Hamilton County Black Caucus charges Gardenhire used 'racially coded messages'

photo Khristy Wilkinson

NASHVILLE - State Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, is coming under fire from the Hamilton County Black Caucus, which says the lawmaker is using "racially coded messages" in denouncing his Democratic opponent Khristy Wilkinson over her "Detroit values."

In its news release, the group said, "Whether attempting to make racially-coded comparisons to his opponent or making direct appeals to Black voters, race is front and center" in next Tuesday's election.

The group notes that in a recent Gardenhire mailer, the senator praised his own "Tennessee values" by pointing out he's a fifth-generation Chattanoogan. The mailer then said Wilkinson "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. Wilkinson, who is white and a former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga adjunct professor, is a Detroit native.

"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."

The senator said by telephone he neither intended nor sees anything racially suspect in the mailer, adding that he brought up Detroit because Wilkinson had talked about growing up there herself in the course of the campaign.

"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," Gardenhire said.

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 response to the mailer last week, Wilkinson said, "I value quality education. I know what it is like to worry about mounting medical bills, so I value affordable health care. I know what it is like to struggle to make ends meet, so I value a living wage. I believe in loving our neighbors, in treating others with dignity and respect, and that everyone deserves an equal chance at success.

"My opponent says that he and I couldn't be more different. I agree."

Gardenhire went on to say "nobody in the state Senate on my side [Republican side], and for that matter on the Democrat side, has taken more leadership positions and leadership issues in helping people of color in the last four years than Todd Gardenhire."

He cited the one-year UT engineering scholarship program, his personal efforts to try to get a football stadium for The Howard School, and his attempts to pass legislation that would allow the state to provide in-state public college tuition to undocumented students brought as young children to the U.S. and Tennessee illegally.

His in-state tuition bill passed the GOP-controlled Senate but failed in the House by one vote.

The senator also called on Wilkinson to "renounce the efforts this group is injecting and to renounce the ugliness of politics in this race."

The Hamilton County Black Caucus said the mailer was reminiscent of the 2006 U.S. Senate race with former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker, who is white, and then-U.S. Rep. Harold Ford, D-Memphis, who is black.

A television ad during that campaign featured mock person-in-the-street interviews, among them a bare-shouldered white woman who said she had met Ford at a "Playboy party," and closes the commercial by looking directly into the camera and, with a sly wink, saying, "Harold, call me."

The 2006 U.S. Senate ad, which keyed off media reports that Ford had once attended a Playboy-sponsored Superbowl party in Florida, was paid for by the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Under heat from the Ford campaign as well as extensive statewide and national news coverage, Corker eventually denounced the ad.

Contact staff writer Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550. Follow on Twitter @AndySher1.

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