Todd Gardenhire, a Republican seeking a second term in the Tennessee Senate, should put away his dog whistle.
Especially if he thinks he can justify it by saying he got it from this page.
Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, came under fire this week from the Hamilton County Black Caucus, which said the lawmaker is using “racially coded messages” in denouncing his Democratic opponent Khristy Wilkinson over her “Detroit values.”
He used the term in a campaign mailer that went out to households in District 10 – parts of Hamilton and Bradley counties. He praised his own “Tennessee values” by noting he’s a fifth-generation Chattanoogan and says 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 who now lives in the Highland Park neighborhood of Chattanooga.