Tennessee State Senator Lowe Finney

Senate Democratic Caucus Chairman Lowe Finney (D-Jackson) writes in The Tennessean about our state’s key issues — jobs, education and health care — that know no party lines.

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BY STATE SEN. LOWE FINNEY

This week’s elec­tions sig­naled a change in rep­re­sen­ta­tion for many areas of the state, includ­ing my home region of West Tennessee.

I know many good, hard-working law­mak­ers who will be replaced in the com­ing months. They, as well as the elec­tion win­ners, are to be com­mended for their service.

Every­one who was elected last night, myself included, has now been given a great oppor­tu­nity to work for the good of all Ten­nesseans, not just Democ­rats or Repub­li­cans. The com­mon needs among peo­ple of all stripes — a qual­ity edu­ca­tion, a well-paying job and afford­able health care — remain the same after an elec­tion, and so should our priorities.

I am com­mit­ted to ensur­ing that our cit­i­zens have the oppor­tu­nity to go to col­lege and train for the jobs we are bring­ing to West Ten­nessee and across the state.

We have a respon­si­bil­ity to con­tinue attract­ing employ­ers while sup­port­ing the small busi­nesses that grow jobs and hire Ten­nesseans. And those who need our help the most should have access to vital med­ical care.

These aren’t impos­si­ble tasks; in fact, by build­ing on the firm foun­da­tion of Gov. Phil Bredesen’s two terms in office, we can improve the lives of mil­lions of Tennesseans.

Jobs, edu­ca­tion must come first

Lot­tery schol­ar­ships pro­vide nearly 90,000 stu­dents with means to obtain an edu­ca­tion. The West Ten­nessee meg­a­site promises jobs and the same kind of billion-dollar impact that sim­i­lar sites in Clarksville and Chat­tanooga are expe­ri­enc­ing. Our efforts to decrease infant mor­tal­ity rates in Ten­nessee — some of the high­est in the coun­try — are work­ing, as we pro­vide moth­ers with the care and train­ing they need to care for their chil­dren. And we must con­tinue our efforts at mak­ing a Ten­nessee a leader in clean energy jobs.

To con­tinue these suc­cesses, law­mak­ers must place their great­est pri­or­i­ties above par­ti­san deal­ings. I am glad that Gov.-elect Bill Haslam has com­mit­ted to sup­port­ing the West Ten­nessee meg­a­site and con­tin­u­ing the strides we have made in pre-kindergarten and higher edu­ca­tion. He and the new leg­is­la­ture have the oppor­tu­nity to work together to serve Ten­nesseans in a respon­si­ble, com­pas­sion­ate manner.

Much as in pre­vi­ous con­tests, the vote in Ten­nessee was meant to send a mes­sage: Lis­ten to what peo­ple are say­ing. This year, the Democ­rats no doubt bore the brunt of vot­ers’ dis­sat­is­fac­tion with what they were see­ing and hear­ing, from the halls of Wash­ing­ton to the local town square.

Peo­ple of all polit­i­cal vari­eties — lib­eral, con­ser­v­a­tive, mod­er­ate, lib­er­tar­ian, and every­one in between — were right­fully anx­ious. Vot­ers in my dis­trict told me time and again that they were tired of over-the-top neg­a­tiv­ity between cam­paigns. They wanted to know why I wanted to work for them and what I intended to do to improve our region and state.

The answers to those ques­tions can­not be found in divi­sive par­ti­san­ship. I am hope­ful that both new and return­ing law­mak­ers will lis­ten to what vot­ers have told them this year. If not, we risk find­ing our­selves on a much dif­fer­ent end of the same message.

Released November 17, 2010