Didn’t Bill Clinton pick one as his Vice President? Someone else ought to remember this story…
June 3, 2000
Gore Promises Repairs to Tenant
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Tracy Mayberry thought Vice President Al Gore was a slumlord, until Gore called her Saturday and promised to repair overflowing toilets and backed-up sinks in the apartment her family rents from him.
Mayberry and her family pay $400 a month to rent the four-bedroom house within sight of Gore’s home in Carthage, about 50 miles east of Nashville.
“Before, I was really upset with him. I considered him a slumlord,’’ she said Saturday. “Right now, my opinion varies. If he’ll uphold his end of the bargain, that’s OK.’’
…After repeated complaints to Gore’s property managers, Mayberry said she was told her family – including her disabled husband, a mentally retarded daughter and another daughter with a seizure disorder – were being evicted. They live on $1,536 a month in Social Security from her husband’s disability.
Frustrated, Mayberry contacted a Nashville television station, WTVF-TV, which aired a story on her situation Friday.
By Saturday afternoon, Gore was on the phone to Mayberry, promising to fix the problems and pay for a new place for the family to stay. Republicans were already circulating the TV story to national news organizations.
“He said he’d heard I’d called him a slumlord, and I said I did. I said if you want to run for president, you ought to behave like a landlord should,’’ Mayberry said…