Tennessee conservatives are keenly aware of Hagerty’s ties to establishment/globalist Republicans Lamar Alexander, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Mitt Romney, McConnell and former governor, Bill Haslam.
Hagerty served as national finance chairman for Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign.
He was a Jeb Bush delegate in 2016 and then flipped to Marco Rubio after Jeb withdrew. He didn’t support Trump until after the primary.
Rubio has been a long-standing proponent of expanding the H1B visa program to bring in foreign workers who end up under-cutting American workers – especially those graduating with tech degrees. Bob Iger, CEO of Disney and co-founder of the Partnership for a New American Economy has invested millions of dollars into Rubio’s campaigns. Disney put 200+ American tech workers out of jobs after they trained their foreign worker replacements.
And Rubio, Hagerty’s choice for President over Trump, was a co-sponsor of the disastrous Gang of 8 comprehensive immigration amnesty bill in 2013.
It is also well known that Hagerty has a close relationship with Samar Ali, whose father is Chairman of a virulently anti-Israel, pro-BDS organization headquartered in D.C.
2011 – Hagerty was appointed by former Gov. Bill Haslam to serve as Commissioner of the Department of Economic & Community Development (ECD). In this position, Hagerty used his position to benefit Lamar Alexander family members.
2012 – shortly after his appointment, Hagerty promoted Lamar Alexander’s son Will (already employed by ECD), to ECD’s Chief of Staff. At the same time, Will served as treasurer for a Nashville based refugee resettlement contractor. Shortly before leaving ECD in 2015, Hagery hired Lamar’s daughter Leslee. At that time he also hired the daughter of TDOT Commissioner Jim Schroer who had previously interned for Bob Corker.
Hagerty filled Will’s position with Alice Rolli, a former Larmar staffer in D.C. One year later, Rolli served as campaign manager for Lamar’s 2014 primary.
At the same time, Hagerty hired Samar Ali as Asst. Commissioner for International Affairs. Publicly available Information about Ali’s strong background in sharia compliant finance (SCF) work, quickly surfaced.
Within a short time of Ali’s hiring, Nashville radio hosts and conservative grassroots groups were publicly questioning the Haslam administration about Ali’s appointment. In response, Hagerty spoke at the July 2012, “First Tuesday” gathering and addressed his hiring of Ali. A long-time blogger in attendance reported Hagerty saying that “I got a call from her father asking me if I would look at her resume.”
Hagerty’s disclosure resulted in attention to Samar’s father, Subhi Ali, M.D.’s leadership of the anti-Israel Jerusalem Fund in D.C.
After President Trump tweeted his support for a Hagerty Senate candidacy, the Samar Ali issue re-emerged. A facebook entry includes a comment by a Samar Ali who claims that she met Hagerty through the White House fellows program, not through her father.
While Hagerty and Ali did not serve as White House fellows at the same time, Hagerty served as a member and chair of the regional selection panel for the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships during the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations, presumably overlapping with Ali’s appointment as an Obama White House fellow.
Samar served as treasurer for American Muslim Advisory Council former chair, now board member, Zulfat Suara, to the Metro Nashville City Council.
So, who do you think will have access to Hagerty????