending. Period," said local systems analyst Brent Benedict. "That applies to my district or to any other district. Pork-barrel spending is a line people use to describe other people's spending in their district. I'm for responsible budget policies in all districts."
He faces a crowded field for his party's nomination, but he said his skills as a negotiator and budget hawk make him most qualified to hold the 3rd Congressional District seat.
Bradley County Sheriff Tim Gobble, one of Mr. Fleischmann's opponents, agreed that the public health insurance option appears to be flawed.
"I think the public option is not the way to go," Sheriff Gobble said. "In regard to health reform, I'm much more in favor of controlling the cost of health care. Government-run programs, once started, seem to do nothing but grow and grow."
Mr. Fleischmann admitted his party has shared some blame -- though not the lion's share, in his opinion -- for running up record federal deficits. He said he'll be a different, more budget-minded congressman.
"Some Republican leaders forgot what it's like to be fiscally conservative," Mr. Fleischmann said. "But you can't spend your way to prosperity. We can't tax our way out of our problems."
Republicans running against the Ooltewah lawyer and Sheriff Gobble include former Tennessee Republican Party Chairwoman Robin Smith, businessmen Tommy Crangle and Art Rhodes and engineer Greg Goodwin.
On the Democratic side, former Tennessee Commerce and Insurance Commissioner Paula Flowers also is running.
Adam Crisp covers education issues for the Times Free Press. He joined the paper's staff in 2007 and initially covered crime, public safety, courts and general assignment topics. Prior to Chattanooga, Crisp was a crime reporter at the Savannah Morning News and has been a reporter and editor at community newspapers in southeast Georgia. In college, he led his student paper to a first-place general excellence award from the Georgia College Press Association. He earned ...
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