‘You Come and See Us!’

“Hello, I’m Andrea Conte, and if I were going to buy a Toyota in Davidson County, I would buy it at Rivergate Toyota,” she says in the first of the ads, which were taped on the dealer’s lot last week. The conclusion of the spot has the first lady jauntily waving from a red Prius as she drives away.

A second ad previewed for the press features Conte touting the roomy cab of a Tundra pickup: “You could do a sit-down dinner for 160 in here!”

The ads were widely viewed as retaliation against Lee Beaman, the wealthy GOP supporter who owns a rival Toyota dealership, and who has been a vocal critic of Conte’s efforts to build an underground entertainment hall at the governor’s mansion. Beaman has a house in the same tony neighborhood, and has helped gin up neighborhood objections to the project. His community spirit in protection of the neighborhood, seldom in evidence previously, seems to be motivated by his political opposition to Gov. Phil Bredesen.

Similarly, Conte’s turn as a car dealer pitchwoman has led to speculation that her real motive was to take business away from Beaman—a charge the first lady denies.

“There was an opening at Rivergate ever since [longtime pitchman] Dan Walters left, and it just felt right,” she says. “I’m donating my salary to the mansion restoration fund, so it just seemed like a good thing to do.”

Conte is not the first Tennessee first lady to do TV commercials. Few could forget Martha Sundquist’s pitches for Wonderful Waterbeds, and Honey Alexander briefly marketed jars of Honey’s Sweet Honey until the small company was bought out by national honey monolith Sue Bee.