Watchdog group alleges donations made to commissioners for Lookouts stadium

Fans watch the Chattanooga Lookouts game at AT&T Stadium in Chattanooga. Lookouts owners say they are ready to begin talks with officials about constructing a new stadium on the 141-acre site of the former U.S. Pipe/Wheland Foundry located in the South Broad District. / Staff file photo Fans watch the Chattanooga Lookouts game at AT&T Stadium in Chattanooga. Lookouts owners say they are ready to begin talks with officials about constructing a new stadium on the 141-acre site of the former U.S. Pipe/Wheland Foundry located in the South Broad District. / Staff file photo

By Judy Walton September 10, 2018 8 min read

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A Nashville watchdog group has its bristles raised over political donations made last year to seven Hamilton County commissioners and the county mayor by a Chattanooga Lookouts owner and his business partners.

The Beacon Center, a nonpartisan, free-market research group, believes the donations in November indicate groundwork laid for special tax breaks for a new Lookouts stadium as part of the redevelopment push in the Southside.

“It is no mystery that the leadership group of the Lookouts is trying to use taxpayer money to fund their new stadium, and these odd maximum donations make it appear that they are trying to secure that money through the County Commission,” Beacon Center spokesman Mark Cunningham said in an email.

“If put to a referendum vote of Chattanoogans, we believe a new taxpayer-funded stadium would fail. The Lookouts ownership group knows that too, so that is probably why they are attempting to go through local governments instead.”