Gubernatorial Candidate Gibbons Emphasizes Fighting Crime

Shelby County District Attorney Bill Gibbons says as governor of Tennessee he would focus on fighting crime and making communities safer.

The Republican candidate says the state needs tougher sentencing laws for repeat offenders. And he wants to tackle the “underlying problem” of drug addiction.

Gibbons says he’s running for governor in part out of frustration with Tennessee’s criminal justice system, which he calls “broken.” He says Tennessee suffers above-average crime rates, and blames drugs as a root cause.

So as governor Gibbons says he would push for treatment of addiction among convicted criminals.

“What I’d like to do is push more of our state drug treatment dollars into judge-monitored drug treatment through drug courts, very similar to the one that Davidson County has.”

Gibbons wants to see that approach implemented statewide, saying studies show it’s the best way of fighting drug addiction.

EXTRA:

In a summer fundraising report Gibbons trailed three other Republicans running for governor, as the only GOP candidate that hadn’t raised over a million dollars.

But Gibbons argues the richest candidate doesn’t always win, citing John McCain’s nomination as last year’s GOP presidential candidate as an example.