Lenda SherrellLenda Sherrell is the best and only choice to fill Tennessee's 4th Congressional District seat now shamed by the incumbent Scott DesJarlais, a tea party-leaning Republican who ran on a pro-life ticket but was found to have encouraged both his former wife and a mistress to have abortions.
Sherrell, a Democrat who believes party affiliation should never be a divider, is a retired certified public accountant who was born and raised on the Cumberland Plateau but spent much of her career in Chattanooga where her specialty was working with nonprofit health care and educational institutions such as McCallie School, hospitals and groups like the AIM Center.
After she retired, she and her physician-husband built a house in Monteagle, and she stayed involved in community - whether it was working with Girl Scouts or local schools.
That love of community and what she sees as the diminishing opportunity of today's middle-class families motivated Sherrell to challenge DesJarlais for his seat in Congress.
Growing up in Pleasant Hill, Tenn., she had a father who was a rural letter carrier and a mother who was a school teacher. Her parents, on their modest salaries, were able to buy a house, raise two children, save for their college educations and for their own retirement.
"But over the last couple of decades I have begun to see middle-class families like that struggle more and more," she says. "They can pay for food and rent and utilities, but there's less and less left over at the end of the month for them to have money to set aside for their kids' college, for their own retirement, let alone for a rainy day fund."
She blames that on decisions that have been made in the public arena - "the legislation that has been passed or not passed in order to sustain those families."
The inability of Congress to do anything frustrates her.
"It's seems we're just paralyzed by partisanship. I am running as a Democrat but I am one of those candidates who thinks we have to work together to find common ground and come up with solutions," she said in a meeting with Times Free Press editorial writers.
She supports raising the minimum wage and tweaking the Affordable Care Act - especially to make enrollment simpler in a program that already has helped at least 10 million people get insurance for the first time.
On new issues, such as fighting Ebola and ISIS, she says she has confidence that the U.S. can appropriately respond and overcome the challenges. The U.S. needs to prioritize making sure the country has adequate health equipment and resources to be ready for Ebola. She is not a war hawk, and she is very reluctant to advocate for more boots on the ground in the Middle East except as "last resort."
"Wars are fought differently now, if technology is used to its full potential," she says.
DesJarlais, a South Pittsburg physician, is best known not for his votes, but for his scandal. First elected in 2010, his staunch pro-life stance was later rocked by revelations that he had encouraged a patient and mistress to seek an abortion in 2000. Then documents later released from his divorce showed he concurred with his then-wife's decision to seek not one but two abortions. DesJarlais has said those decisions were made over a dozen years ago and that he has since changed his life, found God and remarried.
In August 2013, Politico labeled DesJarlais the incumbent most likely to lose his primary election. The prediction was wrong - though just barely. DesJarlais defeated state Sen. Jim Tracy by 38 votes in the Aug. 7 Republican primary.
But DesJarlais - with the exception of taking to the mike to talk of his "changed life" - has largely been a no-show for both the voters and the public. He has not attended most forums and debates. Neither he nor his office responded at all to requests from the Chattanooga Times Free Press to visit the editorial board, or even to have a conference telephone call with us.
He also has a spotty voting record in Congress, according to records compiled at www.govtrack.us.
In the past 16 voting sessions, he has made all votes in only eight sessions. In the other eight, he has scored in the 25th, 18th, 20th, 79th, 58th, 62nd, 74th and 100th percentile of Congress member-missed votes. From July through September of 2014, he missed 137 of the session's 147 votes. On July 12, DesJarlais, 50, announced in a news release that he had been diagnosed with early stage cancer in his neck. He said he would undergo radiation and chemotherapy that should be mostly completed during the August congressional recess. He said he was expected to make a full recovery.
This is a crucial election for this region, as the 4th District represents a huge area of Southeast Tennessee. The district almost completely surrounds but does not include Hamilton County.
Now more than ever, the district's residents need an engaged representative who will look out for their interests and who likes common-sense governing to find solutions that get things done.
Lenda Sherrell is that person. We urge your vote for her.