Rep. McCormick Reacts to Chamber of Commerce Letter

CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – The transgender student bathroom bill now in the state legislature caused a riff between local lawmakers and the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce.

House majority leader Gerald McCormick on Tuesday fired back at chamber officials for a letter they sent to him warning about possible economic penalties.

In a rare confrontation between the Greater Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce and state legislators, Rep. Gerald McCormick took the floor to respond to the letter.

REP. GERALD MCCORMICK, HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER “It was a long, self-righteous letter, but it said at the end, simply put—the legislation is bad for business, bad for Chattanooga and Hamilton county and bad for Tennessee, so now that they’re on record for putting men in little girls bathrooms, I want to say what else is happening.”

McCormick says Chattanooga has more to worry about than the “bathroom” bill.

REP. GERALD MCCORMICK “We have a full-fledged gang war going on in Chattanooga. This weekend, we had four people shot in Chattanooga. One guy got shot while he was cutting his grass in his yard.”

Actually, by the time weekend was over, 10 people had been shot in the city.
But city council member Chris Anderson defended the Chamber for the letter sent to representative McCormick.

CHRIS ANDERSON, CITY COUNCIL MEMBER “Its the job of groups like the Chamber of Commerce to stimulate the economy and bring job creators in. Its perplexing to me that any member of the general assembly would want to do something that would harm our economy. The chamber knows these discriminatory bills in other states has destroyed their economic base.”

The city’s long-running Violence Reduction Initiative has come under fire lately, and is being reviewed.

CHRIS ANDERSON “Of course the city of Chattanooga and the Chamber of Commerce are concerned about the gang problem and we work closely hand in hand every day. If the state legislature would like to take a break from just passing that make it easier to bully LGBT kids, and help us with that I’d be happy to get the help.”

Rep. McCormick ” One other thing, all these companies who’ve tried to blackmail us over this thing—when they come for their corporate welfare checks next year we need to have a list out and keep an eye on it.”

Mayor Andy Berke’s office denied our request for a comment.

A Chamber of Commerce representative also declined to comment for our story.