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If you like what's happening in Hamilton County, Jim Coppinger would have you return him as county mayor for a third full term.
In other words, he's happy to run on his record.
"My record," Coppinger, 63, says, "speaks for itself."
That record includes 14,500 new jobs since he became county mayor in 2011, 48 new businesses, 100 business expansions, a 2.8 percent unemployment rate, and $252 million in school building projects.
Coppinger himself acknowledged everything's not perfect in every corner of the county, but we believe the Republican's conservative way of governing has paid off and provides us every reason to endorse him for re-election.
He is opposed by Democrat Aloyse Brown, a business executive who says she is a fiscal conservative who wants to better "align [the budget] with county priorities."
Although Coppinger pushed through a property tax increase 10 1/2 months ago, his first as mayor, by keeping the millage where it was after a 2017 tax reappraisal, he believes we "built that trust" with commissioners to get the affirmative vote and with constituents "when they see where you're going."
Where the county is going with the new revenue is to build schools, create a new sewage treatment plant in the northeastern part of the county and help the jail begin its transition to the Silverdale Detention Center.
Coppinger thinks the timing was right for the tax increase with the hiring last summer of Dr. Bryan Johnson, superintendent of schools.
Constituents, he feels, will start to see results, to see what they pay for from not only an energized school district but also from new school building projects and from the whittling down of school maintenance projects.
"We didn't get here overnight," he says.
Timing in the arrival of a study on how to alleviate the overcrowded jail also played a role in the tax increase.
"It was so important to spend taxpayer dollars" on the study, Coppinger says. "It saved us a tremendous amount - short- and long-term."
The mayor also defends permitting the Chattanooga Convention and Visitors Bureau continuing to reap all the county's hotel tax "to ensure Chattanooga stay[s] a vibrant, attractive place to come to" and the use of tax increment financing because it's "so competitive" among cities for business.
What success that has occurred in the county, he says, "happened because we all worked together."
Brown, while not playing down the county's success, believes it has too many people in poverty, too many people with low-wage jobs, too many people in jail because they're poor or mentally ill, not enough affordable homes, not enough student resource officers in schools, not enough clawback procedures in its tax-increment financing deals and too much unplanned growth.
To remedy or assist with some of the above, she would invest in re-entry and drug withdrawal programs for those in jail, partner with communities for more summer and after-school programs for children, make sure county meetings are more widely available to attend, see that on-board student resource officers and guidance counselors in schools are available more quickly, and work with community leaders to ensure that the highest performing schools are also the most diverse.
Where Coppinger chooses to run on his record, Brown asks if the county is "OK with the status quo, or do you want better?"
Although the mayor does govern conservatively, we believe the results have shown the county is better for his leadership. We believe he deserves another term.