Club for Growth Action to Haslam: Don’t Run
Washington, DC – Today, Club for Growth Action announced the release of a 60-second digital ad exposing the history of Bill Haslam profiting from his business interest, which had been infected with fraud, racist rants, and practices designed to exploit Hispanic and other customers.
Club for Growth Action President David McIntosh also responded to Governor Haslam’s statement last week that he doesn’t know if it is the “right thing” to run for Senate: “Governor, don’t run. You have a legacy as Governor and clearly don’t have the fire in the belly nor desire to serve in the US Senate.”
McIntosh pointed out that Democrats, and even Haslam’s Republican opponents, plan to hit him with tough ads about Haslam’s profiting from corrupt and racist business practices while in office.
Club for Growth Action also launched a new microsite, DirtyBillHaslam.com, that catalogues his company’s long history of discriminatory business practices and incarcerated friends.
You can watch the digital ad here.
A few examples of Haslam’s scandal-filled past and dubious ties include:
- Ownership in a business raided by the FBI in 2013 after it was caught in a scheme to defraud mom-and-pop truckers.
- Targeting “unsophisticated” Hispanic-owned businesses for fraud in the corporate scheme to exploit the language barrier to “get away with a little bit more.”
- Maintaining ownership of his business interest after 19 executives and staff members were implicated in fraud.
- Associating with racist Mark Hazelwood, Haslam’s long-time friend and golfing buddy, who was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison for his role masterminding the fraud. Hazelwood was later caught on tape using racist language a judge described as “vile” and “despicable,” including using the N-word at a company meeting.
- Receiving tens of thousands of dollars from corrupt sources during his gubernatorial campaign, including $12,000 from Hazelwood.