Tyson Foods tries to scuttle TV ad playing up its ties to GOP contender

Richmond (United States)

TYSON Foods has asked Virginia gubernatorial hopeful Corey Stewart to kill a television advertisement, one that slams his Republican rival Ed Gillespie for work his Washington lobbying firm did for the poultry giant as it faced criminal charges related to illegal-immigrant employees.

Mr Stewart has seized on Mr Gillespie's ties to Tyson in the homestretch of the GOP nominating contest, which will be decided in a statewide primary on Tuesday.

"When Tyson Foods was indicted for human smuggling, who's the first guy they called? Ed Gillespie," the 30-second spot begins. "Gillespie was paid US$1.1 million to make excuses for trafficking illegal aliens and lobby for amnesty."

The ad ran statewide last week during Fox News, according to the Stewart campaign.…