Don Sundquist | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 47th Governor of Tennessee | |
| In office January 21, 1995 – January 18, 2003 | |
| Lieutenant | John Wilder |
| Preceded by | Ned McWherter |
| Succeeded by | Phil Bredesen |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromTennessee's7th district | |
| In office January 3, 1983 – January 3, 1995 | |
| Preceded by | Robin Beard (Redistricting) |
| Succeeded by | Ed Bryant |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Donald Kenneth Sundquist (1936-03-15)March 15, 1936 Moline, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | August 27, 2023(2023-08-27) (aged 87) Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Augustana College (BA) |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service | United States Navy |
| Years of service | 1957–1963 |
| Battles/wars | Vietnam War |
Donald Kenneth Sundquist (March 15, 1936 – August 27, 2023) was an American businessman and politician who served as the 47thgovernor of Tennessee from 1995 to 2003. Prior to his governorship, he representedTennessee's 7th congressional district in theUnited States House of Representatives from 1983 to 1995. He was a member of theRepublican Party.[1]
Sundquist was born on March 15, 1936[2] inMoline, Illinois, the son of Kenneth and Louise (Rohren) Sundquist. His father was ofSwedish descent, while his mother was ofGerman descent.[3]
After graduating fromMoline High School in 1953,[4] he attendedAugustana College inRock Island, Illinois, obtaining hisB.A. inBusiness Administration in 1957.[3] He was a member of the Rho Nu Delta fraternity at Augustana. He served in theUnited States Navy from 1957 to 1963, including two years on active duty.[5]
Sundquist joinedJostens in 1961, and initially worked at the company's plants inPrinceton, Illinois, andOwatonna, Minnesota.[3] In 1962, he was transferred to the company plant inShelbyville, Tennessee, where he became plant manager.[6] He left Jostens in 1972 and moved toMemphis, where he established an advertising and printing firm, Graphic Sales of America.[6]
While in Memphis, Sundquist became active inRepublican Party politics. He served as an organizer of theBarry Goldwater 1964 presidential campaign.[7] He served as Chair of the nationalYoung Republicans from 1971 to 1973, and chair of theShelby County Republican Party from 1975 to 1977.[5] He was a delegate to the1976 Republican National Convention and the1980 Republican National Convention, and managed the presidential campaign ofHoward Baker during the 1980 election cycle.[5]
In 1982, Sundquist sought the seat of CongressmanRobin Beard, who was retiring to run againstJim Sasser for the U.S. Senate. Beard's district, the6th, had been renumbered as the 7th following redistricting.[5] In the general election, Sundquist edgedBob Clement, son of former GovernorFrank G. Clement, by just over 1,000 votes out of over 145,000 votes cast.[8] He would never face another contest nearly that close; he was unopposed for reelection in 1984 and was reelected three more times after that with almost no difficulty.[5]
While in Congress, Sundquist established a conservative voting record, and was popular with conservative-oriented groups such as theNational Federation of Independent Business and theAmerican Conservative Union.[5] He was a member of theHouse Ways and Means Committee, serving on theSubcommittee on Trade and theSubcommittee on Select Revenue Measures.[5] He was also a member of the Republican Task Force on Trade, and the Republican Task Force on Ethics Reform.[6]
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In1994, Sundquist ran for governor of Tennessee in the race to replace the Democratic incumbent,Ned McWherter, who was term-limited. He easily won the nomination, winning over 80% of the vote in the primary, and faced the Democratic nominee, Nashville mayorPhil Bredesen, in the general election.[9] Bredesen criticized Sundquist for voting against aminimum wage increase while voting for a congressional pay raise. Sundquist accused Bredesen offlip-flopping on issues such as public funding for abortion and school privatization.[3] On election day, Sundquist won, 807,104 votes to 664,252.[6]
During his first term, Sundquist focused on government efficiency andwelfare reform.[6] He signed the "Families First" bill in 1996, which reduced the number of families on welfare from 70,000 to 30,000.[10] He also signed a series of crime-related measures which called for tougher sentences and more focus on victims' rights.[6] In 1996, Sundquist eliminated the state's scandal-riddenPublic Service Commission, replacing it with theTennessee Regulatory Authority.[5] That same year, he created theDepartment of Children's Services.[6]
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In1998, Sundquist easily won renomination, defeating Memphis realtor Shirley Beck-Vosse, 258,786 votes to 28,951.[3] In the general election, he easily defeated his Democratic opponent,John Jay Hooker, 669,973 votes to 287,790.[3] Shortly after winning reelection in November 1998, Sundquist implemented the ConnectTen program, which made Tennessee the first state in the nation to connect its schools and libraries to the Internet.[10]
During his second term, Sundquist set out to raise more revenue for the state, which had traditionally been one of the lowest-tax jurisdictions in the country. He was concerned that thesales tax, which the state relied upon for much of its revenue, was too unstable, and prevented the state from competing with other Southern states in education and infrastructure.[6] His tax reform plan therefore included a stateincome tax, the proposal of which had long been athird rail in Tennessee state politics. Many of his political allies turned against him, and anti-income tax street demonstrations were held inNashville.[5] In July 2001, demonstrators vandalized Sundquist's office, and broke windows in thestate capitol when the legislature was considering the income tax measure.[11]
In 2002, toward the end of Sundquist's second term, a Nashville television station,NewsChannel 5, uncovered evidence businesses owned by Sundquist's friends were illegally givenno-bid contracts by the state. In December of that year, theFBI raided the offices ofEducation Networks of America (ENA), founded by Sundquist's friend, Al Ganier, as part of an investigation into whether or not Ganier used his relationship with Sundquist to obtain millions of dollars' worth of state contracts (including the ConnectTenn contract). Ganier eventually pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of unauthorized use of a computer.[12]
In May 2004, a State of Tennessee Labor Department employee, Joanna Ediger, was convicted of rigging a $2 million state contract for Workforce Strategists, a company owned by another Sundquist friend, John Stamps.[13] The following year, Stamps pleaded guilty to four counts of tax evasion and one count of making false statements.[14] U.S. District JudgeKarl Forester said Sundquist was the "impetus" for the investigations, although he was never implicated in any wrongdoing, nor were any senior members of his administration.[15]
In July 2005, Sundquist was named head of a national panel on improvingMedicaid.[16][17] The panel was appointed byHHS SecretaryMichael Leavitt.[17]
Sundquist served as state vice chair of theJohn McCain 2008 presidential campaign team.[18]
Sundquist's papers are archived at theUniversity of Tennessee Libraries.[2]
Sundquist married Martha Swanson in 1959.[6][19] They had three children.[20]
Don Sundquist died inMemphis on August 27, 2023, at the age of 87, following surgery and a short illness.[21][22]
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromTennessee's 7th congressional district 1983–1995 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forGovernor of Tennessee 1994,1998 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor of Tennessee 1995–2003 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
