Charles Con­natser was kind enough to reply to our ques­tions in a timely fash­ion. He is run­ning for Knox County Com­mis­sioner in Dis­trict 6 for Seat A. Here is what he had to say about our questions.

1. Intro­duce your­self to Knoxville, who are you, and why are you running?

First. I’m Charles Con­natser and I’m run­ning for County Com­mis­sioner of the 6th Dis. Seat A. I’m from Ball Camp at 9501 Mid­dle­brook Pike. Our fam­ily has lived there for over 60 years. I went to Ball Camp and Karns High, grad­u­at­ing in 72. Joined U.S Army in 72 (101st Abn. Div. para­trooper) got out in 75. Went to weld­ing school on the GI bill, grad­u­ated and joined the Plumbers and Steam­fit­ters in 76. After 10 yrs. decided I wanted to start my own truck­ing co. Try being a inde­pe­dent trucker for 10 yrs. If you want to hear some sto­ries we’ll talk some time. That was the most valu­able busi­ness exp. that a per­son could ever get, believe me. Any­way after 10 yrs. of that I was ready to jump back into the pipeweld­ing ditches with both feet. Ten yrs. later here we are as Busi­ness Man­ager of the very same Local Union I started in back in 76. I’ve been Busi­ness Man­ager for almost 6 yrs. I’ve learned alot about peo­ple and deci­sions involv­ing them in this job. I think this job gives me the knowl­edge and exp. to han­dle the com­mis­sion­ers job. Although it’s on a larger scale. We work with a bud­get of close to 350 to 375k. It’s respon­si­ble for close to 18million in wages for our mem­bers, that’s not count­ing ben­e­fits. I’m active in state and local build­ing trades. I’m the Vice-President of the TN. Pipe Trades, Vice-President of the Knoxville Build­ing and Con­struc­tion Trades Coun­cil, Mechan­i­cal Allied Crafts Del­e­gate for the state of TN. Also a staff sgt. in the Tn. State Guard My plat­form is sim­ple. You see what you have up there now. If you like it, keep it. But if you don’t like it, that’s what I’m here for. To give you a voice in our local govt. A choice so to speak. You always hear about the Mayor’s peo­ple and the sher­iffs peo­ple but where’s the peo­ples peo­ple? I want to be the per­son that helps get the voice of the peo­ple back where it belongs; In our County Com­mis­sion and local govt. for the cit­i­zens of Knox County and of Dist. 6.

2. We think it’s bet­ter know­ing what not to do rather than hav­ing an exten­sive plan. What areas or inter­ests would ben­e­fit Knox County not to ven­ture into?

The cur­rent path that the County com­mis­sion is on, as far as how its been han­dling the people’s business.

3. What 5 things could you not live without?

Well one would have to be not know­ing what the County Com­mis­sion is going to do next with our money with­out our imput. Last, but not least I have no fam­ily in the Knoxville polit­i­cal cir­cles which is some­thing I’m begin­ning to be very proud of. Thank you for your request of my information.