A super PAC connected to Kurt Winstead’s campaign for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District seat launched an attack ad Friday against one of his opponents, Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles.
A TV ad that is paid for and authorized by the Tennessee Conservatives PAC hit the Nashville airwaves on Friday.
The Tennessee Star previously reported that the Tennessee Conservatives PAC spent at least $100,000 for radio ads supporting now-disqualified TN-5 candidate Morgan Ortagus in April.
After her disqualification, Ortagus endorsed Kurt Winstead in the TN-5 race and joined his national security advisory committee as a co-chair.
A political consultant with knowledge of the TN-5 race and how super PACs operate told The Star, “It is highly likely that the Tennessee Conservatives PAC switched, at least in part, from being a Pro-Ortagus PAC after her disqualification to rooting for Winstead given the Ortagus endorsement of the retired National Guard general. One of the best ways, in my opinion, to help Winstead is to hurt Ogles.”
“Winstead is taking fire for his Democrat voter and donation history and one of the best ways for a friendly entity to distract from that is to whack on Ogles,” the consultant explained.
The Star additionally reported in mid-April that Silicon Valley billionaire Larry Ellison donated $1 Million to the Tennessee Conservatives PAC.
Like Winstead, Ellison’s donation history includes contributions include U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA), California Governor Gavin Newsom, former U.S. Senator John Kerry (D-MA), U.S. House member and Trump impeachment manager Zoe Lofgren (D-CA-19), former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s PAC, former U.S. Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), the New Hampshire Democratic State Committee, and the Democrat National Committee.
The attack ad on Ogles starts with a female voice that says, “Andy Ogles failed to pay his property taxes nine times.”
A male voice then dramatically repeats the phrase, “Nine times.”
The female voice then states, “That’s right, Andy Ogles failed to pay his property taxes nine times, but as county mayor Ogles supported increasing the sales tax, didn’t oppose a property tax hike, or a marriage tax.”
The female voice continues, repeating the first message: “Andy Ogles failed to pay his property taxes nine times.”
The male voice again repeats, “Nine times.”
The female voice adds, “Andy Ogles didn’t pay his taxes, but supported raising yours. Tennessee Conservatives PAC is responsible for the content of this ad.”
The Star reached out to the Ogles campaign for comment on the ad. The Ogles campaign said that a response would be forthcoming in the near future.
Early voting in the August 4 Republican primary started on Friday and runs through July 30.
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Aaron Gulbransen is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected]. Follow Aaron on GETTR, Twitter, Truth Social, and Parler.
Ortagus is the personification of a Chamber Of Commerce, RINO who is singularly focused on herself and how much money will be headed her way.
Politics ain’t beanbag. However, attacking someone on their property taxes paid on time or late, is a stupid move. Avoid all the drama and vote for Jeff. My 2 cents.
Winstead using Liberal tactics. Guess he learned from his liberal wife!
The hit piece is on PERSONAL (or sometimes called personalty) property taxes. It’s a business tax on the contents/assets. The amount of tax for a small business is usually negligible. As an accountant from another state when I started to work in TN I was unaware of this tax. When you register with the state the business should receive an annual PPT return each year. My company had never received these returns for 2 of our offices and the returns/taxes were never paid until I realized this was required. We were 6 years in arrears and the previous accountant (who was born & bred in TN) hadn’t ever cleared this up. The back taxes and interest came to around $300 for all those years. I’m guessing it’s something like this and not a big deal.
OHHHH, now you’ve done it….you made a rational case and it destroys a smear piece. I can’t vote in the 5th but Andy would get my vote if I could . The fact the Morgan Orangutang endorses Weathervane should be a clue. I still don’t get why Trump endorsed her. She’s a female Romney. Big mistake.
Just say NO to Winstead.
Idiotic – conservatives like higher sales tax – its consumer driven which is a conservative thing to do. Ogles is the thinking person’s conservative. Harwell will be a RINO don’t do it folks.
A lot of distractions in this 5th District Republican primary as there can be expected to be when there is an open seat in a Republican district. As a conservative this race isn’t at all complicated. We have three candidates who can win, two of whom are proven conservatives i.e. Andy Ogles and Beth Harwell (ACU-86%) thus why would any conservative even think of taking a chance on Gen. Weathervane who admittedly found the Democratic Party attractive during the Obama administration? Did you?
Of course, Andy is more conservative than Beth. The only problem is that Andy’s campaign was virtually invisible before this week while the other campaigns were establishing their candidate’s identity and recognition. Can Andy beat Weathervane with his late starting campaign? I fear he can only take enough votes away from Beth so we will be stuck with Weathervane. Thus, I’ll vote for Beth.
Of course Gen Weathervane is going to throw mud at the front runner. It’s not like HE’S being endorsed by lib hack Morgan Orangutan and sleeping with the enemy, literally.
Mrs Weathervane is so swampy she’s started in a couple movies with the title. It’s better to support a guy that may or may not have paid the corrupt IRS on time, than a flat out liar.s
Mr. Knofler, the story is about PROPERTY TAX, an annual tax imposed on land (and, for businesses, the business equipment, furniture, supplies, inventory, and the like) by local governments {i.e., the city and/or the county where the property is located} and paid by the owner of the property. The story is NOT about FEDERAL INCOME TAX, which is an entirely different issue. The story is NOT about Ogles failing to pay his Federal Income Tax, which we all agree would be a ‘big deal’ if THAT was what the story was about.
Those “conservatives” supporting the good ole general who wears $1,000 suits starts slinging mud. No surprise there.
Not a great look for Andy, but at least his not a closet Democrat married to a Democrat lobbyist like Winstead.
Winstead will never step up to defend us, he will stay in line and follow orders. How else think he rose to the rank of General. He didn’t do it by bucking the system, he did it by going along to get along.
SHOCKING! Just SHOCKING. Next they are going to announce that Ogles has an unpaid parking ticket and that he once tore the tag off a mattress.
I myself do not know the facts. I have not personally searched the records to investigate. But if Andy Ogles paid his taxes late (as he is allowed by law to do–anyone is), he also paid a hefty interest charge for the privilege of doing so. (I do not know why Ogles did not promptly pay his property taxes, but I assume that it must have been because he did not have a lot of spare cash to do so. This only indicates to me that Ogles is an honest man, and not like some ‘pols’ who NEVER seem to be ‘short’ of cash, if you ‘get’ my meaning.) Everyone must pay their taxes. If one fails to pay his property taxes, ultimately his property is sold to pay the tax (when the statutory ‘grace’ period expires). SO, FOR WINSTEAD AND HIS CAMPAIGN TO SAY THAT OGLES FAILED TO PAY HIS PROPERTY TAXES IS A LIE! GOVERNMENTS (whether local or State) DO NOT ALLOW TAXES TO GO UNPAID. TAXES WILL BE PAID, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER.
The bottom line, IF YOU VOTE FOR WINSTEAD, YOU’LL BE SORRY!