LEBANON, Tenn. -- A Democratic operative said Wednesday that he obtained a candidate's drunken driving arrest reports that a Republican lawmaker had earlier suggested could have been obtained by a state trooper suspended this week for conducting unauthorized background checks.

Video: Operative Claims Responsibility For Distributing Personal Files

Keith Talley, political director for the House Democratic Caucus, told The Associated Press that he unearthed copies of Republican state House candidate A.J. McCall's record through a public records search at the Wilson County Courthouse.

"It was standard fare opposition research," Talley said. "It's a normal part of politics."

The records were not expunged as McCall has suggested, he said. They show McCall was arrested on drunken driving charges in 1990 and 1996 after refusing to take blood alcohol tests. Prosecutors withdrew the DUI charges in both cases, but the records don't indicate why.

The 1990 police affidavit indicates McCall was pulled over in a Wal-Mart parking lot late one night after an officer was flagged down by a woman who said he tried to make her get in his van.

Talley said he dropped off a copy of the records on House Minority Leader Jason Mumpower's desk several weeks ago -- and also mailed copies to McCall's wife -- in moves he described as "political hardball."

"We just wanted them to know that we knew about his DUI past," Talley said.

McCall is challenging longtime Rep. Stratton Bone, a Lebanon Democrat and chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, in this fall's general election.

"Something needs to be done. An investigation needs to be done to clean this up. That's for sure," said McCall.

McCall said that two copies of the DUI reports were also mailed to his wife. While she knew about it, he thinks the motive behind that was to intimidate her.

Mumpower, R-Bristol, said Talley was trying to intimidate Republicans and McCall's wife, and called his actions "low and unethical."

Tennessee Highway Patrol Lt. Ronnie Shirley was put on administrative leave after an investigation found he accessed background information on 182 people. Mumpower earlier this week called for an independent investigation into Shirley's searches, and suggested the THP could have been behind putting the information about McCall into his office because troopers have keys to every door in the Legislative Plaza.

Investigators said they didn't recognize any political figures among the list of people Shirley researched, but Mumpower said he won't be certain political motivations weren't involved until all the names have been released to the public.

He also denied that he is trying to draw attention away from McCall's past by focusing on the way the information was delivered.

"The point of the matter is that Mr. McCall is very upfront about the fact that he made a mistake years ago, that he's a different person today," he said.

A message left with the McCall campaign Wednesday morning was not returned.

Talley disputed Mumpower's claim that the records were placed in his locked office at night. "I walked in in the middle of the day and left it on the desk," Talley said. "It's a public office."

Mumpower called Talley's claim "hogwash" because there is no time the information could have been left on his desk when the office was unoccupied. He said that his staff said the package appeared sometime between the time they locked up for the day and when they returned.

"Obviously the Democrat Party doesn't think there's anything wrong with obtaining a key from somewhere and entering my office after hours and leaving an anonymous packet on my desk," he said.

"It makes me wonder whether my sensitive constituent information is safe in my office."

There is no video surveillance system in the legislative office complex to show conclusively when Talley went into Mumpower's office.