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NASHVILLE – Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Chip Forrester today called on Republican candidates to return campaign contributions from a family who owns a Middle Tennessee furniture store chain.
The Times Free Press reported earlier today the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation confirmed that the TBI along with the FBI are looking into the state Revenue Department’s handling of several sales tax investigations including the D.T. McCall & Sons chain, owned by the McCall family.
“I would urge any candidate who has received money from McCall PAC, or from any of the owners of the store in question, to give it back,” Forrester said in a news release. “This investigation now appears to involve the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“Any candidate who keeps those campaign contributions cannot in good faith tell voters that he or she will not be obligated to special interests.”
District Attorney General Tommy Thompson of the 15th Judicial District, which includes Jackson, Macon, Smith, Trousdale and Wilson counties, was among the prosecutors who called the TBI about the sales tax investigation.
He said he called TBI after becoming concerned the Revenue Department, under then-Revenue Commissioner Reagan Farr’s direction, had “poorly handled” an investigation involving the McCall stores.
“The best I can say is they’ve been under serious investigation for failing to pay sales taxes and dealing in cash,” Thompson said.