Saturday in Nashville, Congressman Ford completed the trifecta by soundly defeating Bob Corker in their final debate.Once again, Congressman Ford laid out his vision of hope and change while Corker engaged in partisan sniping and misleading the voters.
Before the spin gets out from the Corker camp, I thought I would put together a little fact check on what Bob Corker said in the third and final debate:
Bob Said He Cut Chattanooga Crime By 51%
Bob Corker once again made the claim that he cut Chattanooga's crime rate by 51% during his tenure as Mayor. However, that assertion has been proven false by independent groups as well as the FBI.
Read the reports here. Corker didn't cut crime.
Bob Runs Around Issue Of Iraq
When asked if he supports the President and his administration's strategy on Iraq, Corker danced around the issue.
However, we know the truth. Corker supports the President's plan of stay the course:
- “All three candidates opposed setting a deadline for the United States to withdraw from Iraq. ‘I support what we're trying to do as a country ... I think we should stay the course,’ Corker said.” -- 7/16/2006 AP
- I think we do need to stay the course. I think we need to look at victory there as modest. I think having a government set up that is democratic and people [need to be] in place that are able to, again, secure their citizens. The people of Iraq did not ask for us to be there. We are there, we went, and we need to make sure… that they are trained and able to take care of themselves. And then, as soon as that’s done, I do think we need to get the great men and women that are involved in defending our country and defending their county, I think we need to do everything we can, once our mission is accomplished, to get them back as our heroes here in our own country.” -- 9/13/2005 Smithville- Middle Tennessee Times
- "And I think we should stay the course. I think to go back and argue about what we found when we got there, what we didn’t find, has totally, has no business in what, in our dialog today. Our dialog today should be about making sure that we do the things that we need to do in Iraq, so that they can in fact be a democracy.” -- 7/16/2006 WREG Memphis debate
Corker Insisted Ford Supports Stay The Course Strategy
In an outright lie, Bob Corker suggested that Congressman Ford had advocated the stay the course strategy in the past.
However, the facts clearly show that what Ford has supported in Iraq is a change in policy. And unlike Corker, Ford actually has a plan that can lead to success in Iraq.
Read Congressman Ford's plan for Iraq here!
Bob Says He Has Never Hired An Illegal Worker
Once again, Bob tried to portray himself as being tough on illegal immigration during this debate. However, when confronted with the fact that he hired illegal workers, Bob once again lied. He said that he had never ever hired an illegal worker.
However, the records prove otherwise:
- Corker’s company had been put on notice three times – first by a Memphis City Councilman who complained about illegal workers at the site, and twice by the INS during site visits – before a March 1988 raid yielded the arrest of four illegal workers, according to media accounts and INS documents. Reports of 30 to 50 illegal workers had been made publicly while Corker and Bencor officials maintained that they and their subcontractors were all in compliance with the law, according to the Memphis Commercial Appeal. When the raid occurred, Bencor quickly changed its message about compliance and blamed a subcontractor that the INS subsequently reported as never having employed the illegal workers, according to stories in the Commercial Appeal.
Bob Insists He Lowered Chattanooga's Taxes
This is one of Bob's biggest lies that he has been telling throughout this campaign. He keeps going around telling voters he lowered Chattanooga's taxes to their lowest point since the 1950's.
However, once again, the facts show the opposite:
- Mayor Corker Promised To “Wring The City Budget Dry Before Going To The Tax Well,” But 2 Months Later He Proposed A Property Tax Increase. In 2001, Corker “promised…to wring the city budget dry before going to the tax well to replenish a $15 million to $20 million shortfall for the coming fiscal year.” [Chattanooga Times Free Press, 6/12/01]
- Corker’s 2001-02 Budget Raised Property Taxes And Fees. In 2001, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported, “For Chattanooga businesses and residents, the $144.6 million city budget approved last week means a 48-cent jump in property taxes, an increase in fees for services.” [Chattanooga Times Free Press, 9/17/01]
- Corker Raised Taxes 24 Percent. “[Corker’s opponents] pointed out that Corker raised taxes 24 percent his first year in office. Corker did.” [Knoxville News Sentinel, 6/03/06]
- Corker Not Only Raised Property Taxes, He Also Publicly Refused To Lower Them. In 2001, Corker “said…it is unlikely that the 48-cent property tax increase approved last week will be reduced during his administration.” [Chattanooga Times Free Press, 9/19/01]
- Corker Pushed Through Hotel Tax. The Chattanooga Times Free Press wrote, “During his tenure as mayor, Mr. Corker also helped push through a city hotel tax.” The Kingsport Times-News reported, “Corker said he got the state legislature to institute a hotel/motel tax, with proceeds going to the riverfront’s bonded debt service - a total of $56 million.” [Chattanooga Times Free Press, 8/19/05; Kingsport Times-News, 1/9/06]
- Chattanooga’s Hotel-Room Tax Rate Now Among The Nation’s Highest. The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported, “Chattanooga’s hotel-room tax rate is among the nation’s highest, according to a Wisconsin-based consulting firm. The city was fifth nationally on a list compiled last year by Runzheimer International. Chattanooga’s room tax rate at the time was 16.25 percent but has increased since then to 17.25 percent.” [Chattanooga Times Free Press, 2/26/06]
- Hotel Tax Dubbed “Corker’s Tax.” “‘This will be Corker’s tax,’ quipped City Councilman Leamon Pierce.” [Chattanooga Times Free Press, 2/27/02]
Bob Claimed The $10 Billion Oil Company His Campaign Chair Runs Is The Largest Seller Of Ethanol In Tennessee and Biodiesel In The Country
In an effort to hide the fact that that his campaign is chaired by a oil man, Corker made the claim that Pilot Oil is the largest seller of ethanol in Tennessee and largest seller of biodiesel in the nation. Both claims are dead wrong and lies.
Bob Refused To Answer Whether He Supports Raising The Minimum Wage
During the debate, an audience member asked if Corker supported raising the minimum wage. However, Corker refused to answer.
But we have his opinion on record:
- "Corker said setting wages was the responsibility of the private sector” (7/14/2006 Memphis Commercial Appeal, Knoxville News-Sentinel)
- Corker opposes raising minimum wage, and thinks the responsibility to govern that falls to the private sector: “Ed [Bryant] and I agree on the issue, and I do want to say though, as a business person that was worked through out the country, that we consistently, always made sure that the people working with us had a livable wage, and I think that’s the responsibility of the people in the private sector to govern that. I did that in other positions, and yet on this issue, I would say that Ed and I agree.” (7/13/2006 WBIR Knoxville debate)
- Corker Has Opposed Any Minimum Wage. During the July 13 Republican senatorial debate in Knoxville, Bob Corker was asked if he supports raising the minimum wage. Not only did Corker say he opposes and increase, he also proclaimed that it was not the government’s business to be setting a minimum wage in the first place. “I think that’s the responsibility of the people in the private sector to govern that,” Corker said. [GOP Senate Debate, 7/13/06; Memphis Commercial Appeal, 7/14/06]
Corker Says He Worked On Healthcare As Commissioner Of Finance, That He Did: Raising Premiums On Poor and Dismantling Mental Health System
Bob Corker’s record on healthcare is simply sick. As Don Sundquist’s finance commissioner and as mayor of Chattanooga, he raised the cost of healthcare for 400,000 Tennesseans, including people living in poverty, and he dismantled the state’s safety net for mental health patients. As mayor of Chattanooga, he raised healthcare premiums on Chattanooga police and firefighters by nearly 50 percent, forcing them to dig into their pockets for $600 a year to pay for their own healthcare.
CORKER AND SUNDQUIST RAISED HEALTHCARE PREMIUMS ON THE POOR
After only five months in office, Corker and Sundquist raised healthcare premiums on 400,000 poor Tennesseans enrolled in the state’s TennCare program, including new premiums on 124,000 Tennesseans living under the poverty line--then less than $12,300 for a family of three.
CORKER AND SUNDQUIST “DISINTEGRATED” TENNESSEE’S MENTAL HEALTH SYSTEM
Corker designed a reorganization of state mental health services in 1996 that was so ill-conceived and poorly implemented that thousands of mentally ill Tennesseans went without health care, community mental health centers shut down, and health care providers lost their jobs.
Corker’s decision to create TennCare Partners took effect July 1, 1996. By December 1996, representatives of the community mental health centers were forced to lay off employees and cut services. Even the state’s own mental health institutes were endangered. The highly respected Journal of the American Medical Association said Corker’s plan “deteriorated into a crisis. As the deterioration occurred, many patients did not receive care or lost continuity of care, and the traditional ‘safety net’ mental health system nearly disintegrated.”
Worst of all, tens of thousands of mentally ill Tennesseans suffered without the care they so desperately needed.
“I became so depressed that I got my gun out. I actually put it in my mouth. I thought about pulling the trigger. Then, I decided to kill myself by throwing myself in front of a truck.” Tim Keaton, Knoxville, testifying before a legislative committee about TennCare Partners’ failure to pay for treatment he needed for depression.
“This Partners plan is failing. [It is] a bureaucratic nightmare.” Chris Weyr, the Guidance Center, a private, non-profit community mental health center in Murfreesboro.
“We would like to know why the community mental health centers are about to go under. We hear that from all over the state.” Rep. Zane Whitson, R-Erwin.
Within seven months of Corker’s forced reorganization, TennCare Partners spiraled downward so rapidly that federal investigators from the Health Care Financing Administration came to Nashville. They imposed corrective deadlines on the state the Sundquist administration never met.
Fixing TennCare Partners was “like trying to turn a barge in a bathtub,” said Sundquist Health Commissioner Nancy Menke.
All the state records from Corker’s work on TennCare Partners have gone missing, much in the same way that all his e-mails from his time as mayor of Chattanooga are missing. State officials say Corker’s TennCare Partners records were “checked out” in 2001 and never returned.
MAYOR CORKER INCREASED HEALTHCARE COSTS ON CHATTANOOGA POLICE, FIREFIGHTERS, AND RETIREES BY 50%
Bob Corker raised city employees’ and retirees healthcare costs by nearly 50 percent.
Where employees and retirees--many on fixed incomes--had been paying approximately 13% of their healthcare costs when Corker took office, he imposed three annual premium increases that left city workers--including police and firefighters--paying 20& of their costs by the time he left office in 2005.
For most police and firefighters, the premium increases forced them to come up with $600 annually to pay for their healthcare--in addition to the property tax increase and wage freezes Mayor Corker imposed on them.
Numerous experienced police and firefighters quit or retired, creating significant public safety manpower shortages.
