FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 22, 2008
Contact:
Susan Miller
423-929-8753/794-0270
smiller@osm-adv.com
Johnson City Mayor Announces Congressional Bid
Roe: ‘It’s not about politics, it’s about people’
Johnson City, TN – Surrounded by family and a horde of supporters at City Hall, Phil Roe announced today he will toss his hat into the ring for the Republican nomination to represent Tennessee’s First Congressional district.
The Johnson City mayor pledged to “work for the people’s interest, not special interests” and sounded a strong anti-Washington and “politics-as-usual” theme.
“It’s not about politics, it’s about people,” he declared to enthusiastic applause.
Roe was responding, in part, to a comment reported in local media last week. When word leaked out that Roe would be entering the race, Roe’s opponent, Rep. David Davis, criticized Roe for a lack of “political savvy.” On Tuesday, Roe seemed to proudly embrace that label.
Roe lashed out at career politicians whose main objective, he said, was to get themselves re-elected “at great cost to the American taxpayer.” “It’s time for a change in Washington,” said Roe.
Roe, a physician, also announced on Tuesday that he is retiring from his practice of medicine after 31 years. But he pledged to use his experience as a physician to help straighten out the country’s broken healthcare system.
“A government-run bureaucratic healthcare system is not the answer,” Roe said, calling for free market ideas and competition to help rein in escalating healthcare costs.
One of the people standing with Roe at his announcement was Captain Dan McConnell, who served as a helicopter pilot in Afghanistan, losing an arm in a combat-related crash.
“Veterans will have no better friend in Congress than me,” said Roe, while calling for “world-class care” for honorably discharged veterans. Roe himself is a veteran, serving as a captain in the second U.S. infantry division in Korea.
The Republican primary will be held on August 7.