Only five months after being re-elected to a fifth term as Hamilton County mayor, Claude Ramsey will give up the county's top elected post and head to Nashville to become the state's deputy governor.
But a few days before taking one of the top spots in Gov. Bill Haslam's new administration, Ramsey will take a kind of victory lap at the Detroit auto show. The 67-year-old Republican says he wants to represent Hamilton County one last time on Jan. 10, when Volkswagen unveils the new midsize sedan it will make in Chattanooga.
"I told the governor-elect, it's one of the things I really want to do before I leave Hamilton County government," Ramsey said Friday in announcing his career change.
The Volkswagen event will be a fitting capstone for Ramsey, who spent most of his 16 years as county mayor working to acquire the former Volunteer Army Ammunition Plant and develop it into an industrial park and then recruiting an auto company to the site.
Despite the military, political and economic challenges of the decades-long effort, Ramsey persevered. Volkswagen picked Chattanooga two years ago to build its $1 billion assembly plant -- the biggest such investment in Chattanooga history.
Since then, more than $500 million of other business investment has been lured to the county, including last week's announcement that online giant Amazon.com wants to build a $91 million distribution center with at least 1,249 jobs at Enterprise South, the industrial park on the former ammunition plant site.
"Claude is a hard worker who has no ego and just wants to see things get done, which is why he gets so much done," said Jon Kinsey, one of four Chattanooga mayors who worked with Ramsey during his term as the county's chief executive. "He quietly oversaw a tremendous renaissance here, and I think his legacy will rank up there with most any leader in the South."
Although he doesn't have a college degree himself, Ramsey also championed the value of education.
RAMSEY RECORDDeputy governor for Gov.-elect Bill Haslam, starting in January 2011Hamilton County mayor from 1994 until January 2011County assessor of property from 1980 to 1994Hamilton County commissioner from 1978 to 1980Delegate to the Tennessee Constitutional Convention in 1977Tennessee state legislator from 1972 to 1976Strawberry farmer in Harrison
"It's something I'm passionate about, and I've tried to use my 'bully pulpit' to encourage the community to stay focused upon education," he said.
A 2004 Education Summit that Ramsey organized led to a reading and literacy program.
To make sure students and residents also were physically fit, Ramsey promoted his "Step One" anti-obesity campaign.
Sales pitch
Ramsey's biggest sales pitch has been to prospective businesses to locate in Hamilton County. He pushed the Army to sell and clean up its 8,000-acre munitions plant and helped oversee the city's and county's purchase of 6,300 acres there.
But most of Ramsey's time as mayor has focused on keeping county government operating smoothly and within its budget.
Chief of Staff Jeannine Alday, who worked with Ramsey throughout his career in county government, said he is decisive and pragmatic.
"If anyone knows what it means to run a tight government, we do because we've been there," Ramsey said.
Those are the attributes Haslam said he needs in Nashville as the state tries to balance its books after federal stimulus funds end next year and the sluggish recovery limits tax revenue growth. Haslam said mayors know how to balance budgets, say no to frequent requests for money and solve problems.
"I look at Claude as being my No. 1 problem solver within my administration," he said.
The Knoxville mayor said he got to know Ramsey during a China business recruiting trip organized by Gov. Phil Bredesen three years ago.
During a boat trip from Shanghai, while both Haslam and Ramsey tried unsuccessfully to connect with U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., Haslam said he saw Ramsey as straightforward, decisive and easy to get along with.
"I said then that if I ever had the chance, this is the kind of man I would like to work with," Haslam said. "He didn't seek this (deputy governor post) at all."
In fact, during the Republican race for governor, Ramsey backed Haslam's chief rival, U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, of Chattanooga.
Other county officials said Ramsey's popularity reflects his ability to relate to all types of people.
"He's a great leader and motivator who knows how to talk the language of any type of person, whether someone is a Democrat or a Republican, whether someone is a mountain person or a valley person," said Bill Bennett, who succeeded Ramsey as both county commissioner and county property assessor.
When Haslam is sworn in as governor Jan. 15, Ramsey will return to the state Capitol where he began his political career as a 29-year-old state legislator.
He was in the minority party during the 1970s. But now the GOP is in control of the governor's office, the Senate and the House for the first time since Reconstruction following the Civil War.
Ramsey said he expects to work hard in Nashville for all of Tennessee, "but my home will always been in Hamilton County."