The Roane County News has “part one” of a Q&A with state Rep. Julia Hurley, R-Lenoir City, that includes commentary on her House floor desk initials, gaining weight during the legislative session and her views on the media attention she has attracted. (Subscription required.)
On carving her initials on her desk: “Well I don’t know why it attracted so much attention, not even sure who made it such a big deal…. I don’t know how many people know how open that area is, but we have kids vandalize those desks constantly.
“I have come into my legislative desk with gum in my chair and Cheetos. We open it to classrooms of kindergartners to high schoolers and you leave them in there long enough they’re going to go through your drawers and they’re going to eat your snacks that you try to hide for yourself for the floor. They’re going to leave little notes, so people do stuff to those desks all the time, but when I was asked if I had done that to my own, I said yes ….
“The desk is fixed. It’s good. Even the weird coffee stain on the desk is gone, and that wasn’t mine, so it looks like a really great, brand new beautiful desk.”
Answering a question on whether the media has been fair to her: “What I would like to see is sell your newspapers, but please inform people, too.
“I’ve got 50 bills that I co-prime sponsored that are huge and nobody knows, and I’m like, please tell that side, too … I don’t care to be out there, but if you wouldn’t mind printing some of the good things that I do, it would be awesome.
“Let people know what I’m doing besides all the crap that I do.
“Let them know that I’m out here passing bills and I am out here working. I am out here representing cancer awareness and child abuse awareness.”