Election 2022
Frazier, Driscoll vie for At-Large Seat 11
-
Frazier
-
Driscoll
Knox County’s Primary is May 3, and early voting begins next Wednesday, April 13. Early voting locations including Farragut Town Hall and Downtown West. Visit https://www.knoxcounty.org/election/ for more information.
Farragutpress will be profiling several Republican candidates in the weeks ahead because no Democratic contested Primary elections involve, either directly or indirectly, the Farragut area.
This will change, of course, to include Democratic candidates in the County General Election Aug. 4, which is also Election Day in the Town of Farragut.
Most GOP profiles are taken from candidates who presented their cases for being elected within the Town of Farragut — specifically the Concord-Farragut Republican Club — in February and March.
None of these profiles exceeds 400 words. If one is noticeably shorter than others, it’s only because that candidate cut his/her presentation short.
These profiles will run over the next few issues, and will continue weekly until the issue prior to the Wednesday, May 3, Knox County Primary election.
Kim Frazier:
“I have spent the better part of my adult life serving others in some form or fashion, and every experience that I’ve had led me to this decision to want to deepen that commitment to public service and to serve as your At-Large Commissioner.
“I grew up the daughter of two working-class, conservative, Christian parents. They taught me the value of hard work, the value of a dollar and to uphold the core principles of faith and family and freedom and financial independence. And that’s really important to me.
“… For 26 years I’ve worked as a human resource director, a health care administrator, a non-profit consultant and own a very small business.
“I’ve served on dozens of boards and committees and stakeholder groups like the Knox County Ethics Committee, Junior Achievement and Paws and Badges, which provides service dogs to our military..
Frazier and her family “are huge proponents of the public school system. … I know this area well.
“… You need to know that
I am passionate about education, and I’m passionate about public safety, and I’m passionate about infrastructure — those are all the things that impact you and your family on a daily basis.
“And those are all the things that position our county for economic and physical growth.
“I am different, and I am uniquely qualified for several reasons: ... I have experience and knowledge; I have been an engaged and active citizen for numerous years in local government.
“ ... I am my own person. I have no allegiance to anyone but the people and the places that I will represent. And I care deeply about how decisions made at the local level impact you and your family in big ways and in small ways
“I really want this opportunity to serve you, and serve you well — and I will listen to you.”
“Two things about me: I listen and I show up.”
Devin Driscoll:
“I live about 30 seconds from here in Sweetbriar; I’m a deacon at First Baptist Concord.
“I grew up here. … I attended school at Sacred Heart (and) Knoxville Catholic (High School) and graduated from Fordham University, and moved back to Knoxville and wanted to start a business for young people.
“It’s my passion to be working with young people, whether it’s coaching, training — in any way or capacity; I’ve been doing it over 20 years.
About opening his business, “I had $200 bucks and an idea; I lived in my apartment complex off of Papermill (Drive) and started training kids. … Slowly and surely, in 2017 I bought [out] a competitor, D1 Sports Training, and now I’ve got seven facilities here in the East Tennessee area, including our main (location) in Hardin Valley. And I’ve been able to grown D1, as a team, to 75 facilities nationwide.
“But what’s really cool about what we get to do is, we get to work with kids every day.
“And that’s one thing, when I felt this passion to want to continue to serve over the last few years — the biggest thing is we want to give back to the young people in our area because one thing I’ve seen since I started working with kids is that so many young people are leaving Knoxville for Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville. I just felt like there was a gap there that needed to be filled.
“… I started thinking, ‘what could we do at D1?’ So, we started training people in that area in understanding training and the business side for local high school students, and now we’ve got 15 of them working at D1;
“Workforce development, I think, is the future of our economy.
“As our county grows, and more businesses want to come in, we’ve got to have skilled workers to provide those jobs.”
