Ned McWherter

 ( 1930 Births ) 

McWherter entered the House of Representatives at a turbulent time in state politics. During his first term, Republicans controlled the House for the first time in several decades. During his second (1971–1973), Democrats regained control of the House, but a Republican governor, Winfield Dunn, had been elected. To counter Dunn, Democrats chose fiery Nashville attorney James McKinney as Speaker of the House. McKinney vehemently opposed Dunn's initiatives and refused to consider most of his legislation.

At the beginning of McWherter's third term (1973–1975), Democratic legislators, who controlled the House by a slim 50–49 margin, were concerned that McKinney's stubbornness was preventing the state from conducting its affairs, and several suggested replacing McKinney with McWherter. In the House Democratic Caucus, McWherter was chosen over McKinney as the party's choice for Speaker by a single vote. Sensing disunity among Democrats, Governor Dunn tried to convince disgruntled McKinney supporters to vote for a Republican in the full House vote, but was unsuccessful, and McWherter was elected Speaker by a 50–49 margin.

One of McWherter's first major issues as Speaker was a 1974 bill that sought to establish a medical school at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City. The bill was popular in East Tennessee, parts of which were struggling with a low doctors-per-capita ratio. Governor Dunn, however, vetoed the bill, arguing the medical school in Memphis was adequate for the state's needs. This sparked cries of favoritism from East Tennesseans (Dunn was from Memphis). After the Tennessee Senate voted to override the veto, McWherter, brushing off a threat from former Memphis mayor Henry Loeb, led the House in overriding the veto, allowing the bill to become law. When Dunn ran for another term as governor in 1986, his lack of support for the medical school in Johnson City came back to haunt him. Despite an overwhelming Republican base in the eastern part of the state, McWherter was able to gain the support of Republican Congressman James H. Quillen to pick up a majority of votes in the state's First Congressional District.

In 1976, McWherter supported Democratic presidential candidate Jimmy Carter. At a Carter campaign event in Memphis, McWherter expressed irritation with an ABC cameraman, prompting reporter Sam Donaldson to tell the cameraman, "don't mind him, he's a nobody." Years later, when President Ronald Reagan was scheduled to appear before the Tennessee General Assembly, McWherter removed Donaldson's name from the media credentials list. When Donaldson showed up at the state capitol, he was denied admission by the House sergeant-at-arms. After issuing a string of profanities, Donaldson stormed out of the building and returned to Washington.

In January 1979, outgoing Governor Ray Blanton issued pardons to over 50 state inmates, including several convicted murderers. His administration had been under investigation for selling pardons, and the FBI and state lawmakers feared more illicit pardons would be issued in his final days in office. To prevent this, McWherter and Lieutenant Governor John S. Wilder engineered a constitutional maneuver that allowed the governor-elect, Lamar Alexander, to be sworn in three days early.

During the 1980s, McWherter worked with the Alexander administration on a number of issues, including foreign investment and education. McWherter's support was critical in helping Alexander obtain passage of the "Career Ladder" bill, which provided income supplements to the state's top teachers.

Sensing an opportunity, McWherter entered the race, and defeated Public Service Commissioner Jane Eskind and Nashville mayor Richard Fulton for the nomination, winning 42% of the vote to 29% for Eskind, and 26% for Fulton. With Alexander term-limited, Republicans nominated former Governor Winfield Dunn.

Dunn's campaign tried to portray McWherter as a West Tennessee beer salesman, though McWherter pointed out that Dunn was a co-owner of a hotel in Nashville that sold liquor, and noted that Pilot, a convenience store chain owned by Dunn's campaign treasurer, Jim Haslam, was one of the state's largest beer retailers. Dunn also failed to pick up a critical endorsement from East Tennessee congressman Jimmy Quillen, who was still bitter over Dunn's veto of the ETSU medical school bill. McWherter ran a strong statewide campaign, visiting and organizing in all 95 counties. On election day, he defeated Dunn, 656,602 votes to 553,449.Phillip Langsdon, Tennessee: A Political History (Franklin, Tenn.: Hillsboro Press, 2000), pp. 397-400.

In the late 1980s, a showdown erupted between Tennessee and North Carolina over the pollution of the Pigeon River, which rises in North Carolina and traverses a mountainous area before emptying into the French Broad River in East Tennessee. East Tennessee residents and environmentalists charged that toxins dumped into the river by the Champion Paper Mill in Canton, North Carolina, damaged the river's economic potential and had led to an unusually high rate of cancer in lower Pigeon Valley communities. Canton residents argued that the town was economically dependent on the mill, which employed 2,000 workers.Nancy Herndon, " Upstream Battle Over Polluted River: Job Layoffs at Issue in Cleanup of Pigeon River Along North Carolina-Tennessee Border," Christian Science Monitor, 22 March 1989. Retrieved: 8 January 2013.

When the Environmental Protection Agency ordered Champion to upgrade the plant to meet Tennessee's water quality standards, the company threatened to close the plant and lay off all 2,000 workers. East Tennessee residents held demonstrations, and asked that Governor McWherter not renew the plant's water quality variance. Legislators from both states traded barbs, cars with Tennessee license plates were vandalized in North Carolina, and McWherter's office was flooded with calls from angry North Carolina residents. Following an unscheduled trip to Canton, where he was confronted by a sheriff who told him he was "trespassing on Champion's River," McWherter announced on Christmas Day, 1988, that he would not renew the plant's water quality variance.