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| Mark Winslow |
Mark Winslow, the former Chief of Staff of the Tennessee Republican
Party is suing the Tennessee Republican Party. He already had a law suit
pending against U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann and Chip Saltsman, a former
top aid to Fleishmann. He amended his suit to include the State GOP. He
is seeking $500,000 in compensatory damages and $250,000 in punitive
damages from Saltsman.
This conflict stems from the
2010 primary campaign between Robin Smith and Chuck Fleishman.
Winslow was working for Robin Smith in that campaign. Prior to that
campaign, Smith was State Party Chair and Winslow was her Chief of
Staff. According to sources, shortly before Smith left office as Chair
of the Party, she gave Winslow a contract, which is unusual. When
Devaney took over as Chair of the Party, naturally he wanted to select
his own chief of staff, so to terminated Winslow and awarded him severance
pay of $12,504.
During the Fleishman-Smith campaign,
someone released Winslow's payroll records to Saltsman and the Fleishman
campaign ran an add critical of Smith's management of the Republican
Party. She had left the party with a substantial debt. The salary and
bonuses paid Winslow, who by then was working on Smith's campaign, was
used as an example of her poor management of the party. I don't know
how much Winslow was making and do not know how much is reasonable for
that position so I don't know if he was paid lavishly or not. As far as
leaving the party in debt, after a campaign it is not unusual for a
State or local party to be broke or in debt, so again, I don't know if
that was valid criticism or not.
The Fleishman-Smith
campaign was hotly contested. There were twenty-one candidates vying for
the seat left vacant by Zack Wamp who had chosen not to seek reelection
so he could pursue a race for governor. In this crowed field, the two
leading candidates were Fleishman and Smith. Fleischmann put $544,000
of his own money into the campaign. Former Arkansas Governor and Fox TV
host Mike Huckabee endorsed Fleichman; the Club for Growth endorsed
Smith. While the Fleishman campaign accused Smith of mismanagement of
the Party, the Smith campaign ran ads calling Fleischmann a
“slip-and-fall” attorney who
had gotten rich by suing a local rifle club, Walmart and a church.
Fleishman won the race by getting 30% of the vote to Smith's 28%
, beating Smith by 1,300 votes out of 80,000 votes cast. After the primary, Smith refused to endorse Fleishman.
Winslow
is suing, claiming he has been unable to get work as a political
consultant due the damage the Fleishman campaign did to his reputation
and charging that payroll records should not have been made public.
Winslow is currently serving on the State Executive Committee of the
State Party. In essence, he is suing himself. The party is already
spending money on attorney's to represent itself in this matter. When the State
Executive Committee meets in February, I would bet Winslow will get an
icy reception.
Just to spread more light on who's who in
this mess, Chip Saltsman is also a former chairman of the Tennessee
Republican Party and
in 2008 was national manager of Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign.
For other reports on this issue see
here and
here.
If anyone has insight as to what is going on or an opinion, please
leave a comment. If you have a copy of the law suit, I would like to see
it. If you would be so kind as to email it to me, I would appreciate
it.
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