ATLANTA — As strip clubs go, the Clermont Lounge is a legend. Last year, the 53-year-old club re-opened following a renovation. A government historic preservation tax break helped fund the renovation.
And it inspired a political TV ad, which starts with the the following narration: “Casey Cagle talks about his Georgia values. But he championed tax cuts for a strip club.”
Cagle is Georgia's lieutenant governor, and the front runner for the GOP nomination for governor.
However, the ad overlooks a pertinent fact. The strip club is in the basement of the Clermont Hotel, a building that has been mostly vacant for the last decade.
And the renovation that benefited the strip club in the basement has also converted the once-blighted hotel into a potential showcase. Political newcomer Clay Tippins created the ad.
"It is completely unreasonable to have a discussion as if that were about using taxpayer dollars for anything other than that strip club," Tippins said in an interview wih 11Alive's Doug Richards. "Your tax dollars, my tax dollars, were in fact used to redevelop a strip club."
The ad drew snorts from Cagle backer Brian Robinson.
"It’s no wonder this guy is in fifth place and hasn’t cracked five percent in the polls," Robinson said. "He’s being dishonest. He says he’s not an outsider. He says he’s not a politician. Well, this sure sounds like a politician."
The ad also attacks candidate Hunter Hill, a former Army Ranger who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan: “Hunter Hill talks like he’s Rambo. But he’s really a Benedict Arnold," the ad states.
Tippins is a former Navy Seal.
"It brings great dishonor on his own service to suggest that my combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan link you to a traitor," Hill said of the ad.
Tippins insists the ad is fair to Hill and accurate about Cagle. "What offends me is if I end up with a leader that’s a liar," Tippins said.
