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Tennessee Governor Candidate Interview: How Bill Lee Hopes To Go From Political Newbie To Top Leader

Bill Lee launches his campaign in 2017 with a bus tour starting at Nashville's Bicentennial Mall.
Chas Sisk
/
WPLN (File photo)
Bill Lee launches his campaign in 2017 with a bus tour starting at Nashville's Bicentennial Mall.

Hear the interview with Bill Lee.

Republican businessman Bill Lee wasn't known to many Tennesseans before this year's race for governor. He'd been a major fundraiser for the GOP. But he'd never run for public office of any kind.

Lee touts that as a virtue.

In the latest in a series of interviews with the six leading candidates for governor, Lee sat down with WPLN's Chas Sisk.

Listen to the conversation above, or read interview highlights below.

Interview Highlights

On not having any political experience:

"I'm kind of glad I don't have government experience. You know, I don't have experience from donors from multiple elections of mine. I'm not beholden to them. Don't have experience with lobbyists who have influence."

On how he would handle the transition from the private sector to the public:

"I think that is, again, is what leadership is about. Leadership really is about bringing people together, casting a vision, setting a course, developing a strategy, and that would be true with the legislature as well."

On how being the boss of a company is like working with policymakers:

"In a business, you have banks, bonding companies. You have suppliers. You have vendors. You have customers. They're not answering to me at all. And so you have to develop a strategy that is a win for all of them and makes it work for everyone. That's what you do in business."

Copyright 2018 WPLN News

Chas joined WPLN in 2015 after eight years with The Tennessean, including more than five years as the newspaper's statehouse reporter.Chas has also covered communities, politics and business in Massachusetts and Washington, D.C. Chas grew up in South Carolina and attended Columbia University in New York, where he studied economics and journalism. Outside of work, he's a dedicated distance runner, having completed a dozen marathons
Jason Moon Wilkins