We have at least three candidates, for county commission, who have made it clear by their votes, their actions and their statements, that's exactly what they want for Loudon County.

My opponent in the 5th district commission race, Lenoir City councilman Eddie Simpson, has voted for every tax increase a city councilman can vote for. He voted for the Rain Tax on every resident, business, church, school and nonprofit. He has voted for multiple property tax increases, gas tax increase and a sales tax increase. And what may even be more disturbing than his tax voting record is his votes for mass residential development in the city. In less than two years, councilman Simpson has voted to allow more than 1,500 new residential dwellings in the city giving absolutely no consideration to the impact these new developments will have on the city and county infrastructure and schools. And to add insult to injury, Mr. Simpson has also voted to give huge property tax breaks to many of these developments while at the same time voting to raise property taxes on everyone else, most recently July 2021.

This is not speculation, it's a fact based on his voting record. Please, check it for yourself.

Julia Hurley is again running for 2nd district county commissioner. While in her first term she has been totally feckless and ineffective for the residents of the 2nd district, when she shows up. Hurley has missed over half of the commission meetings. She never attends any workshops where all the issues are discussed. She says she doesn't need to, she knows more about what's going on than any other commissioners. Then if she does show up at the commission meeting, she has no idea what the issues are that are to be voted on. Even though she misses more than half of the meetings, she still draws her stipend and benefits paid for by the tax payers. 

She has shown clearly where loyalties lie and it's certainly not with the citizens. Ms. Hurley calls herself a "luxury realtor". Her only interest is herself and money. She recently told a constituent who called with a community concern that if he wasn't calling to buy or sell a house, she didn't have time to for him. She once boldly stated, we have too many churches. Those buildings could be apartments. Alone, she's no threat but is she were to ever have other commissioners like herself, who would vote her way, it would be a disaster for Loudon County.

And by the way, according to Ms. Hurley, she recruited Eddie Simpson to run against me.

Lastly but certainly not least is developer Mark Matlock. Matlock's claim to fame is building mini-strip malls in Lenoir City and not paying his property taxes. He currently owes over a hundred thousand dollars in back property taxes to Loudon County and Lenoir City and he is currently being sued by Loudon County for zoning violations. He sets great store on how much money he makes, just ask him. He has attended two of the community meetings on over development. In the first case, even though the vast majority of residents in attendance support controlled development, Mr. Matlock got up and essentially told the residents they didn't know what they were talking about. According to him, Loudon County needs more roof tops, roof tops, roof tops. His words. In the second meeting, he felt it necessary to tell everyone he had just returned from Breckenridge, Colorado and had been skiing at 12,000 feet for the last week and his voice was a little scratchy. We were all quite impressed. Then again went on to tell the folks how we need more dense residential development.

From his campaign: