Tag: Lee Company

Bill Lee Won’t Say if Lee Company Might Benefit from Amazon Deal with Tennessee

Chris Butler

The administration of Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee won’t say whether the Lee Company will receive a cent for any services it may offer Amazon before or after the latter sets up shop in Nashville. No one at the Lee Company will say anything either. Nor will anyone at Amazon. No one at either of the two companies or inside Lee’s staff would return The Tennessee Star’s repeated requests for comment on the matter Wednesday. As The Star reported, city and state officials have offered $105 million in incentives to Amazon, something certain people have called corporate welfare. In exchange, Amazon is to offer 5,000 jobs for a $230 million operations center. This all happened before Lee took office in January. Specifically, The Star wanted to know whether Amazon might offer the Lee Company even a single penny for facility management or other services for any Amazon activities in Nashville. As The Tennessean reported, Lee stepped down as chairman of the Lee Company last month, before taking the oath as governor. Lee placed his company’s holdings into a blind trust. As the Nashville-based WKRN reported this month, Lee told a Sumner County audience he met with Amazon officials about its plans…

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Lee Company Sends a Cease and Desist Letter to Diane Black’s Gubernatorial Campaign

Jason M. Reynolds
Diane Black

The Lee Company sent a cease-and-desist letter to the gubernatorial campaign of Rep. Diane Black (R-TN-06) on Friday, calling for the removal of information alleging the company wrongfully fired a veteran who once worked there, The Tennessee Journal’s On the Hill reported. GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Lee is the owner and former CEO of the Lee Company, a leading plumbing/HVAC business in Middle Tennessee. The Lee Company said Black’s campaign was “deliberately misrepresenting” the facts surrounding the legal dispute with an Army National Guard member who claimed wrongful termination in a federal lawsuit, The Journal quoted The Tennessean as saying. “We have learned that the Diane Black for Governor campaign is deliberately misrepresenting actions taken by Lee Company that relate to a former employee who served as a Tennessee National Guardsman,” according to the letter by Lee Co. general counsel Jason Hale. “You have also misrepresented our company’s attitude toward and treatment of veterans in these communications.” A Black campaign website removed material about the case and instead linked to a Tennessean article about the lawsuit, The Journal said. Black spokesman Chris Hartline said the campaign received a “vague letter that does not dispute any specific allegations.” “We are committed to the…

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Bill Lee Raises $1.3 Million At First Major Fundraiser For Campaign For Governor

Wendy Wilson

  Republican businessman Bill Lee raised $1.3 million at his first major fundraising event Tuesday for his campaign for governor. The event was held at singer Michael W. Smith’s barn in Franklin, according to a campaign press release. “We are extremely grateful to the voters in Tennessee who are inspired by Bill’s leadership and vision and are feeling compelled to invest in him,” said Stuart McWhorter, Lee’s campaign finance chairman.“We know that Bill’s message is resonating with people across Tennessee, and this is just the beginning of our efforts. I am excited to see what lies ahead for this campaign.” The Lee campaign also announced that Anna McDonald has joined the campaign as finance director. McDonald is a former finance director for the Tennessee Republican Party. With no prior experience in elected office, Lee has been dogged about getting his name out, meeting people and speaking on the issues. After officially declaring his candidacy April 24, he immediately began touring the state in his campaign RV. He was one of four announced and likely candidates who appeared at a Rutherford County GOP event May 25. A devout Christian who admires former president Ronald Reagan, Lee is casting himself as a conservative…

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Bill Lee Announces Candidacy For Governor, Calls Gas Tax Increase ‘Water Under the Bridge Now’

Wendy Wilson
Tennessee Star

NASHVILLE, Tennessee–Kicking off his campaign for governor Monday, Bill Lee described himself as a Ronald Reagan-admiring fiscal and social conservative whose leadership experiences in business and agriculture compensate for his lack of political experience. Lee, who is chairman of Lee Company, a large family-owned construction, facilities and home services company, is casting himself as a conservative outsider in the race for the Republican nomination. However, Lee’s hesitant position on Gov. Haslam’s gas tax increase, which has passed both the House and Senate, is likely to disappoint conservatives who want candidates with a stronger anti-tax stance. “I’m opposed to raising taxes,” he told the media Monday morning at the Nashville Farmers’ Market, but he did not offer a definitive opinion on the gas tax increase. He said he might have handled it differently, but noted that the IMPROVE Act also included tax cuts and said the bill is “water under the bridge now.” When pressed, he said that because he wasn’t privy to all the legislative discussions surrounding the bill, he didn’t want to comment further.   (You can hear the audio below.) Lee was set Monday to launch his “95 Counties, 95 Days RV Tour” with his wife Maria, a…

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Williamson County Businessman Bill Lee to Run for GOP Gubernatorial Nomination

Tennessee Star Staff

  “Williamson County businessman Bill Lee, who is filing as a candidate for Governor tomorrow, will hold a media availability at the Nashville Farmers’ Market, talking about the kickoff of his ’95 Counties, 95 Days RV Tour’ and his plans as he begins his campaign running for Governor of Tennessee,” Lee’s campaign said in a media advisory released on Sunday: Bill Lee is the Chairman of Lee Company, a family-owned construction, facilities and home services company with offices and operations throughout Middle Tennessee, Northern Alabama and Southern Kentucky. Lee Company employs more than 1,100 people. Lee currently serves on the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, Belmont University Board of Trustees, is president of Tennesseans for Economic Growth and is past chairman of the YMCA of Middle Tennessee. He serves on the board of Men of Valor Prison Ministry and has been involved with in faith-based ministries in Africa, Central America, Haiti and Iraq. The event will be held at the Nashville Farmers’ Market, located at 900 Rosa L. Parks Boulevard in Nashville. Lee joins former Haslam administration TECD commissioner Randy Boyd, a successful Knoxville businessman, as the only announced candidate for the GOP nomination for Governor. Former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean…

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