Pro-tax Mayor Greg Davis, under scrutiny for
Southaven city staff’s failure to release his mayoral
campaign finance reports, Friday launched a desperate and
baseless attack on conservative candidate Glenn McCullough.
“It is simply stunning that Mayor Davis would abide his city
staff’s abuse of Mississippi’s open records law,” said
McCullough campaign manager Brad Davis. “And now, instead of
complying with the law, the Davis team is launching a false
smear of Glenn McCullough’s character on the Friday before
the election. It’s insulting to the people of the First
District.”
For two weeks, McCullough’s campaign has been seeking the
release of Davis’ mayoral campaign finance reports from 2007.
It is illegal under federal law for congressional candidates
to benefit from campaign expenditures from municipal campaign
accounts. The Southaven City Clerk’s office has failed to
release these mayoral finance reports, citing the 14 day
window for compliance with the state’s open records law. As
of Friday afternoon at 4:00 p.m., Southaven staff had not yet
made the report publicly available for inspection, as
required by Mississippi Code Chapter 23-15-805.
“It is preposterous that Mayor Davis’ staff could not find
five minutes to comply with the open records law in a timely
manner,” Davis said. “Mississippians have to wonder if Greg
Davis has something to hide.” Based on Southaven’s
noncompliance, McCullough’s campaign has called on Davis to
release his mayoral campaign account’s bank register from
January and February of 2008 to make clear he is not
benefiting from any illegal campaign spending.
In a bizarre turn of events, according to reporters, Davis’
campaign manager on Thursday began discussing with the media
the parameters by which Davis’ lawful mayoral reports might
be released – despite the fact that the records are
maintained by city staff and not Davis campaign workers.
“These records belong to the public. They do not belong to
Greg Davis himself and they do not belong to his paid
political staff. It’s wrong for them to block public access
to public information,” Davis said.
Instead of complying with the law, Davis re-hashed phony
charges about McCullough’s tenure at the Tennessee Valley
Authority (TVA) that have been long discredited by the
Inspector General and the TVA Congressional Caucus
leadership. “The Inspector General has full access to all
records of the Chairman at TVA and they are regularly
reviewed,” Davis said. “Every review of Glenn McCullough’s
expenses at TVA found them to be proper, legitimate and in
keeping with best business practices. Glenn’s financial
records at TVA are still a matter of public record and
rightly available for public inspection at TVA headquarters
in compliance with the Freedom of Information Act.”
McCullough was appointed TVA Chairman by President George W.
Bush in 2001 and served in that capacity until his term ended
in 2005. McCullough’s service at TVA won wide praise from the
White House and Mississippi’s leaders – U.S. Senator Thad
Cochran wrote that McCullough had “made me very proud”
(Source: letter quoted in Northeast Mississippi Daily
Journal, 5/4/05)
“The truth is that under Glenn’s chairmanship, the budget for
the TVA board of directors went down, not up. Greg Davis is
so wrong on this it’s stunning,” Davis said.
Glenn McCullough Campaign Release
3/8/8
Magnolia Tribune
