District 2 City Council candidate Roger Tuder denied Monday that he was involved in a mailer from April Eidson of Little Chicago Watch discussing a DUI arrest in Florida of Jerry Mitchell another District 2 candidate.
The Tuder campaign said, "Recent news stories have focused on Jerry Mitchell's arrest resulting in 'noncompliance' with officers in a field sobriety test with an accompanying affadavit of refusal to perform a sobriety test; his plea of not guilty in Sarasota, Fla., that was ultimately changed to guilty; and the six-month suspension of his driver's license. According to news accounts, Mr. Mitchell admits disregarding Chattanooga city policy in not informing his superior, Mayor Jon Kinsey, of his arrest and of his suspended license, required by all city employees."
Mr. Tuder said, "My disapproval of negative campaigning has been declared with the acknowledgment that no individual or part of my campaign has been involved in this information."
He said, "Today, the Friends for Roger Tuder is responding to a factually inaccurate email sent to 'friends, supporters, and volunteers' in District 2 directly blaming me for the chain of events revealing the previous arrest and disregard for city policy in an official Jerry Mitchell campaign email."
Nick Collins of the Tuder campaign said, "Jerry Mitchell asserts that 'the Roger Tuder campaign will run some negative attack ads' despite the very clear and public comments Roger has made. The poor judgment of 13 years ago disregarding the law and city policy as a department head of local government seems to be sadly part of deflecting the truth even today. The Friends for Roger Tuder simply want the voters and public to have the facts, which they deserve.
"As Roger has said, every action taken by him and his campaign has been directed to listening to the voters and understanding the needs of the citizens of District 2. This is what they deserve. We won't, however, allow a polticial machine dishonestly assign blame and deflect the real issue at hand."