Chattanooga: Wamp questions Haslam’s association with family business

NASHVILLE — Sounding a defiantly populist note, U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., today questioned the family ties of his gubernatorial foe, Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam, to Pilot Corp.

“He’s just asking to be our party’s standard bearer, and I just think that’s problematic,” the Chattanooga congressman told reporters. “Our party’s gotten a rap over the past 10 years, whether it’s Wall Street, whether it’s pharmaceuticals.”

Pilot, founded by Mr. Haslam’s father in 1958, is a petroleum company that runs about 305 truck stops in 40 states.

“It’s frankly just the biggest of businesses where our party has got a rap for being in bed with the special interests,” Rep. Wamp said. “Those people will always be in good shape.”

In a statement, Mr. Haslam declined to respond specifically to Wamp’s comments.

“I am committed to making this campaign a discussion about who has the ideas and experience necessary to lead our state through these challenging times,” Mr. Haslam said in the statement.

Rep. Wamp’s remarks were made as Republicans prepared to assume the reins of power in the entire Tennessee General Assembly for the first time in 140 years.

Vowing that his campaign is “going to be a populist, firebrand, work-for-it kind of campaign,” Rep. Wamp said he will appeal to “ordinary, taxpaying, wagon-pulling families.”

Rep. Wamp also said he is in the governor’s race to stay and does not intend to run again for Congress.

“This is a bridge that I’ve crossed, (I) won’t go back to the House (after this term),” he said. “That made last week sort of a melancholy week for me because I knew it was the last term that I was being sworn into. But this is a new challenge, and one that I really believe I’m supposed to step up for.”

The 2010 governor’s race began moving quickly last week after former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said he would not run. Shelby County District Attorney General Bill Gibbons quickly announced he was running as did Mr. Haslam, a former president of Pilot.

Mr. Haslam, whose family members are major GOP fundraisers, has said that it will take about $5 million to run in the GOP primary. He has not ruled out relying on his own wealth but has emphasized that he will try to avoid it.

Rep. Wamp said “the fact is they can have a family meeting and raise three times as much money as I’m going to raise over the entire course of this primary, which is $5 million. I think I can raise $5 million, and I’m well on my way.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.