Tennessee Dem Gov Candidate Karl Dean Under Fire Over Misuse of Disaster Relief

Tennessee Democrat gubernatorial candidate Karl Dean has come under fire by the press and his primary opponent for misusing flood dollars during his tenure as Mayor of Nashville, and is now making misleading statements about the controversy. A report by WSMV’s I-Team found that $7.4 million in federal disaster relief was misused by Dean and used for “riverfront development,” including building an amphitheater, rather than going towards flood victims in need.

Dean even falsely claimed at a recent gubernatorial forum that, “The money that was used was used for flood mitigation, not for building an amphitheater.” This is false. WSMV “reviewed thousands of pages of invoices, budgets, HUD correspondence and internal e-mails that confirm the use of flood disaster funds for the design and engineering of Ascend Amphitheater.”

Karl Dean’s Democrat opponent, Craig Fitzhugh, has seized on the issue, saying that it undermines the “public trust.”

It’s clear that Karl Dean not only misused taxpayer dollars, harming flood victims, but also won’t be honest about it. By misleading voters, Karl Dean demonstrates that he lacks the character to serve as governor.