Super PAC airs attack ad against independent gov. candidate Hatley

NASHVILLE — A super PAC is airing an advertisement attacking independent candidate for Tennessee governor David Hatley, honing in on his criminal conviction from 1998. The attack comes weeks after Hatley's Republican opponent, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., launched the website DeadbeatDave.com, similarly prodding at Hatley's felony for bank fraud. The TV ad and website use the same iconography — cell bars, handcuffs and prison jumpsuits. "[He] was sent behind bars, but now wants to sit behind the governor's desk," a narrator says in the ad as a man in an orange jumpsuit — presumably Hatley — laces his fingers behind his head and kicks his feet up on a desk. Hatley previously wrote about his conviction in a free book available on his website. He said Blackburn's site amounts to a "book report." The ad and website also point to $7.7 million in tax liens against Hatley. He says it was a tax dispute he fought for years before eventually paying it and moving on. Blackburn has criticized her Democratic opponent, Jeri Green, but she's been more focused on attacking Hatley, who may prove a bigger liability for her campaign. According to a Democrat-commissioned poll released last week, the conservative-leaning Hatley is polling at 13% among registered Republicans — even higher than his share of support from independents, at 10%. In her primary race against U.S. Rep. John Rose, R-Tenn., most of the mudslinging was done on Blackburn's behalf by outside PACs, who spent millions on TV spots attacking Rose. Who is funding the ad? The ad was paid for by Choose Freedom PAC, a group that registered only a week ago according to federal filings. As such, information online about the newly-formed is extremely limited. The PAC's website has no links and contains only the PAC's name. The PAC has not filed any finance disclosures with the state or federal government, and more details on its funding will likely not be available until the next state filing deadline, Oct. 6.