After serving on the Sullivan County Commission for 18 years, Michael Surgenor is taking the next step in his political career by seeking a seat in Tennessee’s House of Representatives.
“Running for state office is something I’ve always wanted to do,” said Surgenor, a Democrat who is seeking the District 1 House seat in the Nov. 4 general election. Early voting for the election is under way, and ends Oct. 30.
House District 1 covers most of Bristol, Tenn., and the northwest corner of Sullivan County. The state House has 99 representatives.
Republican state Rep. Jon Lundberg has represented House District 1 since 2006, and is seeking re-election.
During a Friday interview, Surgenor, an intermediate school principal, laid out a list of the initiatives, both local and statewide, that he hopes to tackle if elected.
“The important thing to me is education,” Surgenor said, adding that he wants to increase the amount of money that Tennessee spends on education.
“We are a state that has been deadlocked for three decades in the bottom 20 percent of per-pupil expenditures,” he said. “We can do better than that.”
Surgenor said education is key to attracting new jobs to Sullivan County and to improving the region’s economy.
State officials should “look out for education” as they draft a new budget in a tight economy, he said.
Surgenor applauded Gov. Phil Bredesen for maintaining funding for public education while cutting other state programs as he sought to address this year’s budget deficit. Surgenor also complimented Bredesen for improving the state’s TennCare and KidCare programs, which provide health care to the poor.
Access to affordable health care is another factor that had a direct effect on the region’s economy, Surgenor said, because “it’s hard to make a living when half of your salary is going to medical care.”
Specific to Sullivan County, Surgenor said he would work to block a proposed landfill from being built in Blountville’s Barter Hollow. EcoSafe Systems LLC applied for a permit from the state of Tennessee to build the landfill in May 2006.
Surgenor said he is against the landfill because it could threaten two streams that flow toward the county’s Bloomingdale community. He also objected to the proposed site because it is so close to Interstate 81.
Surgenor said he wants to help the Sullivan County Jail manage its crowding issues by increasing the payments that jails receive for housing state prisoners. Tennessee currently pays county jails $26 per prisoner per day.
“With $26 per day, you can’t feed and house these prisoners,” Surgenor said.
Extra money for housing those prisoners also would help the counties build new jails and decrease crowding, he said.
Besides serving on the county commission, Surgenor has worked as the principal at Bloomingdale’s Ketron Intermediate School since 1999.
He said he hoped to continue that job if elected to office and would assign his duties to an assistant principal while the General Assembly was in session. However, Surgenor said, he would retire from his job as principal if it became necessary and he felt it was the best thing to do for the students.
The Tennessee General Assembly meets for about 45 days a year, beginning each January.
Surgenor has lived in Bloomingdale for all of his life. He earned his education degree at East Tennessee State University, and said if elected to office he would work to have a football program reinstated on the campus.
Surgenor attends Arcadia Presbyterian Church in Bloomingdale. He said his favorite color is Navy blue.
gmclean@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2518
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