Mid-level managers might be the positions to watch in a new administration as the state faces budget cuts, the way Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam was talking Monday.
Haslam, who won the Republican nomination for governor on Thursday, said Monday the state will probably have "a little less top-heavy government" if he is elected over Democrat Mike McWherter on Nov. 2.
"If you talk to people, really in no matter what department, they'll say we have too many chiefs and not enough Indians," Haslam said in Nashville, part of a swing that took him to the largest cities across the state. "I think you'll see a little different structure of the way personnel works."
One of the expectations for state government in the near future is that significant cuts will have to be made, and those cuts will almost inevitably result in the reduction of personnel. The Republican primary included talks of cutting government by up to one-third, a plank in the platform of Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, who finished third behind Haslam and U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp. Haslam has not spoken in such dramatic terms, but he has consistently emphasized the loss of one-time federal economic stimulus funds, and he reiterated that warning Monday.
Haslam also said he was a "Frog Jump Republican," rather than a Nantucket Republican, in a reference to statements made Saturday by Wamp at a unity event in Nashville.
Wamp had said the future of the party was in places like Frog Jump, the blue-collar stomping grounds of 8th District congressional nominee Stephen Fincher, not Nantucket, which is seen as an elitist environment and just happens to include a home of Jimmy Haslam, brother of the Republican candidate and chief of the family business Pilot Corp.
Haslam visited a crowded Elliston Place Soda Shop, where he thanked supporters and apologized to folks who happened to be there for a burger and milkshake. During his visit he stood firm on his take of the financial difficulties awaiting the next governor.
"The stimulus plan pushed the cliff back two years, but it didn't change the fact that the cliff was coming," Haslam said.
When pressed on exactly where he would cut the state budget, which must be balanced, Haslam would not make specific predictions.
"When I ran for mayor I didn't know at that point in time where all you could cut," he said. "You have to get in there in the middle of it and see."
Haslam is riding a wave of Republican support that has swept the state and not only suggests the GOP could take the governor's seat but could lead to pickups of Republican congressional seats, particularly in the 6th and 8th districts.
State Sen. Diane Black of Gallatin is the Republican nominee in the 6th District, where Democratic Rep. Bart Gordon is vacating the seat. She will face Democrat Brett Carter, an Iraq War veteran. Fincher's Democratic opponent in the 8th will be state Sen. Roy Herron of Dresden. U.S. Rep. John Tanner, a Democrat, is stepping down.
"You do have an energized Republican base. There's no question about that," Haslam said. "We obviously had a competitive race that got a lot of interest from people and drew people into it."
Haslam said little will change about the message of his campaign now that the primary is over, saying the focus will still be on jobs, education and dealing with the budget.
"That's kind of what we started talking about a year and a half ago and what we'll talk about the next three months too," he said.
Haslam said he has dealt with new Tennessee Board of Regents Chancellor John Morgan, who had been deputy governor to Gov. Phil Bredesen and is a former state comptroller. Morgan will take the Regents helm Sept. 30. Haslam said he has had "a good working relationship" with Morgan in the past and that he would look forward to working with him in his new capacity.
Haslam made workforce training one of the key tours in his campaign roadmap, and the Board of Regents oversees many of the public schools in post-secondary education in the state. Haslam said the issues for higher education are two-fold and appear to clash.
"We have twin challenges," he said. "We've got to increase the number of college graduates, and we're going to have to do that with a restricted budget, where we're going to lose $165 million in one-time funding that's going to higher education. So it won't be easy. I do think John understands that though."
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