NASHVILLE - Zach Wamp has a new television ad attacking rival Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Haslam.
But Wamp himself came under fire in a Wall Street Journal editorial Thursday that labeled the Chattanooga congressman "an epic spender and earmarker" for TVA and "other federal boondoggles."
Democrat Mike McWherter, meanwhile, weighed in against Knoxville Mayor Haslam, charging that he "lied" to The Associated Press this week in an effort to minimize the role of his father, Pilot Corp. founder Jim Haslam, in a group advocating for a state income tax in 1999.
With the 2010 gubernatorial primary heading into its final week, major candidates spent most of Thursday alternately attacking their opponents and defending themselves.
In a new 30-second Wamp ad, Rusty Crimminger, the folksy Chattanoogan who recently appeared in another Wamp ad criticizing Haslam, comes back for Round 2.
He seeks to take on Haslam for his ad that, among other things, attacked Wamp's past flip-flops on serving no more than six terms in Congress and not accepting political action committee contributions.
"This Bill Haslam ticks me off," the gravel-voiced Crimminger says. "He's spending his millions attacking a good man, Zach Wamp. What a smoke screen. Haslam doesn't want you to know that the first thing he did as mayor was raise property taxes. Zach Wamp's got my vote because he's never raised taxes."
On Thursday morning, Haslam campaign aides quickly alerted reporters to the Wall Street Journal editorial, headlined "Zach Wamp's Rebel Yell."
In the article, ostensibly about recent controversial remarks made by Wamp regarding secession, Journal editorial writers noted Wamp had said his comments were taken out of context but chided him by saying "politicians of all political stripes are smart to keep away from analogies to the Old Confederacy."
Hotline On Call, part of the NationalJournal.com website, last week reported that Wamp said states may have to consider seceding from the union if the federal government doesn't mend its ways on imposing mandates.
But after quickly dispatching with the secession matter, the Wall Street Journal editorial launched a stinging critique of Wamp's tenure on the powerful U.S. House Appropriations Committee, saying "we'd prefer if he seceded from Appropriations."
The editorial delivers a tongue-lashing on Wamp having gone from a high score of 87 percent on the National Taxpayers Union's annual fiscal responsibility scorecard in 1995 - his first year in Congress - to a low of 54 percent in 2004.
"Mr. Wamp is once again trying to appeal to the GOP's opposition to big government, but Tennessee voters will want to look at his priorities when he was in a position of actual power," the editorial concluded.
During a campaign stop in Franklin, Tenn., on Thursday evening, Wamp said he's not sure why the Wall Street Journal attacked him.
"I'm not going to pay any attention to what people in New York City are writing about Tennessee and its future," Wamp said. "I have a strong conservative record."
He has a 100 percent rating from the American Conservative Union, he said.
He has a new ad in which he says the other candidates are spending millions attacking him and then goes on to speak about his religious faith, saying, "And here's my heart, I believe God is the center of the universe. He made us to serve him and to serve others."
Wamp said the ad will be his final one in the primary campaign.
He added, "This is my heart."
Haslam officials were delighted with the negative focus on Wamp.
"We're sure the congressman wishes he hadn't said what he said, but this is another dramatic example of why it's so important who is chosen as the next governor in thinking about how candidates present themselves not just to Tennesseans but to the rest of the country," Haslam campaign spokesman David Smith said.
Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville, who also is running against Wamp and Haslam for the GOP nomination, quickly fanned the flames among his supporters with an e-mail blast containing the entire editorial, noting Wamp "is being attacked by the conservative Wall Street Journal."
"It's kind of hard to call yourself a true conservative while, simultaneously, the Wall Street Journal is attacking you for reckless spending," Ramsey's e-mail stated.
McWherter, who faces no opposition in Thursday's Democratic primary, continued to work a previously initiated line of attack involving the state income tax.
Wamp noted earlier this week that, when Republican Gov. Don Sundquist pushed a state income taxes from 1999 through 2002, Haslam's father, Jim Haslam, backed a pro-tax reform group called Citizens for Fair Taxes. The elder Haslam was listed as a board member in a number of news articles at the time.
The group, which had a budget of about $1.8 million, said it backed "tax reform" but shied away from saying it supported an income tax.
Haslam, who has repeatedly vowed not to push a state income tax, this week told The Associated Press that Wamp "makes it sound like my dad was out leading the effort, which is not true," he said.
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