NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The debate over whether to build a new downtown Nashville convention center is turning ugly.

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A public relations firm that supports the proposed center is trying to deny a judgeship to the man opposing it.

Channel 4 obtained an e-mail sent out Thursday by an employee of Cooley Public Strategies, a firm hired to promote the convention center.

The e-mail asks people to sign a petition opposing Kevin Sharp's appointment to a federal judgeship. The petition said Sharp is unfit to be a judge.

Sharp is a lawyer and the head of Nashville's Priorities, a group raising questions about the need for a convention center. Sharp spearheaded his own petition drive for a public vote on the convention center. He said it puts taxpayers at risk.

Dave Cooley of Cooley Public Strategies is behind the petition drive to deny Sharp a judgeship. Cooley's firm is under contract to the Music City Center Coalition to promote the convention center, but Cooley said he isn't acting on behalf of the coalition.

"It's a campaign that I decided to launch,” Cooley said. “It’s my first amendment right."

Cooley said Sharp is using misleading information to scare the public. He said Sharp’s radio ad called the convention center a billion-dollar project, even though the project won’t cost that much, now that the building has been scaled back and the proposed hotel left out.

"The billion-dollar mark was left behind months ago," Cooley said.

In a statement to Channel 4, Sharp said, "I would be surprised if anyone of good conscience, whether associated with the Music City Center Coalition or otherwise, would agree with the politics of character assassination."