December 14, 2007

When Democrats Attack

NewsChannel5 reporter Phil Williams comments on a recent attack by the Tennessee Democratic Party on state Sen. Diane Black, R-Gallatin:

The Tennessee Democratic Party's latest "Munday Message" passes along a column written by Sumner County Democrat Leonard Assante, "charging that state Sen. Diane Black did not exclude herself from voting on legislation which provided her husband's corporation with potentially $1.4 million in state contracts."

Assante's column - which quotes a WSMV-TV story that, in turn, quoted Assante - notes that the Sumner County Republican's husband heads the Aegis Sciences Corporation. That drug testing firm has three state contracts, potentially worth up to $1.4 million.

And, now, the rest of the story.

Sen. Black fully discloses her husband's interests on financial forms required by law. Furthermore, according to information from Assante, it appears that all she ever did was to vote on the state budget.

But here's the clincher: According to a state contracts database, all three of Aegis Science Corporation's contracts were awarded by the Bredesen administration through competitive bidding -- without any input from Black or anyone else in the legislature.