Chattanooga Times Free Press

Gov.-elect Bill Lee says he’s ‘ready to go to work’

- BY ANDY SHER NASHVILLE BUREAU

NASHVILLE — Fresh off his decisive victory in Tennessee’s gubernator­ial race a day earlier, Republican Gov.-elect Bill Lee said Wednesday he is “ready to go to work” and is now putting together the team to carry out the promises he made to Tennessean­s as he prepares to become the state’s 50th governor in January.

Lee, a political newcomer who defeated Democrat and former Nashville mayor Karl Dean with nearly 60 percent of the vote, met with term-limited Republican Gov. Bill Haslam on transition plans leading up to his Jan. 19 inaugurati­on.

During his campaign, the 59-year-old businessma­n from Franklin laid out a vision but was sometimes short on specifics in areas such as how he plans to reduce health care costs and how far he plans to go in areas such as school vouchers.

“We have clear and defined ideas about where we want to go,” Lee told reporters at a state Capitol news conference with outgoing-Gov. Bill Haslam, with whom he had met earlier to plan the transition.

Saying he was “really excited about giving the steering wheel” to Lee, Haslam said he is “committed to making this the best transition in the state of Tennessee.”

The governor also said each of the state’s 23 executive branch department­s, as well as agencies, are providing “what we’re calling a continuity of state operations book that they are ready to hand to their successor.”

Haslam said the “difficult part of this job is you come into this job and the legislatur­e gives you a little break” on presenting the state’s budget to lawmakers on Feb. 1. But the month-long extension isn’t a huge break, considerin­g the annual spending plan stands at $37.5 billion.

The governor said his commission­ers, some of whom could be asked to stay on in the Lee administra­tion, know the “highest priority now” is to help Lee’s team. And like most outgoing governors, Haslam will lay out basic areas in the proposed budget.

Lee has yet to publicly announce members of his transition team. As for who will be asked to join his administra­tion, Lee said “clearly we’re immediatel­y starting that process and we will immediatel­y begin to interview and talk to current commission­ers and consider what those positions will look like. So those conversati­ons will start today.”

He noted that on the campaign trail, he spoke “extensivel­y” about his “belief that we need to strengthen vocational types of education. We’ll be looking at real plans for that. We have talked a great deal about lowering your recidivism rate by looking at real criminal justice reforms, sentencing reform, re-entry programs.

“We’ll certainly explore those,” Lee said, noting he wants a focus on job creation and economic developmen­t, particuly in the rural communitie­s and those that are struggling.

“We have 15 distressed counties and we want to look at policies that will strengthen up those communitie­s,” he said.

“And then we want to begin to look at how is it that we immediatel­y address the escalating, rising costs of health care. Those are things that we will develop clear strategies for going forward.”

The governor-elect praised Haslam for his achievemen­ts over the last eight years, saying the governor laid a “firm foundation” on which he will build.

Lee is owner of Lee Co., a building and constructi­on services firm that employs 1,200 plumbers, electricia­ns and other workers. The company has had contracts with both Tennessee government and a number of local government­s.

The Associated Press reported that a recent public records review showed the company no longer has a large state contract providing plumbing, electrical and HVAC services after the firm chose not to renew it at the end of August.

The company does have local government contracts. Lee told reporters he is working on restructur­ing the company “in a way that’s clear and transparen­t but also provides for there to be no conflicts of interest going forward. That would be our plan.”

 ?? AP PHOTO/MARK HUMPHREY ?? Tennessee Gov.-elect Bill Lee speaks Wednesday during a news conference in Nashville.
AP PHOTO/MARK HUMPHREY Tennessee Gov.-elect Bill Lee speaks Wednesday during a news conference in Nashville.

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