Don Sundquist

Donald Kenneth Sundquist (born March 15, 1936) was Governor of Tennessee from 1995 to 2003.

Don Sundquist was born in Illinois and attended Augustana College. In his early career, he sold class rings for the Jostens Corp. Moving to Memphis, Tennessee, he became very active in the Republican Party.

He first attracted political attention when he became chairman of the Shelby County Republican Party. When 6th District Congressman Robin Beard ran for the Senate against incumbent Jim Sasser in 1982, Sundquist ran for the Republican nomination to succeed Beard in the district, which had been renumbered the 7th in redistricting. He succeeded in winning the nomination in August, 1982, and then defeated Bob Clement, son of a former Tennessee governor, in the November, 1982 general election. He was reelected without opposition in 1984 and four more times thereafter, all by overwhelming margins in what had become a solidly Republican district.

Sundquist established a very conservative voting record as a Congressman, and was a darling of conservative-oriented groups such as the National Federation of Independent Businesses and the American Conservative Union. He was regarded as a rising star by the Tennessee Republican Party. When popular Democratic Tennessee governor Ned McWherter was prevented from seeking a third term in 1994 by term limits, Sundquist seemed like the logical choice for the GOP nomination, which he won with ease in August, 1994. Sundquist then won the general election in November, 1994 over Nashville mayor Phil Bredesen by a margin that surprised many pundits, and was inaugurated the 47th governor of Tennessee in January, 1995.

Sundquist's first term was rather unremarkable, although state government grew quite rapidly in comparison to the growth of the state's economy as a whole, and he attracted no serious opposition within his party for renomination in 1998. His Democratic opponent, Nashville attorney and entrepreneur John Jay Hooker, was regarded at this stage in his career as a perennial candidate and gadfly rather than a serious contender, and Sundquist won reelection with approximately 70% of the vote.

Immediately upon his reinauguration, Sundquist set out to raise more revenue for the state, which had traditionally been one of the lowest-tax jurisdictions in the U.S.. His tax reform plan included a state income tax, previously regarded as political suicide in Tennessee. He quickly offended most of his grassroots base, and his popularlity plummented. Only certain elements in the business community supported him from the Republican Party, and many Tennessee Democrats, especially conservative rural ones, had no interest in either alienating their constituents or helping a Republican. The income tax issue dominated Sundquist's second term, but was never passed. Sundquist became very isolated politically, with many of his Democratic supporters doing so only because they wished to see the income tax implemented in a way in which the Republicans could be blamed for it, and his original conservative supporters mostly became avowed opponents, some participating in street demonstrations against him. Many leading figures in his own party publicly disavowed him.

Sundquist, like McWherter before him, was prevented by term limits in the Tennessee state constitution from seeking reelection in 2002, but unlike McWherter it is highly unlikely that he could have even received the nomination of his own party, let alone have been reelected, had it been legally possible for him to have attempted to have done so. In retirement, rumor and innuendo have continued to swirl about him, which became more intense with the conviction of a fomer mid-level member of his administration in May, 2004 for illegally routing a "no-bid" contract for job training for the unemployed to a close personal friend of his. On November 4, 2004, another friend of his was indicted, charged with false statements allegedly made in conjunction with another no-bid contract, this one to connect Tennessee schools to the Internet amounting to nearly $200,000,000, and with destroying e-mails and other records pertinent to the case.

In August, 2004, Sundquist "crashed" the Republican National Convention in New York City, appearing uninvited. (Rumors that an effort was going to be made to include him in the official state delegation had apparently been unfounded.) However, due to his former importance in the state and the considerable embarrassment that it would have entailed to have him removed, he was made welcome by certain members of the Tennessee delegation, many of whom had been close friends in the past. In the spring of 2005, the friend mentioned in the matter above was sentenced to prison for having fraudlently received a state contract by utilizing his close relationship with Sundquist.

Preceded by : Ned McWherter

Governors of Tennessee

Succeeded by: Phil Bredesen