Burchett spoke at length about the election of House Speaker Kent Williams. He also discussed the workings of the State Senate and the upcoming legislative session. As he concluded his remarks, he said that he would open it up for questions and discuss the Mayor’s race.
Brian Hornback of Brian’s Blog asked two questions. The first was his position on merging the operations and the employees of the fee offices with Knox County Government. He said that he favors the election of the fee officeholders as well as the election of the School Superintendent. Hornback followed up with so what you are saying is that you would leave it as it is and the elected officeholders and that they should be allowed to run the offices as they see fit as they have always done. Burchett concurred.
Hornback then asked what is the most pressing issue facing the position of Knox County Mayor in 2010? Burchett said “Trust”. He went on to tell the story of witnessing a county employee that was at Wright’s Cafeteria. As he was checking out someone asked if he were going to put that on his p-card? The employee just put their head down. The county workers don’t deserve that. And the ship must be righted.
Burchett then out lined his three points in his upcoming campaign for Mayor.
Education – Burchett said that we can not pay big fat salaries and increase bureaucracy. Burchett’s degree from the University of Tennessee is in Education. His father and mother were lifetime career educators. Burchett said the key component to and in education are moms and dads.
Law Enforcement – We must continue to keep world class law enforcement.
Keep Taxes Low – We can not tax ourselves into prosperity.
He then stated that he is opposed to eminent domain – the taking of personal property for large corporations and government.
A lady then asked him about the homeless. She stated that we have a Veterans Home. Why do we not house the homeless there? Burchett explained that the VA home was built for individuals like his father to be there for the time prior to their death or those with lost limbs. There are not enough beds.
Burchett explained that the problem that continues to plaque the homeless is mental illness. Burchett asked if everyone knew what institution houses the greatest number of mentally ill. Several individuals said the jail. Burchett said that was correct. The lady asked. Why does the State not open up the mental institutions? He said the lawyers will never allow that. Deregulation is what has caused the shift of homeless out of the mental institutions to the private sector and the jails.
Thanks, Jimmy Carter, you worthless anti-Semite. Your “myth of mental illness” and subsequent shuttering of mental hospitals shifted the problem from institutions that were built to properly deal with them to the jailhouse.
Close, but not quite. The hospitals were emptied under Reagan.