Senate Speaker and Lieutenant Gov. Ron Ramsey laughs at the notion he’s changed since being elected to the Legislature 23 years ago, that he’s lost touch with the common man or become “arrogant” as lieutenant governor of Tennessee.
“I’m riding down the road in a pickup truck, chewing tobacco with my baseball cap on, getting ready to unload a hay tedder. I’ve not changed the slightest bit,” says Ramsey, his voice rising to make a point in an interview from rural Blountville in Upper East Tennessee.
“I’ve become a little more powerful since I’ve become lieutenant governor. I guess they resent that. But, again, you’re always going to have your detractors in politics.
“So what else are they going to say? He’s a great guy? No. It just doesn’t work that way.”
Five years after failing in a gubernatorial bid, Ramsey, 59, is clearly comfortable as Senate speaker, strolling the Legislative Plaza in cowboy boots, reeling off answers to reporters’ questions, cracking jokes to Republican groups and running Senate sessions.
He engineered a (continue reading at TNLedger.com)