Hamilton County Board of Education hopeful Dr. Joe Dumas does not regret making public an e-mail containing some accusations against him that have “absolutely nothing to do with the school board,” he said Wednesday.

The e-mail, sent Sunday from ousted Signal Mountain Town Councilman Bob Linehart to supporters of incumbent District 2 representative Chip Baker, outlined reasons voters should work hard to keep Dr. Dumas out of office. Among the accusations were that Dr. Dumas did not support the new Signal Mountain Middle-High School and that he did support gay marriage, legalization of marijuana and allowing handguns in schools.

A forwarded version of the e-mail made its way to Dr. Dumas’ inbox, and he immediately released it to the media. Speaking to reporters and editors at the Chattanooga Times Free Press on Wednesday, Dr. Dumas called the e-mail “dishonest and cowardly.”

“If somebody is going to attack you, you might as well get out there and beat them to the punch, so that’s what we did,” he said. “I think the public has clearly reacted positively to that.”

Mr. Linehart said he maintains that Dr. Dumas is not a good candidate for the school board, but that he regrets that the e-mail became public.

“I don’t like the mudslinging, but those are his words, not mine,” he said. “Yeah, I regret sending (the e-mail), but it was a personal e-mail to friends.”

Dr. Dumas said he opposed the way the Signal Mountain Town Council raised taxes “in order to try and essentially buy their way into getting a county school,” but he supports the Signal Mountain Middle-High School itself. Raising taxes was unfair to other communities in Hamilton County that don’t have the money to do the same, he said.

“It set a bad precedent that municipalities would fund county schools,” he said.

The implication in the e-mail that Dr. Dumas wanted to allow students to carry handguns and use marijuana in schools also is false, he said. Excerpts taken from articles and blogs Dr. Dumas wrote about allowing professors, such as himself, to carry guns into public schools or allowing adults legally to use marijuana were written before he ran for political office and were taken out of context in Mr. Linehart’s e-mail, Dr. Dumas said.

“Whether marijuana is available to adults has nothing to do with it being available to schoolchildren,” he said. “I’m opposed to that just as any intelligent person would be.”

Although Mr. Baker received Mr. Linehart’s e-mail, he said he had no idea how it became public. Mr. Baker said he does not condone the sending or the writing of the e-mail.

“It was obviously a very unfortunate scenario, but we’ve stayed very positive throughout this campaign,” Mr. Baker said. “I believe my opponent has been negative.”

Comments