The Tennessean reported Friday that a complaint alleges that gubernatorial candidate Bill Lee is using a tax-sheltered trust to illegally donate money to his own campaign.
The complaint, filed by Joe Darke of Dover, Tennessee, also alleges that the Republican candidate has accepted illegal contributions from some individuals and businesses while raising questions about Lee’s frequent use of television ads for his company.
The complaint was filed with Tennessee’s Registry of Election Finance, WKRN said, and claims Lee uses his businesses to supplement his campaign without disclosure and beyond limits. More specifically, the complaint says Lee Company commercials featured Lee, while campaign ads have touted Lee’s company experience. It speculates Lee is running company ads for a business expense deduction to avoid more income taxes.
Campaign spokesman Chris Walker called the complaint “nonsense,” WKRN said.
The complaint contains at least two errors, which could lead campaign finance officials to dismiss it, The Tennessean said. A campaign spokesman said the complaint was evidence he was gaining momentum.
Don’t know if Joe is a Boyd supporter or not but know for a fact the info came from a Black supporter in Stewart County. Guess we’ll see if it has any merit or not but I thought Black supporters were ok with mixing political positions and family owned businesses?
Or how about Beth Harwell claiming she balanced the State budget for umpteen years. Funny thing is that the TN Constitution REQUIRES a balanced budget!
To me, it seems that “Mr. Darke” is running a black ops… a Diane Black ops! I’ve seen Bill Lee speak several times over the last year. He is very quickly coming up the learning curve of “retail” politics. The Robertson County results prove it! Congresswoman Black can’t let him steal a County in her backyard! Let the games begin.
I dont really care about this kind of nonsense–I expect dirty tricks like this during all elections. My issue is Bill Lee and his lack of policies. He is like boyd–blah blah blah nothing ads. I dont care about their growing up working for DADDY’S FACTORY like it was a hardship. I dont care how successful a businessperson you are–WHAT ARE YOUR POLICIES? Are you going to demand the Gas Tax be repealed, are you going to lower the boom on Sanctuary (sorry–“welcoming”) cities? Are you going to implement immediate audits of ALL State programs to ensure illegals arent stealing taxpayer $$? THOSE are the kinds of things I want to know–everything else is just fluff
But Mr. Joe Darke of Dover, Tennessee, have you not seen the adds of your guy, Randy Boyd, touting his company and his managerial success ? Oh, but you have forgotten to tell the electorate that Boyd has his companies parts made in China, didn’t you Mr. Darke ?
As the old saying goes, “If you’re not taking flak, you’re not over the target.” It would not be surprising at all if this proves to be a big nothingburger – it has the signature of one. This might be a blessing in disguise, if they can demonstrate the frivolity of this charge and expose those responsible, it might prove beneficial to the campaign. You can’t walk into a den of vipers without a fang or two, especially if you’re the mongoose sent in to clean up that den.
Bill Lee has never held public office, so he touts his success in business as evidence his suitability. If you read his book, “The Road I’m On”, he describes how his business, a multigenerational family business, came close to ruin under his management. They took on a big job that went sideways. He had to lay off almost half his workers – but they survived and then rebuilt – but this time they did so in a more measured and conservative manner. He didn’t do so alone, he found the help he needed and in his book he humbly acknowledged the value of that help.
A hard lesson to learn, but the point is, he did learn. One, to approach growth in a measured, fiscally sound manner that balances risk and reward and, two, to recognize your own limitations and get the additional help you need to succeed. Good values to carry into leading the state.
“The Tennessean reported Friday that a complaint alleges that gubernatorial candidate Bill Lee is using a tax-sheltered trust to illegally donate money to his own campaign.
The complaint, filed by Joe Darke of Dover, Tennessee, . . .”
Over the weekend, The Tennessee Star reports, Bill Lee won a ‘straw poll’ at a political event in Robertson County, surprising many establishment types in the State.
And now the ‘dirty politics’ of sensational charges and damaging innuendo starts. Almost everyone in the State knows The Tennessean and what its political agenda is. And who the heck is Joe Darke of Dover, Tennessee, and for whom does he act and what does he support?
Will the people of Tennessee (a deep ‘red’ State) in the coming gubernatorial election allow themselves to be ‘flim-flamed’ as happened recently, somewhat similarly, to the people of Alabama (another deep ‘red’ State) when the Washington Post and Gloria Allred (a California left-wing Democrat political activist lawyer) ‘swooped-in’ to ‘stir and trouble the political waters’ there with the end result being that Alabama has now replaced a conservative Republican with a liberal Democrat as its U. S. Senator? And Dems everywhere are ‘high fiving’ each other at how ‘well played’ the WaPo campaign was in Alabama.
The people of Tennessee need to tell these political demagogues ‘where to get off.’