Impropriety charges fly in Senate race
2006-10-12
Source: Tennessean.com
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rss feedThe campaigns of Bob Corker and Harold Ford Jr., seeking an advantage in a tight U.S. Senate race, accuse each other of using political connections improperly.
Democrat Ford's campaign asserted a "quid pro quo" for Republican Corker, who got a campaign donation from a business executive whose firm got city pension business when Corker was mayor of Chattanooga. Corker's campaign continued to question the propriety of the lobbying work Ford's father did in Washington.
Both sides said Wednesday that their candidates have done nothing wrong.
Ford's campaign said Corker had a "serious malfeasance" problem in steering city pension funds to a risky business managed by a one-time business partner who is a campaign donor. Corker's camp said he did not select the pension-fund firms.
Don Mundie, a managing partner of Delta Venture Partners, gave Corker's Senate campaign $2,000 last year, the Ford campaign said. "That is quid pro quo where I come from," said Michael Powell, a senior adviser to Ford's campaign.
Corker's relationship with Delta Capital Management, a Memphis investment firm, was the subject of a Memphis Commercial Appeal article that said Corker once invested with Delta in a speculative Internet venture. A few years later, while Corker was mayor, the firm got $1 million in Chattanooga employee pension funds. Corker never told pension board members of his past relationship with Delta.
Powell said, "Bob Corker put city workers' pensions at risk so his business partner could get rich."
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