NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Zach Wamp, Republican congressman and candidate for Tennessee governor, has called on Knoxville, Tenn., mayor and candidate Bill Haslam to explain instances of price-gouging at Pilot Corp. gas stations in Tennessee and two other states, Wamp's campaign said in a press statement.
"The congressman is wrong again, and his repeated desperate mudslinging is yet another silly attempt out of his tired Washington playbook," Haslam campaign spokesperson David Smith told CSP Daily News. "A few stores made an honest timing mistake in 2008 trying to ensure [image-nocss] supply for their customers, and Pilot rectified it."
He added, "What needs to be discussed is the congressman's exploitation of taxpayers and future generations during his 16-year career to the tune of trillions of dollars in federal spending and earmarks, and mountains of federal debt. During his time in Washington, federal government spending has increased 250% and the total federal debt has nearly tripled."
Pilot, which Haslam co-owns with family members, was required to pay fines and penalties for violations of the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act for overcharging for gasoline at prices up to $4.99 a gallon over a three-day period following Hurricane Ike in late 2008.
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The Tennessee attorney general sued Pilot and its subsidiary, Pilot Travel Centers, to stop the company from raising gasoline prices and restricting its supply during that crisis. The court later ordered the company to repay customers who were overcharged at its stations and fined Pilot for its actions.
Pilot Oil was also found to be overcharging its customers at travel centers in Georgia and Kentucky during the same period, and the company was again required to reimburse consumers and pay court-ordered fines.
"Pilot Corp.'s price gouging of Tennessee consumers, as well as consumers in at least two other states, is the ultimate betrayal of public trust. Mayor Haslam needs to explain what happened, why it happened, who was responsible and why he tried to blame local gas station employees when he was first asked about it," Wamp told the newspaper.
He added, "Since three different states punished Bill Haslam's company for price gouging its own customers at the pump, it was clearly a systemic attempt to run up their profits at the expense of consumers during a national crisis. Now Mayor Haslam refuses to release his tax returns, which would show how much in wind-fall profits he made off the backs of hard-working Tennesseans."
"Those who seek to serve Tennessee as Governor should be held to a high standard of conduct," Wamp said. "But it is clear from Mayor Haslam's repeated refusals to be fully open and transparent with the people of Tennessee about his personal finances and his many conflicts of interest with state government from his Pilot Oil holdings that he believes those standards don't apply to him or his company."
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