Provocative Ad Seeks a Candidate to Replace Tommy Benton

Seeking a candidate to replace Rep. Tommy Benton of Jefferson, Newsradio 106.7 FM personality Michael Graham placed an advertisement in Wednesday’s edition of the Jackson Herald featuring a picture of a hooded person in a Ku Klux Klan costume. In the ad, Graham promises to host a fundraiser and endorse a candidate to replace Benton, who defended the Klan and dropped several bills that sought to preserve Confederate heritage at Stone Mountain and elsewhere in Georgia, which he later withdrew.

A portion of the ad reads,

Your state representative, Tommy Benton made national news by praising the Ku Klux Klan. … Rep. Benton went out of his way to defend the KKK’s positive influence (“it mad a lot of people straighten up”) and deny its racist legacy (the Klan “was not so much a racist thing”).

Does Rep. Tommy Benton really “represent” modern, open-minded hard-working Jackson County?

Graham, a Tea Party veteran who has shown he has the ability to stir up controversy, provides his contact information for anyone interested in running for the seat. Qualifying begins March 7th for the May primary elections.