Bill Haslam - Mayor of Knoxville

Mayor of Knoxville

In 2002, Haslam announced he was running for Mayor of Knoxville, inspired in part by a conversation he had had with then-Chattanooga mayor (and current United States Senator) Bob Corker. Knoxville's mayoral elections are nominally non-partisan, but Haslam was known to be a member of the Republican Party when he ran for the office. His opponent in the race, Knox County commissioner Madeline Rogero, criticized Haslam as an oil company puppet, and blamed his father for the appointment of controversial U.T. president John Shumaker, an attack Haslam dismissed as "petty, personal politics". On September 30, 2003, he defeated Rogero by a 52% to 46% margin.

In 2006, Haslam appointed Rogero director of community development, later stating he had read Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals, and was inspired by President Abraham Lincoln's decision to appoint former campaign rivals to his cabinet. He was reelected in 2007, winning 87% of the vote against challengers Isa Infante and Mark Saroff.

Haslam identifies several successful historic preservation initiatives among his accomplishments as mayor, including saving the historic S&W Cafeteria in downtown Knoxville, building a new cinema (the Regal Riviera) in the city's downtown, and revitalizing the historic Bijou Theatre. In 2008, he was appointed to a four-year term on the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation by U.S. President George W. Bush.

Along with historical preservation efforts, Haslam helped spur residential and retail growth in the downtown area, mainly by offering developers tax subsidies. He helped implement a master plan for the development of the South Knoxville riverfront, which was given an Outstanding Planning Award by the Tennessee Chapter of the American Planning Association. The Haslam administration operated under a balanced budget policy, which helped to double the city's savings during his first term.