JB
Ron Ramsey, back in his Lt. Governor days
Back in 2010 one of the three serious Republican candidates for Tennessee governor was Ron Ramsey, the state Senator from Blountville in the state’s northeast corner. Ramsey had already achieved one milestone by becoming, in 2009, the first GOP Senate speaker/Lieutenant Governor in history, succeeding longtime Democrat John Wilder.
In that role he became one of the leading voices — some said the leading voice — in the Republican super-majority that has directed Tennessee state government in recent years.
Ramsey would finish third in the Republican gubernatorial primary in 2010, behind current Governor Bill Haslam and then Chattanooga Congressman Zach Wamp. Unexpectedly he chose not to run for reelection to the General Assembly in 2016 and, despite advance forecasts of another gubernatorial bid this year, he’s not running for anything. So what is Ramsey doing now?
Well, he’s tied in with the Farrar and Bates firm in Nashville, which does a fair amount of lobbying work for municipalities and, in fact, numbers the city of Memphis among its clients. So, theoretically, Ramsey could be working his legislative contacts on Capitol Hill on behalf of the Bluff City at some point.
Latest word, though, is that while Memphis is keeping the firm on retainer, Farrar and Bates has not as yet been asked to lobby any issues and have not registered on the city’s behalf. But later on? Who knows?
