Blackburn chooses campaign finance chairmen
NASHVILLE — Republican Marsha Blackburn has named Pilot Corp. founder Jim Haslam II and construction company leader Steve Smith as her Senate campaign’s finance chairmen.
The picks came Tuesday in the congresswoman’s critical red-state race against Democratic ex-Gov. Phil Bredesen, who is courting moderate Republicans.
Haslam founded the Pilot gas station chain in 1958. He has held finance roles for Howard Baker for Senate, Lamar Alexander for governor, Bill Frist for Senate and former President George W. Bush’s Tennessee campaign. His son is Republican Gov. Bill Haslam.
Smith is chairman of Haury & Smith Contractors. He has served in finance leadership for Alexander’s Senate and presidential bids.
He was a top Bush fundraiser, national finance chairman for Frist’s leadership committee and state finance chairman for Randy Boyd’s losing gubernatorial bid this year.
Meanwhile, Bredesen is touting his health care record in both the private sector and as Tennessee governor in a new U.S. Senate campaign ad, saying he wants to bring that experience to Washington and “help fix what’s broken.”
The 30-second television and digital spot, titled “Complicated,” began running Tuesday.
It features Bredesen in a jacket and tie in what appears to be a health care facility setting, speaking into the camera.
“Health care is important, but it’s frustrating for many Tennesseans,” Bredesen says. “Yes, it’s complicated. But I have a track record.”
He notes that prior to running for office, he was CEO of a health care company “that I started from scratch and grew to 6,000 employees.
“As governor, we saved TennCare and created affordable health insurance for small employers,” Bredesen adds. “I want to bring that experience to the Senate, to help fix what’s broken. That’s why I’m applying for the job.”
It’s the latest effort by Bredesen, who faces Blackburn in the Nov. 6 election, to portray himself as a problem solver in his effort to succeed retiring Republican U.S. Sen. Bob Corker of Chattanooga.
And it comes as President Donald Trump and his Republican congressional allies work to undo the federal Affordable Care Act. Blackburn opposes the law.
Much of Bredesen’s private sector experience before becoming governor was in health care. He founded HealthAmerica Corp., a health managed care company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
When Bredesen became governor in 2003, Tennessee government was facing a $500 million shortfall in TennCare, the state’s expanded Medicaid program.
Saying the spending trajectory was unsustainable, Bredesen successfully urged lawmakers to enact major changes to the program that resulted in benefit changes and the highly controversial removal of an estimated 170,000 enrollees from the program.
In 2005, protesters conducted a lengthy sit-in at the governor’s Capitol Hill office.
Bredesen used some of the resulting savings from TennCare cuts and disenrollments to boost funding for health clinics.
In 2006, he won legislative approval for a multi-pronged approach, called “Cover Tennessee,” that among other things offered low-cost insurance for uninsured, low-income workers employed by small businesses. Employees, employers and the state each contributed a third of the monthly premium cost.