NASHVILLE – Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike McWherter has investments in two banks that have received federal bailout funds.
But you won’t hear Republican rival Bill Haslam exploiting any continued populist anger about McWherter’s investments in Community First Bancshares in Union City, Tenn., or Merchants and Planters Bancshares in Bolivar, Tenn.
Knoxville Mayor Haslam has his own investments in Nashville-based Pinnacle Financial Partners and, like the two McWherter banks, Pinnacle received federal Troubled Asset Relief Program funds intended to unlock frozen credit markets during the 2008 financial panic, according to a U.S. Treasury website.
Both candidates’ current and recently held investments are listed on their Statement of Disclosure of Interests filed earlier this year with the state Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance. The disclosures reflect 2009 investments of $10,000 or more and income of $1,000 or more.
McWherter, a beer distributor, still serves on the board of Community First Bancshares (First State Bank). He said that, in 2008, the Bush administration went to banks, including Community First, and “they asked us to take some funding and to make sure we put it out in the community – and we have.”