Rose ad hits back at ‘Swampy Bob Corlew’

Former Agriculture Commissioner John Rose’s congressional campaign is hitting back at Republican rival Bob Corlew, saying he was called a “dedicated Democrat” when he ran for judge and tried to give himself a 775% pay raise as a member of the Murfreesboro City Council in the 1980s.

“Swampy Bob Corlew cannot change Washington, he’s part of the problem,” the narrator says. “Part of the swamp.”

The pay raise allegation appears to stem from Corlew’s time as a councilman. The Murfreesboro City Council was paid $40 per month at the time, and some members wanted to increase that amount to $200. According to The Tennessean, Corlew upped that proposed amount to $350.

“In talking around, people are of the same opinion” that the mayor’s and council’s salaries were too low, Corlew was quoted as saying.