Some of Combs' crackdowns on corruption were politically damaging, including the so-called "truck deal". In 1961, Kyle Vance, a reporter for the Louisville Courier-Journal reported that that the state was about to purchase some dump trucks from one of Combs' former campaign officials for $346,800, far more than they were worth, according to the report.[47] The newspaper, long antagonistic toward Highway Commissioner Clements, painted the deal as a political payoff orchestrated by the highway commissioner.[47] In the interest of preserving his reputation as an honest governor, Combs canceled the proposed deal.[48] This angered Clements, who took Combs' action as a public rebuke.[48] The incident caused a rift between him and Combs that never fully healed; Clements later resigned, ostensibly to work on the presidential campaign of his friend and former Senate colleague, Lyndon B. Johnson.[49] Thereafter, he worked against Combs at every opportunity, even joining with Happy Chandler to ensure Wilson Wyatt's defeat in his 1962 race for the Senate, in a reversal of his previous promise to support Wyatt.[48]