Critics Say Corker Broke Law for Land DealE-mails recently obtained by the Memphis Commercial Appeal are strengthening critics’ charges that GOP Senate candidate Bob Corker used his position as mayor of Chattanooga to advance a land deal between Wal-Mart and one of his companies.
The deal has already brought Corker trouble this election: because of a lawsuit against his company, he’ll be forced to testify about the deal on October 20, just three weeks before Election Day. Recent polls show Corker in a dead heat with Rep. Harold Ford (D-TN).
Corker’s critics charge that as mayor, he illegally bypassed the city council in the final stages of selling a piece of land abutting a conservation easement. Osborne Enterprises, a Corker-owned company, planned to build a road through the easement, but could only do so if they obtained an approved “letter of intent” to donate the road to the city. According to the Commercial Appeal, the e-mails from this period show that the letter didn’t receive the approval of the cityâs Planning Council until months after the land deal had gone through and development had already begun. Furthermore, the “letter of intent” seems to have been processed almost two weeks after Osborne sold the land to Wal-Mart, for $4.6 million. It only passed through the Council in September.
Corkerâs political director, Todd Womack, insists that Corker’s actions are âabove reproach.”
