David, Dave, Davy Crockett reportedly states and apparently imagines that our city's progress somehow relates to "ideas that he supported in the 1990's."
I remember this candidate's 1990's positions. I was general counsel to a regional manufacturing company and was a very active member of the Chattanooga manufacturers association. I can tell you that in the 1990's manufacturers perceived no greater threat than the wild eyed ideas of candidate Crockett.
His endeavors to bring manufacturing to a halt and to replace family wage manufacturing jobs with united nations-affiliated endeavors to make soap, among other things, defied logic and certainly did not demonstrate leadership or vision.
Candidate Crockett wanted to showboat then as he does now by making Chattanooga a model environmental city, at the cost of families being able to earn wages that would enable quality of life and true sustainability.
Crockett went away, but now he's back. If he had stayed, I question whether our city would possess the very enviable international manufacturing base that we now enjoy.
But in fairness to the candidate, if he had stuck around, we would probably have a better selection of artisan soaps and body lotions and probably a United Nations satellite office.
Michael Mallen
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I know Michael Mallen and I like him. He is a lot brighter than this opinion piece would lead you to believe.
I realize that the mayoral campaign that he is backing will do anything for power and I am scaring them to death for no other reason than politics. I would welcome a debate with you and your candidate any time any place.
My track record on making this a place for manufacturers to locate and expand is the best of all candidates. The others really don't have a record.
By initiating and passing the school merger and half cent sales tax we funded three property tax cuts of 50 cents each and provided the funding for the acquisition of the Volunteer Army Ammunition property (Enterprise South) and the Southside plan and projects. I was the initiator of all of those things. It takes lots of people to do something, but somebody has to see a path to start and say Now is the Time. I brought more corporate executives here than anyone else in government or the agencies charged with recruiting. I had a role in landing many of them including the $400 M DuPont expansion which was the largest investment prior to VW.
Michael represents a small group of local manufacturers who felt threatened by the cleanup of the air, the water, the downtown revitalization, the Tennessee Aquarium, Riverwalk, the greenways and by any mention of the word environment.
They also had a history stretching back to the 1950s when they resented DuPont coming to Chattanooga because it would force wages and benefits to rise. They were threatened by any new investment that subscribed to any new way of doing things like Dupont, ABB, the carpet companies and any national company. When the chairmen of our largest commercial employers ABB, Dupont along with executives from GM, Volvo, Panasonic, Canon, Collins and Aikman Carpets and many others were in Chattanooga for a conference they didn't attend because they didn't like the subject they were speaking on...sustainable manufacturing.
The mention of high tech and new manufacturing companies was perceived as a slight to their businesses. They would have liked to have taken us back to the 1950s.
That small group no longer has much influence in our very forward thinking Chattanooga Regional Manufacturers Association. The carpet companies and VW are industry leaders nationwide in Sustainable Manufacturing.
When I defeat your candidate, Michael, I look forward to working with you.
David Crockett
Candidate for Chattanooga Mayor