Two weeks after Hamilton County Commission District 8 candidate Tim Boyd hammered his opponent Kenny Smith for a finance records discrepancy, a different “oversight” called his own campaign finances into question.
According to Mr. Boyd’s most recent disclosure statement, he received $200 from Interior Trim & Supply on April 16. Mr. Boyd said the company is a small, for-profit corporation based in Chattanooga.
“Corporations cannot make contributions,” said Drew Rawlins, executive director of the state Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance. “It’s a misdemeanor for the corporation to give the contribution, not for the candidate to accept it.”
Records show Mr. Boyd, a Republican, refunded the donation June 17, two months after he received it.
“It was an oversight. It was corrected, and the money was returned,” he told a Times Free Press editorial board meeting Tuesday. “I certainly didn’t review (the records) for two months.”
The discrepancy surfaced two weeks after Mr. Boyd criticized Mr. Smith for changing the address of a $5,000 campaign contribution from the Washington, D.C.-based International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union.
Mr. Smith, a Democrat, called his own discrepancy “an honest oversight” at the time, but Mr. Boyd saw a difference between the two. He accused Mr. Smith of hiding national union connections.
In his case, “all we did is refund the money,” Mr. Boyd said in reference to his corporate contribution.
“Did he break the law? I don’t know. I don’t know the laws,” Mr. Boyd said.
Mr. Smith said he would give his opponent the benefit of the doubt for the refunded corporate contribution.
“I don’t want to get negative about Mr. Boyd and what he did,” said Mr. Smith during a separate editorial board meeting Tuesday. “I’m sure he didn’t understand that part, and he corrected it.”
Mr. Boyd said the No. 1 issue for voters is whether Mr. Smith is going to be loyal to the unions that have contributed to his campaign. Mr. Smith said his record shows he does not “cater to special interests.”
Richard Wilson, a professor of political science at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, said Mr. Boyd’s questioning of Mr. Smith’s $5,000 union contribution has “marred” the campaign. He said Mr. Smith made a common error.
“This is a mistake, a mistake that is made routinely by candidates and election officials currently holding office in Hamilton County,” he said. “It’s surprising that it would be made an issue.”
Independents Terry Turner and Jim Winters also are running for the District 8 seat.
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Free Press Editorial: For County Commission