Ron Littlefield
Marti Rutherford
Leamon Pierce

Three candidates in the mayoral and City Council races are touting their work in getting Volkswagen to Chattanooga, but their opponents say they’ll fight back.

“A lot of people have history with this subject,” Mayor Ron Littlefield said Friday. “Not Volkswagen per se, but Enterprise South and efforts to bring new economic development to the community in general.”

Mr. Littlefield and District 8 Councilman Leamon Pierce both produced campaign fliers mentioning Volkswagen. District 6 candidate Marti Rutherford mentioned in a political forum at UTC how she helped bring the automaker to town as well.

All three candidates were part of the council that helped acquire the former Volunteer Army Ammunition Plant that later turned into Enterprise South industrial park, home to Volkswagen’s new assembly plant.

But on Friday, mayoral candidates and District 8 hopefuls said they would challenge how much credit their opponents really deserve if VW keeps getting brought up during campaigning before the March 3 elections.

“I’ve driven a Volkswagen for seven years,” mayoral candidate Joe Lance said. “What if I had a campaign flier with my car in the background?”

On the campaign trail, Mr. Littlefield repeatedly has touted how he helped county and state officials get VW into Enterprise South. But he may have overdone it. Last week, he had to write an apology letter to VW after the company’s logo appeared on one of his campaign fliers.

In a statement, the company said it has a strict policy restricting the use of its logo on campaign material. Reached last week, VW spokeswoman Jill Bratina would not say whether the company planned to keep an eye out on new election materials.

“We’re not going to get involved in the political process,” she said.

Mayoral candidate Rob Healy’s campaign issued a news release Wednesday condemning the mayor for using the VW logo. Mr. Healy said Friday he thought the literature misled the public into thinking Mr. Littlefield brought the plant to town on his own.

“I would hope that he would not continue to tout bringing in VW,” Mr. Healy said. “If he continues to do that, I’ll certainly challenge that.”

Mr. Lance said he felt the message came across that only “Ron delivered,” not everyone.

Opponent Thomas Smith II was more harsh in his comments, saying the citizens deserve respect as well.

“He doesn’t need to apologize to VW, he needs to apologize to Chattanooga for that stick in the eye,” Mr. Smith said. “This city has paid millions of dollars for bringing in that plant.”

Mr. Littlefield responded by saying that he constantly has described VW as a team effort.

“The council stepped up and did what needed to be done,” he said. “And we, plural, will continue to do what needs to be done.”

In the District 8 race, candidates criticized a flier from Mr. Pierce that said he “worked to get Enterprise South property for VW plant.”

On Friday, Mr. Pierce said when VW announced it was coming, he took as much credit as any other person who was on the City Council in the early 1990s.

“We’re all going to take credit for Volkswagen, because that’s the way it is,” he said.

Dennis Clark, one of two of his opponents, said he saw Mr. Pierce’s reasoning.

“I don’t blame him for trying to take credit in the most obscure ways, because he has competition this time,” Mr. Clark said.

District 8 challenger Andrae McGary said he thought voters could be misled into thinking Mr. Pierce brought in VW, instead of acquiring the site where the VW plant would be located.

On Friday, Ms. Rutherford, a former councilwoman, said many people forget the history of how Enterprise South came to be and how leaders during that time helped come up with a plan that led to the plant now being built.

“Volkswagen coming here didn’t happen overnight,” she said.

Her opponent, current Councilwoman Carol Berz, said Friday she did not want to comment on the issue.