Erskine OglesbyChattanooga City Council District 7 candidate Erskine Oglesby says his opponent’s claims that he is “propped up” by failed mayoral hopeful Larry Grohn, a tea party Republican, are ridiculous.
Councilman Chris Anderson linked Oglesby and Grohn in a mailer sent in the final week of early voting for the April 11 runoff election. In the March 7 contest, Anderson fell just short of a majority in the District 7 race and Oglesby came in second, forcing a runoff.
“Larry Grohn has absolutely, positively nothing to do with my campaign,” Oglesby said Thursday. “I think the runoff election should be about our vision and he [Anderson] chose to use deceptive ads.”
Grohn, who ends a four-year term on the City Council in mid-April, said in a statement he has taken “personal offense” to Anderson for “dragging me into his runoff campaign with the malicious statements he knows are untrue.” He has not contributed or supported the Oglesby campaign “in any way,” he said.
Anderson said he has facts to back up his claims. He said neighbors told him they saw the pair knocking on doors together in November and that Oglesby now uses the same Alton Park office space that Grohn’s mayoral campaign rented. They both hired the services of Republican political operative Dalton Temple, Anderson said.