Rep. Vince Dean of the Tennessee General Assembly says public service is not a way of life for him, it is his life. For 35 years, he’s served the public in one capacity or another, all generally geared toward helping people.
Before Dean was known as “Representative Dean,” many people knew him as “Officer Dean.” He started his career in public service as a dispatcher with the Chattanooga Police Department in 1979.
Dean then transitioned to night patrol, and from there worked in a number of different divisions, including Mounted Patrol, Internal Affairs, and Property Crimes. He also did stints as the department’s public information officer and as the administrative assistant to the deputy chief over operations.
A life-long resident of East Ridge, Tenn., Dean was leading the robbery squad at the police department when he attended his first city council meeting. What he saw changed his life.
“They passed a garbage fee, and I thought, ‘Shame on me for not knowing they were going to do that,’” he says. “They did it properly and above the board, but I was against it and felt bad about not being prepared.
“So I started attending council meetings and listening to the debates, and I thought, ‘I could do that job.’ And the more I listened, the more I thought, ‘I need to do that job because the council is making decisions I don’t feel are in the best interest of the citizens of East Ridge.”
Dean ran for and won one of two open seats during the next election. He went on to win two more elections, each time securing a greater percentage of the votes. As he looks back on his years as a councilman, he’s proudest of how he helped to change the spirit of the council, which had a reputation for conflict.
“We worked really hard at getting along and respecting each other’s opinions so we could provide the level of service we needed to,” he says. “I can disagree with my wife and still love her, so there was no reason we couldn’t have disagreements on the council and still get along.”
In November 2005, the mayor of East Ridge passed away. As vice mayor, Dean stepped into the role. The following March, the state representative for the 30th district passed away, and the County Commission unanimously appointed Dean to serve the rest of the term.
Dean knew the time had come to leave the police department and focus on his political duties full time. “The date of my retirement eligibility with the police department coincided with the day I was to be sworn in as state representative,” he says. “I turned in my badge and equipment on Monday morning and then drove to Nashville to be sworn in that afternoon.”
Dean quickly developed a reputation for reaching across the aisles. “I vote issues, not personalities,” he says. “If something comes up, I look at the issue, not the sponsor.”
On one occasion, Dean voted against two Republican-sponsored bills. Afterward, one of his fellow party members asked him if he knew he’d just voted against two Republican bills. His reply was blunt but honest. “I told him I didn’t see two Republican bills, I saw two bad bills.”
Although Dean doesn’t always tow the party line, he says he’s a Republican because his personal values align more closely with the party’s values.
“I’m a fiscal conservative. I believe in saving the taxpayers as much money as possible,” he says. “I also believe in helping get people to a position where they can support themselves.”
As the son of a Baptist preacher, Dean says he leans more to the right than to the left on social issues as well.
“I had a drug problem when I was a kid: my dad drug me to church every time the doors were open,” he says, laughing. “So those values were instilled in me at a young age.”
Dean’s fiscally conservative approach to government was apparent during the recent General Assembly, when he helped to craft bills geared toward spending less money, including a bill that would create a continuous sexual assault charge across multiple states for people accused of committing the crime, reducing court costs; a bill that would suspend the Medicaid and TennCare benefits of convicted criminals rather than canceling them, which would save the administrative costs involved in reinstating them when the person becomes eligible again; and a school bus bill Dean says would save taxpayers $56 million. The latter also ensures the safety of the state’s children.
“We extended the lives of our school buses while maintaining the safety portion of the buses,” he says. “We had a bill that would have taken off all of the restrictions on the buses, and there was no way that was going to fly. We have to have some oversight to maintain the safety of our children.”
Dean also filed a bill written partly to keep public notices in newspapers. “It’s important for people to know what’s going on in their community, and for the government to be transparent. To do that, we need to utilize every aspect of the media.”
While Dean will serve out his term as a state representative, the winds of change are blowing again. After nearly ten years in Nashville, Dean has entered the race to become Hamilton County’s criminal court clerk. “I saw a need for my party to have a viable candidate,” he says.
As of press time, Dean is running unopposed in the primary election taking place May 6. He’ll then face either the incumbent, Gwen Tidwell, or her opponent in the primary election, Brian White, in the August election.
Dean says the experience he gained while working for the police department and as a state representative would help him to perform the duties of criminal court clerk, which are numerous and varied, but break down to being the keeper of the records for the criminal courts of Hamilton County.
“Having served 27 years with the police department, I understand the functions of that office,” he says. “And having served nine years in the legislature, I understand that state law dictates most of the functions of that office.
“How do I know that? Because I helped to write those laws. I just helped to write a bill that allows a clerk to hire an outside firm to do collections and pass on the cost to the defendant. Currently, if you owe one hundred dollars to the court, and they hire an outside firm to collect it, they’re probably going to get only eighty of it because they have to pay the firm twenty percent to collect it.”
Dean also hopes to digitize the office.
With the 108th General Assembly drawing to a close, Dean will be kicking his campaign for criminal court clerk into high gear. He’s already been to several meet-and-greets, and plans to do more, as they’re a part of tossing one’s hat into the ring.
Beyond that, Dean is looking forward to spending more time with his wife, Debbie Henley, and their two daughters: 18-year-old Olivia, a cancer survivor and UTC student; and 15-year-old Sallie, whom he describes as “quite a character.” Together, they enjoy “getting out on the lake” and attending church at Abba’s House.
While the 55-year-old husband and father has faced tough odds as a politician, nothing has measured up to being the only man in a house of four. But he says his wife doesn’t need any help keeping him in line.
“When I first went to the legislature, I’d walk down the halls, and people would call me ‘Representative Dean.’ I really thought I was something,” he says. “Then I went home, walked in, and my wife reminded me to take out the garbage.”
Dean and Henley met when he was 32. She’d already been married and had a son, Justin, and he was still a bachelor. Dean, who was adopted when he was three years old, says one of the biggest honors of his life is when Justin, now a financial officer with Edward Jones in Washington, DC, took Dean’s name on his 18th birthday. “He’s my son. I raised him,” he says, choking with emotion.
Serving in the state assembly has been an honor for Dean, too. In his parting remarks to the 108th assembly last week, he urged his fellow representatives to view public service as a privilege, not an entitlement. “I gave them three points: I said don’t stray, don’t strut, and don’t stumble. Don’t stray from your personal convictions, don’t strut as if you own the office, and don’t stumble, because when you do, you not only embarrass yourself but also every member of the House.”
These are fitting words for a man who views public service not as a way of life, but as his life.