Candidate to Replace Tanner Visits UTM

Sen. Roy Herron, Congressional candidate for the 8th District, launched a Jobs Listening Tour Monday with visits to Lauderdale and Haywood counties, two West Tennessee counties struggling with unemployment above 18 percent.

Despite the snow, Herron held listening meetings to discuss job creation at 8 a.m. at the UT-Mart Ripley Center in Ripley and at the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce in Brownsville.

At both events, Herron met with community leaders, business owners, and students to hear their ideas on ways to save existing jobs and create new jobs for rural communities. He also met with several people looking for jobs in both places.

"Families and business owners all across the 8th District are hurting," Herron said. "It's time Washington focused on jobs instead of bailout out Wall Street. In Congress, my top priorities will be jobs, jobs and jobs."

A fiscal conservative, Herron has voted to balance state budgets and said he knows how to make the tough cuts needed to keep the country on track.

Herron also said he is proud to have supported policies that make Tennessee one of the top business-friendly states in the country, including legislation he sponsored to help employers train workers to meet new industry needs.

In addition, Herron fought for the West Tennessee Megasite that will bring 21st century jobs to rural West Tennessee. And he also advocated for the Hemlock Semiconductor plant in Clarksville and the Northwest Port and Industrial Park in Lake County. Together, these new facilities are expected to create thousands of jobs.

Lauderdale County has the highest unemployment rate in the state at 18.9 percent, according to December 2009 estimates released by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development. At 18.5 percent, Haywood County ranks fourth among Tennessee counties in terms of joblessness.

In the coming weeks, Herron's jobs tour will include listening meetings in all of the district's 19 counties.