GOP gubernatorial hopeful Bill Haslam defends plan to keep Pilot Corp. out of blind trust

Haslam would keep Pilot Corp. outside blind trust

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Republican Bill Haslam says if elected Tennessee governor he plans to keep his holdings in Pilot Corp. outside of a blind trust he would establish for his other investments.

The Knoxville Mayor told The Associated Press in a recent interview that he doesn’t see a point in placing his part-ownership in the chain of truck stops into a blind trust where financial advisers would manage his financial holdings because his stake in the family-owned company is already commonly known.

“What’s the use in putting it in a blind trust? I would still know,” Haslam said. “The reason you put something in a blind trust — like any securities you own — is so you can honestly say you don’t know.”

But government transparency advocates and Haslam’s political rivals argue the decision on the blind trust creates more reason for him to release a complete accounting of his income while he is a candidate for office — something Haslam has so far refused to do.

At a gubernatorial forum hosted by Tennessee Cable Association in Nashville on Tuesday, rival GOP candidate Bill Gibbons likened Haslam’s refusal to divulge his Pilot earnings to “an Olympic athlete declining to take a drug test.”

Haslam responded that voters he meets think he has released enough information about his earnings.

“People are comfortable with that I’ve disclosed,” he said. “People understand where my income comes from, and they’ve known that the whole time I’ve been mayor.”

But open government advocates said candidates should lean toward greater disclosure since it wouldn’t be fair to demand Haslam divest himself of his Pilot holdings.

“It’s up to the voters in this case to decide if they view that as a problem and demand more answers,” said Melanie Sloan executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “There’s a lot of potential for problems.”

Haslam retired as president of Pilot in 2003, but remains one of nine owners, according to filings with the Tennessee Secretary of State.

The Haslam campaign has refused to release his earnings from the company because it would reveal personal information about the income of family members not running for office and proprietary information about the company.

“I’m not sympathetic to that,” said Sloan. “You decided you wanted to run for office, (and) there is a certain amount of privacy you lose.”

Haslam has disclosed at least a $10,000 stake in 278 companies, including Coca Cola, Shell, Fedex, Google and Wal-Mart.

Haslam’s other opponents in the GOP nomination fight are state Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey of Blountville and U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp.

Wamp and Gibbons have ramped up their public attacks on the refusal to disclose his Pilot earnings ever since Haslam launched a statewide television ad.

“Complete openness about the sources and levels of his income would be his best first step in disclosing his many conflicts of interest,” said Wamp spokesman Sam Edelen.

Gibbons said Haslam’s “pledge to create a blind trust for non-Pilot Oil investments simply ignores the serious conflict he has, and he knows that.”

Ramsey spokesman Brad Todd said Haslam’s “refusal to come clean about his personal finances demonstrates an arrogance that Tennesseans won’t accept from someone who wants to be governor.”

Haslam rejects the argument that his Pilot ownership would create a conflict of interest.

“Almost every business is regulated by the state,” Haslam said. “So if you’re going to say if you own any business, you shouldn’t run for public office, I don’t think that’s what we want.”

Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen, who earned his personal fortune in the health care field before entering politics, placed most of his investments into a blind trust upon being elected governor. Exceptions include Qualifacts Systems Inc., a software development company he founded, and the company that owns his Learjet.

Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., was the subject of an 18-month investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York after he sold off all of his stock in HCA Inc. — the hospital chain his father and brother founded — out of his blind trust two weeks before share prices fell 9 percent.

The investigation ended without action against Frist after he left office in 2007.