Cooper: McCormick's effective leadership

House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick, R-Chattanooga, has said he will give up his leadership post to, in part, devote more time to his business interests.
House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick, R-Chattanooga, has said he will give up his leadership post to, in part, devote more time to his business interests.

It's refreshing, in a way, to hear a candidate say he is stepping down from a position to, in part, devote more time to his business interests.

That's what state House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick, R-Chattanooga, did this week. He's not leaving the House, just giving up the position of majority leader as of the start of the next legislative session in January.

He was elected to the position by his fellow Republicans in 2011 when the party assumed a working House majority and by all rights has acquitted himself well. As the party grew in power, his job was not simply a matter of massing Republicans to pass Republican legislation. Instead, he had to walk a fine line between the interests of a Republican governor and those of the factions in his party.

In a letter to fellow Republicans, McCormick, 54, took issue with what has become commonplace for members of both parties in the United States House and United States Senate (and previously in the Tennessee General Assembly and elsewhere) - that power should be the primary concern.

"Power for the sake of power should not be the ultimate goal of anyone's public service, good governing should," he said. "As a senior member of the General Assembly, I have always tried to maintain that perspective, and I hope others do the same."

We wish more federal and state legislators had the same thoughts. With a clear understanding of the seniority system which rules in Washington, D.C., we believe government benefits when those who hold leadership positions change more frequently in order to bring forward new directions and new insights.

Too often, though, legislators don't want to give up power until death pries their cold fingers from it, they are convicted of malfeasance in court or a scandal compels them to say they need to spend more time with their family.

Away from Nashville, McCormick has been a commercial real estate broker. Managing director of Stone Fort Properties, he recently oversaw the renovation of the Fleetwood Coffee Building from an abandoned structure inhabited for many years only by pigeons to a key property in the Innovation District offering both retail and apartment space.

In July, the six-term representative - who has no opposition for his District 26 re-election bid in November - also became a director with the investment banking firm of Decosimo Corporate Finance.

Taken together, those two jobs undoubtedly will keep him busy with a growing Chattanooga downtown.

We salute his nearly six years of leadership and look forward to seeing how he helps move our city forward while remaining involved with the state.

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