Better Know A Candidate: Mark Campen

Laura Braden Politics Leave a Comment

Just who is Mark Campen?

Mark Campen is running for Knoxville City Council – 5th district (Northwest Knoxville).

A native of Knoxville, Mark is a graduate of Bearden High School, Pellissippi State Community College (Associates in Agricultural Sciences) and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (Bachelor in Science Wildlife and Fisheries, Minor in Forestry).

Immediately following college, Mark began full-time employment with the Tennessee Chapter of the Izaak Walton League of America, a conservative environmental conservation organization.  Presently, Mark is still employed with the organization, serving as Executive Director. Mark and his wife, Emily, a Knox County schoolteacher, live in the Fountain City area with their two-year-old superhero, Parson.  Mark enjoys the outdoors, bird watching, camping, hiking, fishing and gardening.

If elected Councilman, Campen will…

  • Serve as a voice for the folks who elect him, representing the people of the district and the city as a whole.
  • Advocate for continued quality city services, active, engaged neighborhoods, crime prevention, street calming, facade improvements, and non-motorized, pedestrian-friendly travel.
  • Support and promote local businesses and job growth along with sustainable, infill development, responsible (urban) gentrification and infrastructure improvements.
  • Focus on energy savings and pollution reduction initiatives.

10 Questions for Campen…

  1. Favorite Guilty Pleasure: Litton’s burger or the Original Louis baked lasagna
  2. Favorite Childhood Memory of Knoxville: Picnicking and fishing along the shorelines of area reservoirs.
  3. Favorite Restaurant: The Creamery Park Grille
  4. Favorite Annual Event: The Dogwood Arts Festival’s House and Garden Show
  5. I’m Personally Rooting for the: Inskip Safe Routes to Schools Program
  6. One Word that Describes Knoxville: Underappreciated
  7. I’m Currently Reading: Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
  8. I Can’t Start My Day Without: Coffee and the paper
  9. Most Inspirational Politician/Statesman: Theodore Roosevelt and Winston Churchill
  10. Quote that Sums of Your Worldview: “In the end we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught.” Baba Dioum

For more information on the Campen’s campaign, please visit him on Facebook.

ABOUT THE SERIES: This fall, the city of Knoxville will elect a new Mayor and City Council members (see helpful explanation here). This series is intended to inform our readers on the various candidates – and hopefully help illustrate the real people behind the campaigns. We reached out to every candidate and offered them the same format, and asked them the same questions. Over the coming weeks, we’ll continue to release a new profile (publish dates are determined by who submitted their answers first). We encourage everyone to be informed and make his or her voice heard! You can register to vote here, and follow the Knox County Election Commission on Twitter and Facebook.

DISCLAIMER: Writer/contributor Laura Braden serves as Communications Director for mayoral candidate Mark Padgett.

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