Mike McWherter, Democrat For Governor of Tennessee
Republican Gubernatorial candidate Bill Haslam has gone on record opposing a plan to help grow Tennessee’s small businesses with state dollars, even though his own multi-billion dollar family business has taken in over half a million dollars in state subsidies. Does Haslam only support big business over small business? Democrat Mike McWherter calls Haslam’s hypocrisy out in an Associated Press story:
A state website listing payments to vendors is the source of McWherter’s data that shows about $537,000 was directed to Pilot between July 2007 and November 2009. The site does not provide detailed descriptions beyond that the money was spent in “Grants and Subsidies” or “Land” categories.
“It’s bad enough that Haslam opposes tax breaks for small business owners,” McWherter said. “Now we find out that his big oil company has received over half a million dollars in state subsidies in a little over two years.”
Haslam has been criticized by rivals for refusing to release his annual earnings from Pilot and over the potential conflict of interest presented by his ongoing part-ownership of the company.
The Wamp campaign in a release Tuesday said voters are “left in the dark” over Haslam’s stake in the state-regulated company that engages a lobbyist to represent Pilot’s interests with the state government.
“Those efforts, apparently, have paid off,” spokesman Sam Edelen said in the release. “Pilot Oil received more than a half-million dollars in state taxpayer money … to upgrade the company’s gas stations and increase its profits.”
Tags: Bill Haslam, Governor, Mike McWherter, Pilot Oil, Tennessee
