Mayor Wamp Criticizes Sharpe, Red Bank; Sharpe Responds
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp addressed fellow Republicans at today’s Pachyderm Club meeting.
He spoke about many of his administration’s accomplishments in his first full year of office.
However, he had some criticism for a handful of local officials.
Mayor Wamp did not hold back his thoughts about the Red Bank municipal government during his speech to fellow Republicans.
Hamilton County Commissioner David Sharpe (left) and Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp (right)
He said, “Red Bank is an unmitigated disaster… Progressives with an agenda that is woke, that is completely out of line with the majority of our community… A small group of people that took over Red Bank have ran it completely into a ditch.”
He argues that recent policies approved in the town are a sign of issues to come.
Mayor Wamp said, “You had a historic tax increase. I don’t know of a tax increase in any municipality in our county that rivals the 50 percent tax increase in Red Bank. That only is necessary if government has run completely out of control.”
Mayor Wamp also did not hold back words for Hamilton County Commissioner David Sharpe.
Commissioner Sharpe represents District 6 which also contains a large portion of Red Bank.
Mayor Wamp painted Commissioner Sharpe as an obstructionist who is working contrary to county government.
He said, “In the political realities, there’s a Republican supermajority on the county commission, so one progressive in that bunch should not have that much if any influence and unfortunately we’re at a place a year in where we have to call a spade a spade and continue to govern.”
Commissioner Sharpe has a different view.
Commissioner Sharpe said, “Obstructing unethical behavior in the interest of a better county government is not something I’m going to apologize for.”
He launched his own criticism of the Mayor.
Commissioner Sharpe said, “He has obstructed job growth, better government, better schools, ever since the moment he took office.”
He expressed disappointment on how the Mayor went about discussing his criticism.
Commissioner Sharpe said, “This Mayor doesn’t have the stomach or the vision to govern this county, and the fact he is unwilling to level to my face says quite a lot about the content of his character.”
Mayor Wamp did make a point to distinguish his criticism of Commissioner Sharpe from fellow Democratic commissioners Greg Beck and Warren Mackey.
Mayor Wamp said, “Greg Beck, who is a Democrat, who has a very different life story than I do. We don’t agree on a lot of politics, but we’re aligned on a lot of what we believe is best for the county. He’s in and out of my office all of the time, I’ve found him to be a good faith actor.”
News 12 has also reached out to Red Bank Mayor Hollie Berry for a response to the comments on Red Bank’s government.
We have not yet heard back from Mayor Berry at this time.
