Ron Ramsey

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Ron Ramsey

Ron Ramsey (born November 20, 1955) is a Tennessee politician and a member of the Tennessee Senate representing the 2nd district, which encompasses Johnson County and Sullivan County. He was briefly mentioned as a possible 2006 Gubernatorial candidate and is mentioned as a possible 2010 Gubernatorial candidate.

He was elected to the 98th and 99th General Assembly as a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives, and he was first elected as a member of the Tennessee Senate to the 100th General Assembly. During his time as a state representative, he represented the 1st district, composed of Sullivan County. Ron Ramsey is the current leader of the Senate Republican Caucaus. He is a member of the Environment and Conservation and Tourism Committee, the Finance, Ways and Means Committee, the State and Local Government Committee, and the Calendar Committee.

Ramsey was defeated in his 2005 bid to be elected as Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee and Senate Speaker when John S. Wilder convinced two Republicans to join a Democratic minority to vote for him. Ron Ramsey is running again for Lieutenant Governor in 2007, with Randy McNally being another Republican candidate.^[1]

Ramsey sparked statewide controversy in 2005 after he was allegedly video-taped in his legislative Cadillac speeding through Knoxville on I-40 East at 92 m.p.h. by Keith Jones, a Republican who sells speed detecting radar equipment to law enforcement agencies.^[2] During the 2004 election cycle, Ramsey was one of a few very prominent Tennessee General Assembly leadership members who accepted campaign contributions from both the Daniels' PAC and the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of Tennessee PAC^[3]^[4]

Ramsey organized an August 1999 Nashville meeting with then TennCare Director Brian Lapps that was also attended by State Reps. Steve Godsey, David Davis, and Jason Mumpower at the request of then King Pharmaceuticals lobbyist Jim Holcomb that was successful in placing the Monarch Pharmaceuticals (a King Pharmaceuticals subsidiary that flew the Northeast Tennessee legislators aboard a King Pharmaceuticals corporate jet) branded drug Altace to the TennCare Preferred Drug List. Ramsey was later quoted stating about bringing about the addition of Altace before TennCare Director Lapps is that, I'm proud of setting up that meeting. What it did was provide good jobs and good benefits for a company in my district.^[5] Lapps resigned as TennCare Director underdate of September 27, 1999.^[6]

Ron Ramsey graduated from Sullivan Central High School in 1973. In 1978 he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Technology from East Tennessee State University. He is a member of the advisory board of the Farm Credit Association, a former president of the Blountville Business Association, and a former president and current member of the Bristol TN-VA Association of Realtors. He currently workers as a real estate broker and an auctioneer.