Editorial: Mudslinging, alleged vandalism mar primary race

The 2024, 4th District Tennessee State Senate primary race pitting incumbent Sen. Jon Lundberg against political newcomer and pharmacist Bobby Harshbarger was the most negative, and expensive, General Assembly contest in the region's history.The mudslinging was so intense you might have wondered if the mailman had to wash off the stack of direct mail flyers, which at times arrived in the district's mailboxes the same day from each side.We lost count of the flyers we received, never mind the dozens of phone messages.Each campaign — and others — filed ethics complaints against the other.State Sen. Ken Yager filed a complaint against Harshbarger's campaign in April, citing concerns about "collusion" between Harshbarger's campaign, the reelection campaign for his mother, U.S. Rep. Diana Harshbarger, and what was called the East Tennessee Conservatives PAC.Later, former Sullivan County commissioner and county school board primary winner Angie Stanley filed a complaint against the Lundberg campaign over what she called possible "coordination efforts to evade campaign contributions limits and violate campaign finance regulations."Then, two days before the primary, Harshbarger's father was accused by Lundberg of stealing and vandalizing Lundberg's campaign signs based on video taken by Lundberg's daughter.The campaign said she "saw and video recorded a person drive up, wait for traffic to pass, and very clearly grab our sign, push it down and knock it down," Lundberg said, and that his daughter confronted the person, whom she recognized to be Bob Harshbarger.As well, "He (Harshbarger) had opened his trunk, and inside there are a half-dozen or a dozen of my signs," Lundberg said.The elder Harshbarger, also a pharmacist, was sentenced in 2013 to 48 months in federal prison for substituting a cheaper drug imported from China for the iron sucrose that the Federal Drug Administration has approved for kidney dialysis patients. He also was ordered to pay restitution of $848,504 and a $25,000 criminal fine, in addition to forfeiting $425,000 in cash.Harshbarger, then 53, "who was doing business as American Inhalation Medication Specialists, Inc., 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, L.C., received iron sucrose that had not been certified by the FDA to meet quality and safety standards," according to U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom.Total spending on the race by both sides nears $3 million for a part-time job that pays $28,406 a year, plus per diem.One wonders why so much was spent in a primary race for a job that pays so little.It wasn't over party politics, since the makeup of the State Senate is 27 Republicans and six Democrats.It may be a long time before the stink wears off. Meanwhile, the ethics complaints have yet to be resolved.This race provides a good example of why voters should wait until election day to cast their ballot. We don't doubt that some have early voting remorse.This race provides a good example of why voters should wait until election day to cast their ballot. We don't doubt that some have early voting remorse.