Interview of Tim Burchett

Tim Burchett, interview transcription, October 25th, 2022.

Reagan Dodson: So, first, can you give a brief introduction of who you are, your position in Congress, and what exactly you do with that position? Let's start there.

Tim Burchett: Yeah, sorry, I'm sitting down so low here. My name's Tim Burchett. I'm a United States' Congressman, the second congressional district. We have a little over seven counties, because we have just a corner of Jefferson County, which I had it all before, but now we took on Union County because of reapportionment. Congressman Harshbarger came down and had to take more, to grow more due to population shifts. And let's see, I'm on my I guess my fourth year in Congress, end of the second term, running for reelection. And let's see, you want to know what I do during the day? Basically, was that--

Dodson: Day-to-day operations I guess would be a good way to put it.

Burchett: Well, we're home now, due to the election or campaigning time. Congress every two years allows for a little bit longer. We spend about half our time in DC and half here, but of course during Covid it was all shut down and we just operated here off of Zoom.

Dodson: Oh, ok.

Burchett: Or, as the good old boys say, "The Zoom."

Dodson: The Zoom, right.

Burchett: And we did our committee meetings that way and currently people still vote by proxy, I've never voted by proxy. I joined in the lawsuit to end it because I think it's wrong. They use it as a crutch to stay on, there's people who haven't combat to DC in over two years and their drawing a check and it used to stay in the House of Representatives, all the speakers and democrats. Still my friend, his name's Jimmy Nathy and he had a saying that said, "if you didn't want to work, you shouldn't have hired on."

Dodson: Right.

Burchett: And they clearly don't want to work. And Congress is not work, it's a, you know, because we're basically not allowed to do anything. Like in the minority, we're not allowed to amend bills and, on the floor, when you see all that debates on the floor, going back and forth, that's all basically staged we're allowed a certain amount of time and they're allowed a certain amount of time. And then it just goes back and forth, and the votes have already been decided pretty much because of straight party line. And during the day to day, I had a meeting this morning. I had an early morning breakfast with a constituent dealing with a drug issue and since I spent sixteen years in the state legislature, a lot of people will call me and ask me about an opinion on something, how they can approach something at the state level. And since I spent so much time down there and I know kind of the way it works. I get a lot of calls on that, helping constituents navigate Nashville and then how that a lot of times will reflect on what we do in DC. It gives me a great perspective and I was county mayor for eight years. But I'll mainly just meet with constituents all day, different problems. We've been doing these things called "Tim Tours." We tour local businesses and we're dealing with supply chain issues and go to recycle centers, I have some legislation deal with plastic recycling, so I'm trying to get a grip on that and I'm not yet the cart before the horse so to speak. So, we do a lot of those meetings like that and then after work, I go knock on doors and campaign.

Dodson: Yes.

Burchett: Seven counties is a lot of people and in DC, I actually work more when I'm in Knoxville than I do in DC because we'll have committee meetings and they'll have hearings and basically Republicans are shut out of anything, we won't mend anything or be able to do anything, the Democrats will shut it down. Case in point, Transportation Bill. I had an amendment that said that if we bail out the airlines in this trillion dollar plus transportation bill, that none of the money would go to the executives because during the Bank Bailout they sold it to the Congress, I wasn't in Congress then. They sold it to us as a "we were gonna help out the working people, you know the ladies that are the tellers, the man who's a teller," you know the people work in the banks are gonna get crushed and then they ended up just robbing it and paying the executives more money and give them golden parachutes. And I said if we bail out the airlines, then none of it gonna go to the executives, it's gonna go to the pilots, it's gonna go to the ticket takers, the mechanics, the people on the flight line, the baggage handlers, people like that. And the democrats voted straight party lines against that bill. Of course, you never heard anything in the press about it because the press basically is a co-conspirator in all of this and that's very frustrating. But you got to keep going and I try to find compromises in everything, but it's just very difficult because you're not able to do anything like that, so I've tried to focus mainly on constituents' service, people that come in here or call that have a problem, passports, healthcare, drug addiction, you name it. They call me and they ask for Tim, and they get me.

Dodson: Yes.

Burchett: We try to figure it out and my folks, these ladies and a couple of gentlemen that work in my office here, they really do the Lord's Work, and they take care of people that a lot of people would just not take care of and that makes me very proud of this office and the people here and in DC.

Dodson: Yes, ok.

Burchett: Sorry, and I serve on Due Committees, Transportation and Foreign Affairs, and right now those are two hot committees because of spending on transportation issues and only about twelve to fifteen percent of the transportation, the Big Bill, was actually dealt with transportation. The rest of it was woke things and things that are, you know, had nothing to do with transportation. And Foreign Affairs because of Ukraine, although we didn't vote on. I voted against the funding of this war that we're in. I hate Putin, I hate what he's doing, but we're gonna end up drawing into another Vietnam and the 40 billion that we put out first and the other additional twenty. We're getting very close to sending people over there if we haven't already and that is a bad idea. So, anyway.

Dodson: Yes, yes. So, can you describe your personal background that led you to this position that you are in today?

Burchett: Yeah, very cool parents. Mama flew an airplane during the Second World War, Daddy was in the Marine Corps and fought the Japanese. Mama lost a brother, there's a 48-star flag on the wall that was on my uncle's casket, he died a few days after D-Day. I was a weird kid, I was into Organic Gardening, I started a mulch. I basically took all the city's yard waste, and it was a huge contract, biggest one on the eastern seaboard at the time, I was told. And I got accused of taking toxic waste, and I fought it, and I lost my business. And the day after I lost my business, the EPA came in and cleared my name, which was nice. That's why I have a hard time trashing the EPA, it's what a lot of my friends do. And I decided I needed to do something with that. You know young people, I tell this when I speak to them, you know, y'all are gonna have horrible things happen to you in your life. You're gonna lose your wife, or your girlfriend, your parents are gonna die, your friends are gonna die, and your gonna lose your jobs, might go bankrupt, which I did not do. I did not go bankrupt. But I've lost a wife to divorce, I've lost both my parents, and then I've had some pretty hard times in my life, but I had to make a decision, just like I did after I lost that mulching-compost business that I had. Am I gonna feel sorry for myself or am I gonna do something about it? And I decided to run for office. I ran and I knocked on over 6,000 doors, for a State House Primary, I was the only person out of 99 house races in the state of Tennessee that year that beat an incumbent and I did it by just knocking on doors. I lost I guess about 20-30 pounds, I got bit by 2 dogs, got a great sunburn, suntan. You took my shirt off, I look like a target, just red around the edges and a big white belly, you know. And so, I won with maybe 2% of the vote which is crazy numbers. Just a few hundred votes, but we won and then I went on and ran, was successful there and spent 2 terms in the house. That's 4 years and then I ran for the State Senate, we were fortunate enough to win there. 12 years and then I was Knox County mayor for 2 terms, so that was 8 years. And so, then I ran for Congress and here I am 4 years later.

Dodson: Nice, ok.

Burchett: And that's pretty much it. Along the way, I got remarried. I married a wonderful woman, Kelly, and she had a beautiful little girl and I adopted her, Isabel. And now she's my little girl. My wife was a widow and Isabel's daddy passed away, he's in Heaven, and so we have a wonderful life.

Dodson: Very blessed, yes. What experience has most shaped you as an overall leader? Out of everything you've been through, what would you say shaped you the most?

Burchett: Everything, everything. You know, a lot of times I always try to figure out why people are the way they are. You know, what caused them to be angry or just fed up with the system. You know, people call me and they're angry and you have to sort of figure out why they're that way and then maybe turn them in a direction that's more positive. My latest project, there's a person on the Internet that attacks me pretty regularly and I'm trying to help them get a job. And not because that will turn them, but because it's the right thing to do and it won't turn them. They'll still hate me, but at least they'll have a job and I've done my job. And I tend not to have too much hatred because it just wears you out and be bitter, it wears you out. And I just refuse to because if you do that, you become the enemy. You become everything that you dislike and so I take a lot of it. If you get on the Internet, people say awful things about me and my family, I don't take it when they attack my wife or my daughter, that's out of bounds. But me, I'm fair game, they can say what they want to, and they do, and nobody defends me and it just kinda goes off into nowhere. And so, we seem to win every election a little more than the last one. The more critics yell, it seems to embolden my side of the aisle and the polls that are for me. And so, the taxpayers say, "Oh, I know Tim" we either grew up together or he helped me do something one time or you know. And so, they just tend to support me, so my skin gets a little thicker every year, I think, because of that, but yeah.

Dodson: Right. If you could give any piece of advice to anyone looking to pursue a career in politics, like myself, what would you say and why would you say that?

Burchett: I would say watch everything you do because these things are everywhere. I've heard many people say if we had these in college, I've got my buddies and colleagues in Congress would say they wouldn't be in Congress right now. So, and do it because it's the right reason. Do it because you really wake up every morning with that passion in your heart to get up and get it and do right. And don't lose your values, people will lose their soul to stay in power and that's a problem with Washington. They want to stay in power at all costs whether it means destroying this great Republic we have through just financial. You know, right now we are just spending money like crazy that we don't have. You say we are spending our kid's money and now we are spending our great grandchildren or great great grandchildren's money because there's no way we can repay it and we are dragging ourselves into oblivion. And I would say, stick to your guns, you know you're right, don't back down.

Dodson: Don't back down, ok. I think I have time for one more. I'll do one more.

Burchett: Go ahead, go ahead, give me one more.

Dodson: So, this is really an interview about leadership and your styles. When you hear the word "leadership," what first comes to mind?

Burchett: I'd think about my parents, and they were leaders more less. They were our family's leaders, and they always did what was right regardless. I remember my daddy said one time, "you know what I do at night buddy?" And I said "no, daddy what's that?" And he said, "I sleep." And he was telling me he didn't worry about what he did during the day because he did what was right. And I wake up in the middle of the night, thinking about where our country is and what I'm gonna leave for my daughter. And I worry about that, but I don't worry about what I've done during the day because we try to do what's right and I would say as leadership style, I don't know about all that. There's people that have groomers, and they teach them how to, you know, oh, you gotta say this or wear this outfit or drive this vehicle or whatever. And I just never, I never listened to that much, most of those people. You know where those people are that used to tell me that in Nashville?

Dodson: Where?

Burchett: I don't know.

Dodson: Exactly, exactly.

Burchett: Give me one more question, you got time. I'm making an executive decision over here.

Dodson: Ok, let's do, what are your strengths and how have you used them to your advantage while in the position you've been working in?

Burchett: My strengths are I realize I'm not the smartest person in the room.

Dodson: Right.

Burchett: God gave me, and He gives everybody gifts, but He gave me I think an ability to put good people around me that I don't always agree with and sometimes they drive me crazy and sometimes I wanna fire them, but, you know, I hang onto them. And I think that's my recipe for success because I realize I am not the smartest. It took me 6 years to get through UT and I didn't drink or smoke pot. And so, it still took me 6 years and I have a wonderful degree called Technological Adult Education, but, you know, a lot of the snobs would look down upon that. And you know what, I don't care.

Dodson: Right.

Burchett: And it was a great major and I was with some great people, and they were all employed. They all had great jobs and some of them are retired now, but it was a small group of folks. And I wanna say that's probably about it in all of that.

Dodson: Right, and then, I'll have this one I guess be the last one. What would you say is more important: success or failure? And why would you say that?

Burchett: I've heard people say they learn from failures, and I've been kicked a lot, and my whole life has been that. In sports, at Bearden Junior High School they never cut people from football, and I got cut.

Dodson: Oh, no.

Burchett: And, you know, my brother was a quarterback at Bearden High School and my sister was a great athlete in basketball and I got cut and that was about the hardest day, at the time, you know, looking back, hardest day of my life. And that just made me work that much harder and then when I was a senior at Bearden, I was the captain of the football team. We were terrible, we were 5 and 5, I like to say it was a rebuilding year, you might have heard of it. But, if I hadn't had been cut, I wouldn't have been captain because I drove myself. You know, and same with politics, knocking on doors, just every day. You go to these campaign schools, and they throw out how much money they're raising or who the big boys that are supporting, and generally, they don't always win. And, you know, people told me I couldn't run for office, and it wasn't gonna work. They told me that the mulch deal wouldn't work, and I did it and made a fortune and then lost it. But that inspired me to run for office and they said "no, you need to wait" and I'm like, "wait for what?"

Dodson: Right.

Burchett: Wait until I'm too old to do it? That's a part of the problem right now. I'm 58 years old and a lot of times I'm the youngest guy in the meeting. When we work out, I'm the oldest guy and I really feel it, in our boot camp, but anyway. So, you know, I've learned from getting my teeth kicked in and generally when somebody tells me I can't do something is when I do it, you know. I feel pretty good about that because I know a lot of people that God's given them a lot more skills than I have, but daggum I'm a United States Congressman, that's pretty good. More people have played professional baseball then been in the United States Congress in the history of our country. So, I'm humbled I guess, you know, I walk out every night and I look at that dome on the capital and I think, "wow, Charlie and Joyce Burchett's baby boy is a United States Congressman." And all the things daddy went through in the Pacific, fighting killing people, and mama losing her brother in the war, and I feel very honored where I'm at right now. So, you know, but I don't, you know, think more of myself. It's a job and God put me there and just like He put you there and He put our custodians out there, outside that are working out of the office today. I see them all the time and they are working and they're doing what they're supposed to be doing, and I think that's pretty cool.

Dodson: Yes, I agree.

Burchett: So, it's a cool country.

Dodson: Yes, ok.

Burchett: Anything else?

Dodson: I think that wraps it up, I think that's everything I need, yes.

Burchett: Alright.

Dodson: Thank you so much again!

Burchett: Alright.