EJ Haust, official guest host of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, said she found independent Tennessee gubernatorial candidate David Hatley “clearly untrustworthy,” “completely inadequate,” and “woefully naive” on state issues after personally meeting with him at a campaign event earlier this week.
During Friday’s edition of the show, Haust detailed her one-on-one interaction with Hatley, describing his responses to questions about education, small-business taxes, election integrity, and other state issues as evidence that he lacked a substantive understanding of Tennessee government and offered few concrete policy solutions.
Haust’s comments came one day after The Tennessee Star published an exclusive report featuring audio of a February 2020 911 call in which a woman identifying herself as Hatley’s wife told dispatchers that he had threatened suicide and claimed to have taken pills in an attempt to end his life.
The Washington County Emergency Communications District independently confirmed the recording’s authenticity after The Star obtained it through a Tennessee Public Records Act request.
Asked by Leahy about her meeting with Hatley, Haust said she initially found him personable but came away questioning his credibility and qualifications.
“Obviously, he’s clearly unstable. Obviously, he has a checkered past,” Haust said. “He’s clearly untrustworthy based on his past actions, behaviors, issues that he’s been through, okay? Untrustworthy.”
“However I also found him to be completely inadequate, woefully naive, if I may, on the issues of the state,” she added.
Haust said Hatley spent considerable time discussing education but failed to offer specific solutions when questioned about the state’s challenges.
“He’s one of those people, I call him a ‘we should.’ We should do this, and we should do that, and we should do this, but he didn’t actually come up with any solutions,” she said. “There was no action item to come from any of that.”
She also described Hatley’s response to a question about Tennessee’s 6.5 percent excise tax on small businesses as inadequate, noting the impact the tax can have on sole proprietors and others operating in the state’s gig economy.
“He was asked about plenty of other issues, and just every time, I felt as though he was answering based on what he thought the questioner wanted to hear,” Haust said. “[J]ust wanted to make everybody happy in the room.”
Haust further questioned Hatley’s familiarity with Tennessee government, saying he lacked governmental experience, relationships with state lawmakers, and a developed campaign apparatus.
She also referenced reporting by The Tennessean concerning Hatley’s private jet and questions surrounding his campaign financial disclosures.
“With his business experience that he tells us makes him qualified to do anything, you would think he’d have some accounting folks there that would know enough, and legal folks around him,” Haust said.
Haust said she directly questioned Hatley about his repeated claims that Democratic nominee Jerri Green could not receive more than 30 to 32 percent of the vote. She described his response as “circle talk,” saying he repeated general statements about government transparency rather than directly addressing her questions.
“Except he’s the least transparent candidate probably out there,” she said.
Haust also questioned why Hatley entered the race as an independent, suggesting his candidacy could draw votes away from Republican nominee U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).
“Are you a plant? Are you simply there to siphon off votes from Marsha Blackburn?” Haust asked.
The discussion also addressed The Star‘s reporting on Hatley’s previously undisclosed 1999 Virginia misdemeanor petit larceny conviction. Lee County court records show Hatley pleaded guilty to the reduced misdemeanor charge after initially facing felony charges, but did not disclose the conviction in his memoir, Tested in Tennessee.
Haust encouraged listeners to review The Star‘s reporting and the full 911 recording, criticizing other Tennessee media outlets for not covering the story.
“I 100 percent agree,” Haust said when Leahy described the lack of coverage as journalistic malpractice.
“Just flip the switch like we do and say, ‘All right, if this were Marsha’s campaign, would we be hearing about it?’ It’d be everywhere. It would absolutely be everywhere,” she added.
Haust also addressed concerns about Hatley’s personal history and the implications of his candidacy.
“Do I want bad things for the man? No,” she said. “I don’t wish ill will on the man, but if I’m going to be voting for someone to take over the governorship, I’m not voting for him. It’s just not happening.”
“To me, that is disqualifying to hold the highest level of governmental office in the state of Tennessee,” Haust added.
Election day is Tuesday, November 3.
Tune in now to The Michael Patrick Leahy Show – your AMERICA FIRST news talk!
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “David Hatley” by David Hatley.
