If you're feeling disillusioned with party-line politics, sometimes it's refreshing to look at the politicians right here at home, the people who talk to the folks they represent every day, the politicians who don't see themselves as answerable to a party, but to the people who voted them into office.

Whether you agree with him on all decisions or not, Union County Mayor Mike Williams is one of those hometown politicians. Born and raised in Union County, he went on to serve in the state legislature for 18 years and is in his second term as mayor.

"I see myself as a public servant more than in a political job," he said. "My responsibility is to do what's in the best interest of the public. Sometimes you have to put your political career in harm's way, but if you're doing what you should be doing, that's what you do."

Williams grew up on Maynardville Ridge. His grandmother Alice Cook ran the House Truck Stop restaurant where his mother was a waitress. When he was just a kid, he was already at work in the restaurant, bussing tables and delivering food. He attended Maynardville Elementary School and Horace Maynard High School. After high school, Williams worked with ETHRA in various positions including summer youth programs and job development.

He went to college in 1982, attending night school at the University of Tennessee with a major in education, then transferred to Lincoln Memorial University to finish his degree. He taught in Campbell County for a couple of years and half a year in Union County schools before he changed careers. It wasn't that he didn't like working with kids, he said.

"It just didn't fit very well," Williams said. "I just realized that I liked being able to get in and out of a space, needed a little bit of freedom."

From there, he worked in the Alumni Affairs office at LMU, doing fundraising and attending alumni events. He also worked as an announcer at LMU basketball games, traveling with the team and doing radio broadcasts with another announcer.

In the late 1980s, Williams decided to run for the state House of Representatives. He lost his first race but won his second and went on to serve as state Representative from 1990 to 1996 and as state Senator from 1996 to 2008.

The reason, he said, is simple.

"When I taught school, you'd always invite elected officials to come and talk to your classes, and generally speaking they only showed up during an election year, and I just thought that wasn't fair to the students. I remember voicing that to several people. They said, 'Why don't you run and do it differently?'" he said.

And during his time in Nashville, he said he's most proud that he stayed humble.

"I never got above my raising," Williams said. "I always felt like it was a huge responsibility to represent people and not just a party or certain people. I felt like you owed it to everyone to do what you could and take their needs to Nashville. I always took it as a big responsibility. We passed the Hope scholarship while I was in Nashville. I was there and supported it. I fought against a state income tax. It was a wonderful experience being there and a huge responsibility, but I never forgot where I came from."

But, it was that ethic that eventually got him in trouble with the Republican party and drove him to change his affiliation to Independent. According to Williams, he "bucked the system" by refusing to vote along the party line on a budget that would divide state surplus, not among all 95 counties, but among four or five metropolitan areas. He also was late to commit to a party-line vote for Speaker of the House.

"I had been told by a member of the Republican party that they were not going to allow me to run, they were going to throw me off the ballot," Williams said. "I didn't believe it, but I kept hearing it more and more. I think the public should decide who serves in the office, not people in Nashville. I thought the only way I could run was if I ran as an Independent. I just said, 'I work for the people back home.'

He lost the 2008 election and took two years off, working with TDOT as a project manager, and during that time he decided to run for mayor of Union County. He won and took office in 2010.

Just like with the decision to run for state legislature, Williams said he thought he could make positive changes in the county by serving as mayor.

"I just think we could do better than we're doing," he said. "I thought I could do it and make it closer to the way it should be."

Williams counts setting up central finance in Union County as one of his successes, and one of his biggest challenges.

"I think the biggest challenge was getting a grip on our local budget to make sure we were sound financially. The state had written up Union County many times over not having centralized finance," he said. "I met with the auditors within the first month of taking office and asked, 'What do we need to do to make this right?' Now, our county is well financially. We refinanced loans at a lower rate. We have a better credit rating. It was something that put us on a sound financial foundation. Before you can build something up, you'd better make sure you have a good foundation."

He also feels that folks outside Union County are seeing the county in a different light these days.

"When I go to meetings outside the county, they look at our county differently. They hear good things. We've had other counties come to our county to see how we changed our financial status. We have counties coming to us to see how we do business. I think that speaks very well, and I think our image is improving," he said.

While he's proud of improvements to Wilson Park and the addition of a memorial to veterans there, he said he's most disappointed that he's not gotten more done.

"We need more things for our young people," he said. "I think the people of this county deserve activities."

Anyone who has met Williams probably knows about his love of cars and specifically the late NASCAR racer Dale Earnhardt. Williams collects and works on cars as a hobby. In fact, he still has the 1975 Hornet he drove to his first session in the state legislature. And it still runs.

He has four vehicles painted in honor of Earnhardt, and they've become his signature vehicles.

"I always liked racing, and the reason is that you earn it or you don't. Your performance determines what you make," Williams said. "The first time I ever saw Dale Earnhardt race, he didn't even do well. He wrecked early in the race. He wrecked, and the thing that got me was that I watched this driver get out of his car and work on his own car. I became a fan the more I learned about him, how he never forgot about his family, never forgot where he came from, and he did so much work for people that nobody knew about. I thought, 'This is a really good guy."

"The reason that I have the cars is not what people think. It's to remind me that no matter how good things are or how bad things are, they can take a big swing. (Earnhardt) was top five at Daytona and got killed on the last lap. The Earnhardt legacy to me is no matter how bad things are, they could be worse, and no matter how good things are, don't get yourself up on a pedestal or you'll get knocked down."

Williams said he hasn't decided whether he'll run for another term as Union County's mayor or not. It depends on who might come next.

"You either lead, follow or get out of the way," he said. "I just believe that you ought to make a difference. I think you do the best you can for as long as you can, and maybe let somebody else take up the mantle and maybe do better."

"I just think I've been blessed that people have trusted me to be in public service for as long as I have, and I hope I've never taken that for granted. This is not my office. This is a place I rent for a period of time. It's been a good ride."