State Senator and U.S. Congressional Candidate, Eric Stewart, met with small business owners and college students in Murfreesboro Monday to discuss ways to help local businesses succeed and make college more affordable.
“I learned a long time ago that nobody knows how to build a community better than the folks who live in it,” Stewart said. “That’s why I met today with people that own businesses here in downtown Murfreesboro.”
During the meeting, Stewart was joined by business owners like Corey Williams, owner of Pa Bunk’s Natural Market & Café and Bill Shacklett, owner of Shacklett’s Photography.
“We need to be concerned about the mom-and-pop stores on Main Street and a lot less concerned about the suits and corporate CEOs on Wall Street,” Stewart said. “The people I heard from today all agreed that their business succeeds when their customers have money to spend. To me, this means tax breaks should go to working families, not corporations that so often invest in jobs overseas.”
Corey Williams, owner of Pa Bunk’s, agrees with Stewart. “Each day I look out the window of my store and see the once vibrant Murfreesboro Square struggling for air in this corporate balloon economy, even though small business accounts for more real job growth than corporations,” Williams said.
Prior to Stewart meeting with small business owners, his opponent, Congressman Scott DesJarlais, was joined by Washington politicians and representatives of special interest groups that have donated to DesJarlais’s campaign to discuss ways to improve the economy. The panel did not include a single person who actually lives in Rutherford County, or owns a business in Rutherford County.
“I don’t think the people in Rutherford County need D.C. politicians and special interest groups coming down here and telling them how things should be,” Stewart said. “They need someone that will sit down at the table with them and discuss what’s going on in their community and that’s what I did today and will continue to do all across the 4th Congressional district.”