Tennessee 5th Congressional District candidate Andy Ogles filed suit on Tuesday in the Circuit Court for Williamson County, Tennessee, at Franklin against the Tennessee Conservatives PAC, a super PAC connected to Kurt Winstead’s campaign for the TN-5 seat that recently started attack ads against him.
According to a statement made by the Ogles campaign, “[T]he suit calls on the PAC to take down an ad that falsely accuses Ogles of not paying property taxes, highlighting false accusations the PAC ran on television in Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District in an attempt to maliciously defame Ogles and harm his congressional campaign.”
“It’s disappointing to see my opponents working with left-wing special interest groups to spread malicious and blatant lies about my character. Let there be no doubt, I have always paid my property taxes in full and to this day they have been paid. We will continue to pursue legal actions against these false attacks meant to smear my character and hurt our congressional campaign, and I will never stop fighting for the people of the 5th District to ensure they have the full truth as well,” said the mayor of Maury County in the statement.
“Out of desperation, my opponents knowingly lied by claiming that I supported a property tax increase. This false claim demonstrates my opponents’ clear lack of knowledge of the 5th District and its citizens. From my first day in office, I stood against any property tax increase. Furthermore, I vetoed a proposed property tax increase just a few weeks ago. Lastly, and perhaps worst of all, my opponents should be ashamed that they are using a special interest group to attack the wonderful people of Maury County for voting to pass a sales tax referendum. Maury Countians deserve better than that,” said Ogles.
“The hardworking Americans across the 5th District of Tennessee won’t fall for these fake, radical-left attacks, and I will always fight for truth. We are excited to bring this election home on August 4th,” added the candidate.
The Tennessee Journal reported after the attack ad was released that Ogles did pay his taxes, although often in a tardy manner.
We delved into the records to see whether we could replicate the claims of the ad. We found that Ogles appeared as a co-owner of a Franklin home between 2005 and 2015, though for reasons unknown he was not listed on the rolls in the 2013 tax year. While it’s true that property tax payments were late on nine occasions, that includes years where the Ogles family was as little as one or two days behind the deadline. But in other years it took as many as 194 and 322 days to pay the tax bill.
“So did Andy Ogles fail to pay his property taxes nine times, as the ad claims? Not exactly. He did pay, albeit in a tardy fashion. And in some years he was later than others,” The Journal added.
The Tennessee Star previously reported that the ad starts with a female voice saying, “Andy Ogles failed to pay his property taxes nine times.”
A male voice then dramatically repeats the phrase, “Nine times.”
The female voice then states, “That’s right, Andy Ogles failed to pay his property taxes nine times, but as county mayor Ogles supported increasing the sales tax, didn’t oppose a property tax hike, or a marriage tax.”
The female voice continues, repeating the first message: “Andy Ogles failed to pay his property taxes nine times.”
The male voice again repeats, “Nine times.”
The female voice adds, “Andy Ogles didn’t pay his taxes, but supported raising yours.”
In the suit, Ogles is seeking an order from the court that says he always paid his property taxes and that the Tennessee Conservatives PAC ad is false, that the PAC “be further enjoined from disseminating false information about the Plaintiff,” and that he be awarded other relief “to which he may be entitled.
The TN-5 Republican primary is scheduled to occur on August 4, with early voting already underway.
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Aaron Gulbransen is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected]. Follow Aaron on GETTR, Twitter, Truth Social, and Parler.
Photo “Andy Ogles” by Andy Ogles. Photo “Kurt Winstead” by Kurt Winstead.
