Beth Harwell Spins Her Ethics Problems Into Culture War Code

According to this morning's Nashville City Paper:

King Pharmaceuticals recently settled a case with the Department of Justice by agreeing to pay more than $124 million for allegedly overcharging both federal and state governments for its drugs from 1994 to 2002 when [John] Gregory was chief executive officer.

Gregory is an East Tennessee businessman and a large contributer to the state Republican Party as well as Republican candidates .... Harwell [who was Republican Party chair] defended her party's decision to accept [2001 and 2002 campaign finance] contributions exceeding campaign finance limits] from Gregory and other close associates of King [who were illegal sources].

"These are fine Christian men that choose to participate in the political process," Harwell said. "People have a right to do that. We welcome their contribution."

According to my Culture War Code Key,

These are fine Christian men that choose to participate in the political process.

translates to

This is not a question of my ethics. It's just another example of how Christians are persecuted and intimidated when they exercise their rights. I intend to raise the red herring of Christianity to draw attention away from my character and to whip up my evangelical base to my defense.

John Gregory and associates may be Christian men, but they seem to be Christian men without scruples; Christian men willing to defraud, cheat, and swindle taxpayers in order to line their own pockets; Christian men who took advantage of the sick and indigent for their own gain; Christian men who rolled ill-gained profits into illegal campaign contributions.

Harwell should stop throwing red meat to her political base and stand up to scrutiny and be accountable to the public for her past mistakes.