Lascassas cattleman and businessman, Rick Peppers, announced his bid to represent the citizens of Tennessee’s 48th District in the August 7th, 2014 Republican primary. If elected, Peppers would fill the vacancy left by retiring representative Joe Carr and continue the important work of limiting government, enforcing existing laws and making Tennessee one of the most business-friendly states in America.
"Late this summer, when Rep. Joe Carr announced that he would be ending his distinguished career in the legislature at the end of his term, I began to spend a considerable amount of time deciding whether or not I could bring a significant contribution to the process as well as to the legislature if elected,” Peppers said. “After much serious thought and prayer, I am excited to announce that I will be a candidate for the Republican nomination for State Representative, 48th District.”
Peppers added that Tennessee is one of the best managed, lowest-taxed and most conservative states in the nation.
“Yet, there’s much more work to be done when it comes to limiting taxation and stopping unfair restrictions on small businesses,” he said.
Rick Peppers founded a Murfreesboro engineering firm in 1998 that provided services to mostly rural telecommunications companies around the country. He spent the better part of his 30-year-career assisting telecommunications companies in bringing the most advanced communications technology in the world to the most remote areas of the country. He is proud to say that while under his ownership his firm provided assistance in the deployment of roughly three quarters of a billion dollars in infrastructure. He sold his firm in 2011 and retired from the telecommunications industry in December 2012.
Peppers operates Five Peppers Farm in Murfreesboro, a registered black angus cattle ranch, providing seed stock for commercial cattleman.
"As a family-run business, we are acutely aware of how punitive taxes and governmental regulations are choking small businesses and hampering their ability to create new jobs,” Peppers said. “As state representative, I will draw from my business experience and support legislation that holds the line on taxes, helps create new and meaningful jobs, and revitalizes the Tennessee economy during this economic malaise we’ve been enduring due to ever-growing government waste and interference.”
Peppers suggested in a press release that he escaped childhood poverty through his belief in conservative values, self-reliance, a strong faith and work ethic.
"As we are all faced with challenges in our lives, I firmly believe without faith and an inherent sense of survival and self-reliance, we as a society are skating dangerously close to collapse," Peppers said. "The last thing we need in Tennessee is another legislator moonlighting for special interests. I'm simply a businessman that believes I can make a positive and unfettered contribution to the state in which I live and love.”
Rick Peppers is pro-life, pro-second amendment, anti-income tax, a supporter of property rights and state sovereignty.
Peppers enjoys hunting and the outdoors. He believes it’s important to maintain our connection to our rural and agricultural roots. He and his wife Julie have been married for 21 years and have three children: ten-year old boy and girl twins and a thirteen-year old daughter. They attend World Outreach Church in Murfreesboro.
