House District 29 candidate Ethan White has apologized for a campaign volunteer's video in which incumbent Rep. Mike Carter was called "a dumb a--."
The Carter campaign also said the brief video, that was captured by Carter volunteers before it could disappear from the Internet, combined a shot of a spot that is off limits to signs with a Carter sign in the yard of a Carter supporter to make it look like it was from the same location.
Mr. White, a Collegedale commissioner, said, "Volunteer Intern Will Anthony posted a video on his private Snapchat account that contained him using profanity regarding Rep. Carter that was never intended to be made public or an attack on the incumbent representative. This was recorded and published on Thursday to Facebook by members of Rep. Carter's campaign.
"Will shortly removed this video from the account and reached out and apologized to Rep. Carter. This was a serious error in judgment that he regrets. We are running a positive, clean campaign, have not attacked Rep. Carter, and we will not attack Rep. Carter. We hope he will accept Will's apology and join us in staying completely focused on the issues at hand."
He denied there was any editing of the video to make it appear to be one location when it was actually two as charged by the Carter campaign.
Stephen Carter of the Carter campaign said, "The Snapchat video surfaced on social media on Friday and was picked up by two of our young volunteers.
"The account belongs to Will Anthony, who is the one doing most of the talking. He's a volunteer for Ethan White. The other voice, which says 'congrats' several times (he also calls my dad a dumb a-- but it's harder to hear) is Ethan's campaign manager and the president of the UTK GOP. His name is Greg Butcher.
"As the video begins you see a sign that says 'no soliciting.' They pan in on that sign, then cut to a Mike Carter yard sign.
"We thought the language was bad enough, and based on the traction its received on social media we think many people agree. But late Friday night something interesting happened. One of our volunteers saw the video online and said, 'Hey, that's my house.'
"His name is Trevor Burke. The Mike Carter sign is in his parents' yard. He placed it there himself. He also said there is no neighborhood rule against political signs and that the sign in Greg Butcher's video doesn't exist. I guess they edited it together.
"Long story short, the entire video is a fraud."
Philip Burke, father of Trevor Burke, said, "The house and property with the sign that has surfaced on Facebook being bashed by the Ethan White campaign is owned by my wife and I. Thank you to Students for Rep. Mike Carter for posting this offense on Facebook. I am proud of the work Mike Carter has done and I hate that I am ineligible to vote for him. Living just across the street from the district line was a frustrating development. Both of my sons have the opportunity to work for Rep. Carter and I am proud of what they have learned. I do not understand why Mr. White would run against a man who has done so much for our community.
"What bothers me even more is a man would send these types of young Republicans out to houses. This video is completely fabricated and false. My neighborhood welcomes politics within its limits. The video shown is a misrepresentation of where I live and includes a no soliciting sign that is not in our neighborhood. The language in this video is offensive and vulgar, and a shame to the community. I am bothered by what actions named members of Mr. White’s campaign put out on social media. What else have they put out about voters and supporters of Mike Carter?
"As Greg Butcher, the president of the UTK College Republicans, and Will Anthony, state liaison to the Hamilton County Young Republicans, this is not the Republican standard that I have been a part of my whole life. If that was my campaign, Campaign Manager Greg Butcher and Intern Will Anthony would be fired.
"Due to this occurrence, I asked that the Carter campaign come out and pull up the old yard sign and replace it with one of the big 4x4-foot signs. I would like all to know that for my household, we stand with Mike."
Mr. White also said, "As was made clear in our statement, this was Will Anthony's video and he owned up to and apologized for the profanity. There are implications that this was Greg Butcher's video and that he used profanity and that is not true. Also, they claim the video was forged and edited. Snapchat is a social media platform that uses video clips and pics from through out the day and puts them on a story for your personal friends to see. They play in sequence from throughout the day. Because Mike's campaign decided to record the video from someone else's phone and then make the video public (which it was not before they made it public) it appears like it is stiched together.
"I'm shocked Rep Carters campaign would intentionally feed misinformation to the public and go on record making false accusations with the intent to do damage to my character."
Nathan Douglas Janeway of the Young Republicans said Will Anthony has not been the state liaison for the Hamilton County Young Republicans since January.