NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The heated race between state Sen. Mae Beavers and former state Sen. Bob Rochelle took a new twist Thursday.

State Democrats produced documents to support their claim that Beavers lied about where she lived during a previous campaign.

Senate Race Between Rochelle, Beavers Gets Personal

The Beavers camp said Rochelle is dredging up old news to avoid talking about an income tax.

Where Republican Beavers lived in 2000 may not seem like a big deal but for Democrat Rochelle it's the centerpiece of his campaign.

In one of Rochelle’s campaign ads, he claims that "she (Beavers) refused to answer questions.”

The Rochelle ad claims Beavers invoked the 5th Amendment when Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents tried to question her about where she lived then.

Agents wanted to know if her legal residence was a house outside the Senate district or an apartment inside. Beavers claimed it was the apartment and the investigation was political.

"In 2001, the Democratic caucus asked the TBI to investigate me in an attempt to scare me out of office. I was never interviewed by the TV. I never took the 5th amendment,” Beavers said.

Thursday, the head of Tennessee's Democratic party released documents from District Attorney General Tommy Thompson who said of Beavers in 2002, "She and her husband, son and daughter-in-law each exercised their constitutional right not to speak with the TBI."

"What's important is credibility. We don't need people running for office who are going to lie. This is not a small matter,” said Bob Tuke, chairman of the Tennessee Democratic party.

"The issue for us is why we are talking about something that was cleared up in 2002,” said Martha Fouce, Beavers’ campaign manager.

Democrats are relying on an old document from Thompson, but he was not a disinterested party.

He removed himself from the investigation, writing later that year, “this pattern of conduct is consistent with Mrs. Beavers' lifestyle and she is so devious, no one wants to cross her and face the wrath of Steve Gill or Phil Valentine on talk radio."

Beavers' campaign manager said all of this is old news because the investigation was dropped and Beavers was never charged.

So why is Rochelle talking about it?

"We believe it's because Bob Rochelle doesn't want to talk about an income tax, (which is) what we want to talk about,” Fouce said.

Fouce said Rochelle was a major supporter of a state income tax which proved so unpopular, he gave up his Senate seat.

Rochelle and other Democrats want the seat back from Beavers because the seat could be key to controlling the state Senate.

The Republicans technically had a small majority in the state Senate last year, but a couple of Republicans crossed over to vote for Democrat John Wilder as Speaker of the Senate.

That put Wilder in charge of committee assignments and key legislation.

If either party can win just one or two key Senate races, they will have true control of the Senate.

The Beavers campaign said they are gaining support from voters who are turned off by the hard-hitting Rochelle commercial.