'Dark PAC' and Harshbarger money reported in Sullivan County races

BLOUNTVILLE — Two so-called "dark money" political action committees have put out at least three campaign pieces in the mailboxes of Sullivan Countians so far in the Republican mayoral race this year between Angie Stanley and Zane Vanover. An organization with a name similar to one of the two other groups has disavowed one of the PAC mailers and called it "unauthorized" in a social media post. Meanwhile, Republican Sullivan County Commission hopeful Bob Harshbarger of Kingsport has put $11,500 into county commission races — $100 toward his own uncontested District 6 campaign, with that being the only contribution, with three people seeking three seats, and $11,400 or $1,900 each into the campaigns of six commission hopefuls seeking to oust incumbents. If all candidates to whom Harshbarger has donated won, that would be one-fourth or 25% of the 24-member commission. The GOP primary for the mayoral race is May 5, and early voting started Wednesday and ends April 30. Either Vanover or Stanley will win in May and be unopposed in the Aug. 6 general election, taking office Sept. 1 for a four-year term. Bob Harshbarger's wife, U.S. Rep. Diana Harshbarger, R-1st, Wednesday endorsed Stanley, according to a group that identified itself as the Tennessee Stand PAC. The congresswoman also has campaign signs co-located with Stanley's at the intersection of New Beason Well Road and Stone Drive, across from Cleek Road near one of two farms Vanover and his wife, Kay, own. A Vanover campaign spokesman said former Kingsport Mayor Pat Shull has indicated he is endorsing Vanover. Neither Stanley nor a representative of Diana Harshbarger could be reached about the Harshbarger endorsement. WHO ARE THE PACS? Two campaign mailers came from the "Sullivan County First PAC," which listed an address of 4307 N. Roan St., Suite 10, Private Mail Box 1003, Johnson City, TN 37615. One promoted the election of Stanley, who narrowly lost a 2022 primary race to Richard Venable, who is not seeking reelection after 16 years as mayor. The other two attacked Vanover. One, again from the Sullivan County First PAC, urged voters to "reject liberal Zane Vanover" May 5, alleging he is "funded by far-left liberal activities," has "ties to a group that supports moving the GOP to the middle," and "is supported by an individual who donated to a Black Lives Matter-aligned group." The flip side of the mailer has a digitally manipulated image of Vanover "not on our team," playing baseball with former Democratic Vice President and presidential candidate Kamala Harris and New York U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-14th, commonly known as AOC. The Sullivan County First PAC is on file with the Tennessee Bureau of Ethics and Finance, Registry of Election Finance, with the contact information of the Johnson City address. The treasurer is listed as Jason D. Boles with a Washington, D.C. address of 126 C. St. NW, Third Flood, Washington, DC. The most recent report shows no receipts or expenditures during the most recent reporting period. A third mailer indicates it is from the Tennessee Stand PAC, like the others saying it is "not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee," saying Vanover "has voted to raise your taxes again and again." It claims Vanover "voted for a property tax increase in 2024 and again supported raising taxes in 2025." It also says in 2024 he voted "twice" against approving the school system's budget, which included a "15% raise for teachers and staff funded entirely with no tax increase." It also said he sponsored and voted for a hotel/motel tax in 2023. A Vanover spokesman said Stanley voted for a tax increase multiple times as a county commissioner, including one to help fund a new jail, which Vanover also supported. Vanover referred further comment to his campaign manager Tuesday when asked about the mailers, but said he sponsored the resolution to approve the 15% school employee raises in 2024. A Facebook post Wednesday afternoon identified as from Tennessee Stands said: "Sullivan County: Looks like you've been delivered some unauthorized mailers! Tennessee Stands does not have a PAC, and neither does Tennessee Stand, according to the federal and state registries. Voters in Sullivan County, make sure to let your neighbors know there's some unofficial business happening in your district." WHO IS BOB HARSHBARGER? Bob Harshbarger, also known as Robert Harshbarger or Robert Harshbarger Jr., is the husband of U.S. Rep. Diana Harshbarger, R-1st, the father of District 4 state Sen. Bobby Harshbarger, R-Kingsport and representing Sullivan and Hawkins counties. Bob Harshbarger recently was pardoned by President Donald Trump for a prior conviction, but he already was eligible to run for public office because he had his voting rights restored before Trump's pardon. He listed no telephone number in his information on file with the Sullivan County Election Commission and did not respond to a questions sent to his email provided to election officials. Harshbarger pled guilty and was sentenced to 48 months of federal prison time for "for substituting a cheaper drug imported from China for the iron sucrose that the Federal Drug Administration has approved for kidney dialysis patients," according to a 2013 news release from U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Kansas. "He also was ordered to pay restitution of $848,504 and a $25,000 criminal fine, in addition to forfeiting $425,000 in cash." The release said he was doing business as American Inhalation Medication Specialists Inc. and pleaded guilty to one count of distributing a misbranded drug and one count of health care fraud. "In his plea, he admitted that as a result of the fraud kidney dialysis patients treated by Kansas Dialysis Services, LC, received iron sucrose that had not been certified by the FDA to meet quality and safety standards." However, the release said no patients were harmed. Harshbarger also faced charges of removing and vandalizing campaign signs of then-state Sen. Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol, on the date of the August 2024 GOP primary. That was when Bobby Harshbarger defeated Lundberg in the GOP primary. However, those charges were dropped the next month. Of the campaigns the congresswoman's husband is helping fund, four are in the May 5 Republican primary, with winners going forward to the Aug. 6 general election. However, two are independents to be on the Aug. 5 general election ballot only. The reporting period covers Jan. 16-March 30, and reports were due April 10. Candidates receiving or spending less than $1,000 were not required to file a report, although some, like Bob Harshbarger, did. DISTRICT 4 In District 4, Harshbarger gave $1,900 each to Republicans Tracy Haraz, who works for the Sullivan County Sheriff's Office, and Richard Hicks. Others in the May 5 GOP primary for the three-seat district are incumbents Michael Cole, Joyce Neal Crosswhite and Tony Leonard, as well as newcomer Josh Hayes. No Democrats or independents are running in that district, so the May winners will be uncontested in August. DISTRICT 7 In District 7, Harshbarger gave $1,900 to Republican newcomer Stacy Vaughn. Incumbents running are Sam Jones and Travis Ward, a sheriff's office employee, and newcomer Jimmy Bowser also is running for one seat in the two-seat district. No Democrats or independents are running in that district, so the two winners will face no competition in August. DISTRICT 10 District 10 Republican Lakie Derrick, an employee of the Turning Point USA-operated Club America for secondary school students, received $1,900 from Harshbarger. Others in that district in the primary include incumbent Larry Crawford, father of District 1 state Rep. John Crawford, R-Kingsport, who faces a primary challenge from County Commissioner Jessica Means for the district. Commission newcomer but veteran Republican Linda D. Buckles, the state GOP committeewoman for Sullivan and Hawkins counties, is also running in that district, as is newcomer Dominick Kasmauskas. The top two vote-getters in that district will win the May primary and face no competition in the August general election. DISTRICT 11 Finally, in District 11, Harshbarger has given $1,900 each to the campaigns of two independents, Travis Sampson and Zac Thomas. Incumbents running in that three-seat district are John Gardner, Hunter Locke and Archie Pierce. Republican newcomers are Michael Hannan, Kingsport school board member and dentist Phillip Marshall and Zaiden Page. ONLINE LINK To see the financial disclosures of the six commission candidates to whom Harshbarger gave $1,900 each and his campaign finance report, go to the Sullivan County Election Commission website at https://sullivancountytn.easyvotecampaignfinance.com/home/publicfilings. Times News reporter Allison Winters contributed to this report.