Knoxville, TN – The Mark Padgett for Knoxville City Mayor campaign (www.VotePadgett.com) today announced endorsements from civic leaders and former mayoral candidates.

“I’m proud to endorse Mark’s candidacy to be Knoxville’s next city mayor,” said Ivan Harmon, former mayoral candidate, city councilman and county commissioner. “Mark is pro-business and pro-neighborhood. He has the heart and passion to serve our community, and he’s a fiscal conservative who understands how to create jobs and grow our economy.”

“As I've gotten to know Mark on the campaign trail, I've come to appreciate his intelligence, vision and passion. He understands that Knoxville has to think regionally to grow the local economy and improve our quality of life,” said Joe Hultquist, former mayoral candidate and city councilman. “Mark shares my commitment to find and root out waste and inefficiencies in city government so that we can redirect those funds to the programs and services we all care about.”

“After getting to know Mark and his character, I'm supporting his candidacy because I believe he will serve all of Knoxville with a servants heart,” said Bo Bennett, 911 operator and former mayoral candidate. “Like me, Mark is not a career politician, and I think that's what we need to help bring our communities together and grow Knoxville.”

“Mark has the leadership qualities needed to be a great mayor,” Knox County Sheriff Jimmy “J.J.” Jones said. “He understands that an involved community is a safe community and will be a great partner in making our neighborhoods stronger and safer.”

The endorsers pledged to join Mark on the campaign trail, as well as urge their friends, family and colleagues to support Mark’s candidacy.

“I’m humbled and honored to receive the full support from these public servants,” Padgett said. “They share my vision and plan to move Knoxville forward. I’m dedicated to growing Knoxville’s economy to make our neighborhoods stronger, safer and more connected and to make city government more efficient, transparent, and accessible. That’s what I’m going to do for Knoxville every minute of every day. I urge everyone to make their voice heard and vote on Nov. 8.”

Padgett also reiterated key parts of the “Stronger, Safer and More Connected Neighborhoods” section of the “Padgett Plan” including:

• -Help communities without neighborhood associations organize and strengthen the relationships between community groups and police liaisons.

• -Restructure the organizational chart to make the position directly responsible for decreasing the number of vacant, abandoned and blighted properties a senior advisory position.
• -Explore local and state-level regulation changes that impose tougher penalties for code violations.
• -Work with KUB to create a new program to finance the energy efficiency of older homes, starting with lower-income families.
• -Focus on the crimes that are endemic at the community level: drugs, prostitution and gangs.
• -Make Knoxville the most walkable, bikeable and runnable city in the Southeast.

The full “Padgett Plan” can be found online at http://www.votepadgett.com/the-issues.

The campaign has also posted more than 50 videos on YouTube (www.YouTube.com/PadgettForMayor) to share Mark’s position on everything from codes enforcement and homelessness to red light cameras and parks/greenways. Feedback can be emailed to mark@votepadgett.com. 

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For more information, please visit http://www.VotePadgett.com, and follow the campaign on Twitter (http://twitter.com/votepadgett), Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/votepadgett), YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/padgettformayor) and FourSquare (https://foursquare.com/votepadgett).