Former Nashville mayor Karl Dean, Democrat, and businessman Bill Lee, Republican, squared off in their first debate of the 2018 Tennessee gubernatorial election Tuesday night in the University of Memphis’ Michael D. Rose Theatre.
The candidates answered questions that had implications of city, state and national concern.
When asked how he would work to protect women in light of Christine Blasey Ford’s accusation of sexual assault by Supreme Court justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh and the #MeToo movement, Lee said he thought what was playing out on the federal level was everything that was wrong with politics.
“We have created in this country a very divisive environment of toxic rhetoric that is not productive toward either protecting and being certain that we care for the dignity of women nor those who are being accused,” Lee said. “We have created an environment that is not productive to solving those problems.”
Dean said workplace training was crucial to addressing issues of sexual assault and women’s mistreatment. He also said people needed to be “diverse” in their hiring, urging people to hire more women.
“Any employer has got to recognize this is a problem in American society, it is a problem in American business, and it is a problem in American government,” Dean said. “And anybody who thinks it’s not isn’t paying attention.”
On the subject of transportation, Dean said he was excited to tackle the issue and said regional transit was of utmost importance to his intentions as governor.
“We need to be thinking about transit solutions that will help all of our cities be prosperous and that would help people in rural Tennessee, too,” Dean said. “The state has got to start playing a leadership role on regional transit issues and on alternatives to automobiles.”
Lee said technology would solve the transportation issue, citing rideshare services like Uber and Lyft.
“Technology is dramatically changing the way we move people,” Lee said. “You would’ve never thought five years ago you’d land in an airplane and punch an app on your phone and ride somewhere with someone you’ve never met before in your life — jump in the car with a perfect stranger.”
Dean rebutted Lee and said those solutions would only put more cars on the road, and people need reliable transportation to get work.
“You need transit for people to get around and do that,” Dean said.
Dean said he was for Medicaid expansion because it could benefit almost 300,000 Tennesseans, and citizens of this state were paying for the program anyway.
“So this money is leaving our state, and then it’s going to 34 other states that get the benefit of it,” Dean said.
Lee said Medicaid was a flawed program and thought expanding that type of program in this state would not benefit Tennessee.
“Expanding a broken, flawed system by taking federal money and moving something down the road that is fundamentally flawed, I believe, is a mistake for Tennessee,” Lee said.
CEO of Greater Memphis Chamber Phil Trenary’s recent slaying inspired a question about how crime should be handled in this state. Lee said building a system that was tough on crime while also being smart on crime was essential.
“That means we need to address those most egregious criminals in a profoundly serious way, and yet, at the same time, look hard at the way we intake and re-enter folks if we really want to reduce the crime rate,” Lee said.
Dean said keeping firearms out of the hands of “dangerous” people through legislation was the way to begin addressing gun violence and crime in communities.
“That’s not taking guns away from people,” Dean said. “That’s merely keeping guns out of the hands of people who are dangerous, and that’s common sense.”
On the topic of education, Lee said he would work to incorporate something like Shelby County Schools’ Innovation Zone, a subset of the school system designed to turn around results of underperforming schools, into other struggling school systems in the state.
“When I’m governor, I want to go to every struggling school district and say, ‘What is your idea of your Innovation Zone to transform your education system?’” Lee said.
Dean said schools across the state needed to be funded more, along with increasing pay for teachers. He also said some rural areas did not have the tax base required to fund their own school system, so those areas would struggle from the start without proper resources.
“I don’t think anyone can argue Tennessee overfunds its schools,” Dean said.
When the question of how President Donald Trump’s tariffs would hurt Tennessee, Lee said he supported the President’s recognition of the trade imbalance, but he also said he was concerned about how they would affect the state. He said he thought he could create a win-win scenario.
“As governor, I will be concerned about the impact that any tariff might have on us locally in this state, but work with the federal government to alleviate that,” Lee said.
Dean said while Tennessee cannot directly affect trade policy, he said he would let federal lawmakers know how that policy could be detrimental to Tennessee’s economy.
“We need to work as hard as we can to protect our industries here, to protect agriculture, let the President and those in D.C. know we’re concerned and try to lobby our position,” Dean said.
