Gore Promises to Repair Problems in Tenant’s Home

Vice President Al Gore said Monday he will follow through on a promise to fix plumbing problems in a home he owns after the tenants complained that the property managers had ignored their pleas for repairs.

“I heard there was a problem. I took action to make sure that it will be solved and it will be,” Gore told reporters on his way to a presidential campaign stop in New York City.

Gore, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, said he hadn’t talked to one of the tenants, Tracy Mayberry, since Saturday, when he “had a very nice conversation” with her.

The vice president said the problems came to his attention after Mayberry called the local TV news.

Gore has offered to put the family in temporary lodging while repairs are made. Mayberry said Gore apologized Saturday after she called him a slumlord.

Mayberry and her family pay $400 a month for a four-bedroom house near Gore’s home in Carthage, 50 miles east of Nashville.

Gore’s property managers told Mayberry that her family would have to leave the home because the water would be turned off for the plumbing repairs.

Mayberry says she is putting her furniture in storage, sending her children to live with relatives, and she and her husband may live in her truck.

“It ain’t worth the aggravation,” Mayberry said.