Clement takes swipes at Alexander during stop in town

By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Bob Clement displays a dollar he recently offered Republican opponent Lamar Alexander during a debate. Clement, in his visit here Saturday, questioned Alexander’s business dealings. (Duane Sherrill photo)

Standing in the bed of a pickup truck in downtown McMinnville Saturday afternoon, Democrat Bob Clement told supporters his race against former governor Lamar Alexander is winnable.

Citing his eight terms in Congress, Clement said he knows how to get things done in Washington D.C. and will vote with the interests of Tennesseans at heart if elected to the senate over his Republican opponent.

“Lamar has said he will vote with George W. Bush 99 percent of the time,” Clement said. “When I’m elected, I will vote with the interests of Tennessee 100 percent of the time.”

Clement went on to blast his opponent for questionable business deals, wondering aloud how Alexander was able to get such great returns on his investments, pointing out his opponent once spent $1 and made $620,000.

“I offered him a dollar at one of our debates, and told him just to imagine how much that dollar could help education here,” Clement quipped. “Before the next debate, he went ballistic, demanding the moderator not allow me to use props. He was referring to the dollar.”

Clement went on to say Alexander helped merge Martin Marietta and Lockheed and made $236,000 out of the deal. However, the same day, 30,000 people were let go from the company.

Clement then turned to Alexander’s service on the board of ENA which recently received a $102 million state contract while the campaign was ongoing. Clement said the FBI is investigating the case.

Clement went on to say he would get tough with big business which takes advantage of the people, such as was the case with Enron.

“We need to fine them, take their money away and incarcerate them,” Clement said. “We need to do this because of what they’ve done to America.”

Clement said he plans to work to strengthen the economy, noting the president told him recently the economy was doing fine.

“The economy is not doing OK,” Clement said. “We need to turn things around. People are unemployed or underemployed.”

Clement criticized the Bush administration for borrowing from the Social Security program, noting it was “bad policy.”

Clement also said something must be done about the high price of medical prescriptions.

“We pay twice the price in Tennessee as people do in Japan and Europe,” Clement said, noting he is for passing legislation to stop companies from charging Americans more than other countries for pharmaceuticals. He also wants to add prescriptions to the Medicare plan.

In conclusion, Clement urged supporters to keep plugging given polls which show the race tightening.

“They’re bringing in the big guns again,” Clement said. “But, if you keep getting out there and working, this will be a winnable race.”