Fact Check: Haslam's 11,000 new jobs claim

Editor's Note: The purpose of Fact Check is to examine claims made in campaign advertising during the 2010 Tennessee governor's race. Fact Check is a product of the Tennessee Newspaper Network, a content-sharing coalition that includes the Chattanooga Times Free Press and papers in Memphis, Nashville and Knoxville. This Fact Check was developed by The Tennessean in Nashville.

The claim: Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam, a Republican candidate for governor, says he "helped create over 11,000 new jobs" as an executive with Pilot Travel Centers LLC.

The context: The claim was made in a television ad that aired statewide. It continues to appear on the Haslam campaign's Web site under his accomplishments and in a video, "Haslam Job Priorities."

The facts: Pilot employs 14,000 people, but much of Pilot's growth has come by acquiring other truck stop chains.

The company's current form, Pilot Travel Centers LLC, grew out of a 2001 joint venture between Pilot Corp. and Marathon Ashland, a chain that already had 4,000 workers, according to news accounts at the time. Two years later, Pilot acquired the Nashville-based travel center division of Williams Cos., adding another 1,900 workers.

Asked whether the claim to have "created" 11,000 jobs is accurate, the Haslam campaign responded with a statement. It said Haslam had helped to "grow" Pilot from a 500-worker family business to a chain with 14,000 employees and that he had "helped bring thousands of jobs to Knoxville" as mayor.

The reality: The claim to have created 11,000 new jobs seems inflated.

-- Chas Sisk

The Tennessean

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