Monty Fritts, candidate for governor, center, is shown with several Civitan Club members
Monty Fritts wants more liberty for Tennesseans, and that’s his main reason for running for governor, he told the Civitan Club on Friday afternoon.
In September, Mr. Fritts announced his candidacy, saying he sees liberty as being less government, less spending and a departure from the Nashville establishment.
Mr. Fritts, who has served in the state House of Representatives since 2023, said frugality in government is important, recognizing the importance of being efficient with people’s money. Tennessee is good fiscally, but could be better, he said, saying it is detrimental to take too much from the public and the goal should be to leave more money in the pockets of Tennesseans.
The Republican from Kingston, representing the 32nd District in Roane and Loudon counties, told club members that over the last six years, the state’s budget has increased by 59 percent. He said the government has lost touch and now is the time to recalibrate and budget only for constitutional uses.
Liberty also means less government, he said, and “we should understand and learn from history, both right and the wrong things.” For example, he thinks that the bust of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest should not have been removed from the state capital.
Each department, the executive, legislative and judicial, has their own roles and the responsibility to limit government ultimately falls on the governor, he said.
And he said that he would take a hatchet to American exceptionalism – the belief that the U.S. is unique and has a special role in the world.
He sees taking more of the taxpayer’s money and redistributing it as corporate welfare that needs to stop. And Tennesseans are better off making their own decisions about medical, health care and their children’s education, he said.
Rep. Fritts said education is the state’s responsibility but public funds should not be used for private schools. However, the public schools should strive for excellence. He said that he voted against education “vouchers,” and if elected as governor, he intends to stop it. He said the Constitution does not permit us to do that. And he is opposed to standardized testing that he believes uses an inordinate amount of time, plus it may be measuring the wrong things. The data should be measured against what you want to accomplish, he said. He believes that kindergarten through college in the state is over-centralized in Nashville.
When asked about his reaction to unions in a Southern company, the answer was that there is a need to listen to what people have to say, but sometimes that ethos is not productive. And he again emphasized that there should not be corporate welfare in Tennessee and mutuality with unions would not be “American or Tennessee first.”
In response to a question about what he would support for providing the increased need for more energy and power in Tennessee he said he would be good with more nuclear energy plus he wants to “keep the boilers going.” There is a need to keep coal and keep gas plus bringing on additional nuclear power and small reactors as well as converting selective waste into kilowatt hours, he said.
