Posted on 07/28/2006 7:48:52 AM PDT by SmithL
Republican Bob Corker reported giving another $420,000 in personal money to his U.S. Senate campaign on Thursday, while Van Hilleary belatedly filed a personal disclosure revealing $336,000 in income from a Washington law and lobbying firm.
Corker's latest contribution to his own campaign brings his total self-funding to almost $2.2 million. As of July 14, Corker had also reported raising $6.5 million from others.
The total of $8.7 million puts Corker on track toward setting a record for spending on a U.S. Senate campaign in Tennessee. That will almost certainly be the case if he wins the Aug. 3 primary.
In comparison, Sen. Lamar Alexander collected a total of $6.2 million for his entire 2002 campaign, primary and general elections combined, including about $1 million in self-funding.
Ed Bryant spent just more than $2 million that year in losing to Alexander in the primary - a spending level roughly on par with his effort in the current campaign.
The previous Senate spending record for Tennessee came in 1994, when Bill Frist, now Senate majority leader and retiring from the seat, spent $9.8 million for the entire election cycle, including $6.2 million of personal funds loaned to the campaign, according to Political Money Line. Corker spent just $1.8 million in that campaign, finishing as runner-up to Frist.
Spokespersons for the Bryant and Hilleary campaigns contend Corker is pouring personal money into the campaign because of a fear that his lead, as reflected in recent polls, is disappearing as the opposing campaigns air ads attacking him.
"Bob Corker's house of cards is crumbling under the weight of his own hypocrisy," said Andrew Shulman, spokesman for the Bryant campaign.
"Bob Corker knows he has to buy this race because he is an unacceptable choice to primary voters when they know the truth about him," said Jennifer Coxe, campaign chairman for Hilleary.
"We remain committed to having the resources to refute the false and negative attacks from Ed Bryant and Van Hilleary while communicating Bob Corker's positive and conservative message," said Ben Mitchell, Corker's campaign chairman.
Hilleary's personal financial disclosure was filed with the Senate Thursday, more than two months late.
It shows that the former congressman received $250,000 from Sonnenschein Nath and Rosenthal, the Washington law and lobbying firm that he works with, during 2005 and another $86,664 in 2006.
The report lists Federal Mogul Corp. of Southfield, Mich., which makes auto parts, and SMS Holdings Corp. of Nashville, which provides security and maintenance services, as clients that paid the law firm at least $5,000 for "legal/public policy services" in 2005. The exact amounts of their payments are not provided.
Opposing campaigns have criticized Hilleary for his delay in filing the report. Mitchell said it appears that "Van Hilleary is doing everything within his power to deflect attention from the fact that, after serving in Congress, he became a lobbyist."
Coxe blamed the delay on Hilleary's hectic schedule.
"Unlike Bob Corker, who has millions and can pay accountants and professionals to fill out his forms, Van has to fit it into his busy campaign schedule," Coxe said.
The report was originally due May 15. Hilleary had been granted two extensions and officially had until Aug. 14 - 11 days after the primary election - to file it.
Other information on the report shows that Hilleary has two bank savings accounts, both containing less than $15,000, and owes between $50,000 and $100,000 on a personal loan from First National Bank of Pikeville.
Quarrelling among the Republican Senate candidates seemed something of a liar's contest on Thursday.
The Corker campaign sent media a statement trying to debunk Bryant's latest television ad, which had accused Corker of lying in his earlier ads. Shulman fired back by calling Corker "the king of liars."
"It's unbelievable that Ed Bryant's attack ad accusing another candidate of lying would itself be packed with lies," said Mitchell in round one of the day's exchange.
Here are some of the Corker contentions:
Mitchell says the ad, first, "manufactured a promise." The Bryant campaign interprets comments Corker made in a radio interview as making a promise, though a tape of those comments shows Corker was referring to efforts at blocking the hiring of illegal immigrants at Chattanooga properties he owned - after he sold his construction company in 1990. He never uses the word "promise."
Shulman said "it's obvious" the ad refers to the Senate race and the objection is inconsequential.
The Bryant campaign said Corker "is running the same deceitful, negative campaign he ran in 1994 when he outrageously attacked Sen. Frist's character for being a draft-dodging Vietnam War protester."
Well, that's not exactly what Corker did in 1994. A Chattanooga newspaper account at the time notes that Corker ran a TV ad highlighting Frist's failure to register as a voter until 1988, though he became eligible to vote in 1971. When the ad mentions the 1971 eligibility, the screen shows footage of a Vietnam anti-war rally.
Frist's campaign manager at the time charged that the ad insinuated Frist was a protester and went on to declare that "Bob Corker is a coward and cowards don't operate in the light of day."
As long as you don't have Ford.
Andy "Old Hickory" Jackson was Tennessee's 1st Congressman, was briefly a US Senator, and was the last President that fought in the Revolutionary War. The Democratic Party that he founded was vastly different than the party of today.
I love visiting the Hermitage. It doesn't get old for me, but it's been way too many years since I've been back there.
Thanks! Are you staying cool?
Exactly!!!!!!
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