CANDIDATE NICHOLS GIVES VIEWS ON WAYS TO COMBAT CRIME; SUPPORTS INCOME TAX

Knox County District Attorney Randy Nichols, a Democratic gubernatorial
candidate, was in Coffee County on Monday as a guest of Coffee County
District Attorney General Mickey Layne. He met with the Tullahoma Drug Task
Force and spoke at a meeting of Coffee County Democratic Women.

Nichols' career in law enforcement spans 29 years, and includes 50 months
as a criminal court judge. He is married, with two children attending the
University of Tennessee in Knoxville, and is president of the state
District Attorney Association.

Nichols is one of six candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for
governor, including Phil Bredesen, Charles Smith, Floyd Conover, Charles
Brown and Luther Best.

Nichols says he was persuaded to run for governor by other district
attorneys across the state.

"I have always been concerned about law-enforcement and have always pushed
to make this a safe state for our citizens," he said.

"District attorneys formed a coalition to push legislation we thought would
affect the quality of life for all Tennesseans.

"We sought to have any crime involving three or more perpetrators (a gang)
elevated at least one grade in sentencing, and make it automatic prison for
convicted felons caught with possession of a firearm." Nichols said.

"We also asked for legislation to force anyone pawning anything worth $25
or more to have to put their thumbprint on the ticket."

Nichols said coalition members felt they were "pushed around like paper
dolls" by lobbyist groups and the Pawn Brokers Association. The thumbprint
legislation was okayed in Knox and Shelby Counties.

"The Legislature said they thought the 'gang' legislation would cost $2.8
million," he said. "Basically, they said, 'we would love to help, but don't
have the money.'

"Our state is 10th in the nation in crime, and in cities of more than a
half million, Memphis is number one - Nashville number eight. We can't use
the excuse we don't have money. We need to concentrate on being safer."

Nichols said he is in favor of a flat-rate income tax. He would propose a
3.5 percent rate rather than the 4.5 percent proposed by House Speaker
Jimmy Naifeh, and would set the threshold high enough so people on fixed
incomes wouldn't have to pay.

He said he would remove sales tax from food and non-prescription drugs.

"I differ with the speaker on clothes," he said. "I wouldn't take taxes off
clothes. I think people buying $300 Armani suits need to pay tax on it. But
I would look at occasional 'tax holidays' to help single parents trying to
buy back-to-school clothes for their kids be able to get what they need."

Nichols said he was in favor of repeal of the Hall Income Tax, and has no
objection to raising "sin taxes."

"We haven't raised taxes on alcohol since 1969," he said. "I believe what I
propose would raise more than $900 million, and should be enough to operate
our government forever.

"With this plan, a $30,000 household is going to save about $800 a year in
taxes," he said. "The heavy tax shouldn't be on the necessities of life."

Nichols said the plan he proposes would add about $1,000 a year to his own
tax bill - not something he looks forward to, but is willing to do.

"The uncertainty of the tax structure in Tennessee is keeping businesses
away. We're losing industries we need," he said. "If we adopted this plan,
we would still be in the top ten for low taxes."

Nichols called himself "naive" for thinking all candidates have a plan in
mind and are willing to put it out for the people to decide whether they
agree with it or not.

"I have tried to set up debates to discuss the issues and allow voters to
get to know what we stand for, but I haven't had any luck with the
exception of Charles Smith. He and I will debate on June 30 in East Tennessee.

The need to "do something" in this state has changed the whole dynamics of
this campaign, he said. Nichols said he didn't think all the state's
financial problems could be blamed on TennCare.

"If TennCare were such a bad deal, why are other states wanting to get the
same arrangement?" he asked. "One in four Tennessee citizens is on
TennCare, and we're using 1982 era computers for our record keeping," he said.

"We should insist on a person living in Tennessee before he gets TennCare.

"We need to really look at the program, and if there is fraud, I know how
to deal with people who steal. We need to let people know we are making a
conscientious effort to ferret out fraud, and are not resentful of
providing help to people who really need it.

"We need to build confidence because it's critical we keep TennCare, but we
must eliminate the cheaters."

Nichols talked about the use of drug courts to cut down on the number of
persons sent to expensive state prisons and to get help for people addicted
to drugs and alcohol.

"The criminal justice system is the third largest expense we have in the
state," he said. "But 60 percent of the people we incarcerate and release,
re-offend within nine months. After three years, it's almost 100 percent.
It costs us $25,000 a year to lock somebody up and in Knox County, we spend
$5,913 to educate a child.

"Most of the time we're dealing with the same people over and over. Most
home burglaries are by people addicted to drugs and alcohol. If we used
drug courts more, we would not only save money, we would be offering help
for the addiction."

According to Nichols, the Blount County Drug Court is one of the best in
the state and has an eight percent recidivism rate, and costs under $1,200
per individual.

"There are just a few drug courts in the state," Nichols said. "They're
operated with a federal matching grant. We asked the Legislature to
allocate some of the tobacco money for matching funds and were turned down.
I have never heard one negative report on a drug court.

"There won't be many in this campaign who understand the criminal justice
system the way I do. We need more focus and we need to get smarter in how
we deal with criminals."