Khristy Wilkinson NASHVILLE - Democrat Khristy Wilkinson says she's puzzled about the real message of a political mailer sent to state Senate District 10 voters by incumbent Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, in which he contrasts his "Tennessee values" with what he calls her "Detroit values."
The Hamilton County Black Caucus has blasted the mailer as using "racially coded messages," a charge Gardenhire rejected this week.
Gardenhire said he based the mailer on endorsements made by the liberal Times editorial page of the Times Free Press, which also has a conservative editorial page.
In its October endorsement, the editorial notes, among other things, that Wilkinson "describes herself as a Bernie [Sanders] Democrat who supports Hillary Clinton, and she doesn't understand why Chattanooga and Highland Park don't feel as inclusive as the Detroit neighborhood where she grew up and where 17 languages were spoken."
"I guess I can see how it could be interpreted that way," Wilkinson said of the issues raised by the local Black Caucus, which was recently created by Kevin Muhammad and other members of the black community.
Wilkinson recalled reading in an initial Times Free Press news article on the mailer that "he said that I was the one who brought it [Detroit values] up in my interview with the Times editorial board."
A former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga adjunct professor, Wilkinson noted: "I've been quoted a couple of times as saying the area I came from in Detroit was very diverse and there were a lot of folks with different ethnicities living very closely together."
She said she "didn't understand why that kind of diversity wouldn't be celebrated here, and I think that's the only quote where I'm on the record as saying where my values from where I came from play into how I feel being here and the kinds of things I think would be good in my community.
"I don't know if that's the kind of things he was referring to, but I value diversity, and I don't think his record shows the same for him," she added.
The mailer plays up Gardenhire's longstanding local ties, describing him as a "fifth-generation Tennessean." It cites his record on several issues and contrasts that with Wilkinson, who the direct mail piece says "has Detroit values and wants to bring its failure here."
A majority-black city, Detroit's high crime rate and financial problems have made national news for years.
"Gardenhire clearly draws a favorable family heritage for himself compared to his opponent's, because she is from a majority black city, Detroit," the Hamilton County Black Caucus said. "In another mailer, he pitches a minority scholarship with pictures of black faces, without explaining that the scholarship was only established for one year and replaced long-established programs to promote diversity at state universities."
Moreover, the group said, "Gardenhire has put his family heritage on display to suggest that it is superior to his opponent's. He has also made direct appeals to minorities and suggested that he is the choice to look out for their interests."
Gardenhire said in an interview earlier this week that "I continue to point out my opponent brought up her Detroit connections and how she wanted to bring some of those experiences down to Chattanooga."
He said he "interpreted that to be how Detroit was in such a financial disaster with their pension fund completely bankrupt and the city almost bankrupt. Their school systems are a nationally known disaster. They're losing jobs by the hundreds up there."
His mailer's message, Gardenhire said, was "about the financial disasters of Detroit during that time it's been controlled by Democrats. And that's the problem of Democrat control and Democrat philosophies and Democrat policies that the Democrats continue to push in this country."
In its statement, the local Black Caucus charged "the full picture of Todd Gardenhire's family history is deeply troubling for conscientious voters of any color."
Its release charges their research shows an "ancestor of the senator, W.C. Gardenhire, was a slave trader before the Civil War and continued the practice of capturing and selling human beings after the war."
Citing what it says is an account in the book "Cannibal Fictions," the Black Caucus charges W.C. Gardenhire was "traveling to Pacific Islands, returning to San Francisco and selling indigenous people to P.T. Barnum's circus. His family built wealth on the sale of human beings, fought to preserve slavery, and continued the practice decades after the 13th Amendment abolished slavery."
They then sought to link W.C. Gardenhire to the Crutchfield family and to the senator.
Other material on the internet, including a 2012 article in Australian Humanities Review, says W.C. Gardenhire was acting as an agent for Barnum and paid a ransom for the Fiji natives who had been captured and were slated to be executed.
Gardenhire said there's a problem with their facts.
"They got the wrong guy," Gardenhire said, noting that W.C. Crutchfield was not a direct-line ancestor but the older brother of his great-great-grandfather, Frances Marion Gardenhire.
Moreover, he noted, Frances Marion Gardenhire "didn't own slaves."
Muhammad, who helped organize the county Black Caucus after his well-publicized critical response to Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke's State of the City in May, isn't backing off.
"We're not saying he's responsible. He brought up about his family heritage. He did not specify what family members. When you talk about your family heritage then your great-great-uncle is part of that heritage. That's fair game."
Rep. JoAnne Favors, D-Chattanooga, the only black lawmaker among Hamilton County legislative delegation members, said she was unable to comment on the flap, citing her own election activities in early voting, which ended Thursday in the Nov. 8 election.
"I've been trying to get people to the polls," said Favors, whose district is largely within the Senate district. The Senate district also includes portions of Bradley County.
Contact staff writer Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550. Follow on Twitter @AndySher1.