In downtown Nashville two investigations are underway to learn more about former Mayor Megan Barry and how she used taxpayer money to carry on an affair with her security guard.
Nashville Public Radio reports that members of the Metro Auditor’s Office plan to make their findings on the matter public soon.
Meanwhile, members of the Metro Board of Ethical Conduct are doing a separate probe, the station reported. Members of that board are about to call upon people to testify.
Board of Ethical Conduct spokeswoman Elizabeth Waites told The Tennessee Star that the two boards have different objectives.
“The Ethics Board is investigating specific allegations contained in a complaint that was filed by a private citizen on record here with this office,” Waites said.
“The scope of those two things is not entirely the same.”
Waites said she will eventually distribute an internal auditors’ report to the board.
“Fourteen days from my distribution of that report, the complainant has to provide a summary of who she would like to see subpoenaed,” Waites said.
According to Nashville Public Radio, the private citizen in question is Theeda Murphy, something Waites confirmed to The Star.
Murphy told the station that “there are unanswered questions.”
“She charges that Barry violated city conduct standards by helping her bodyguard, Sgt. Robert Forrest, receive excessive overtime payments. And that their secret relationship influenced Barry’s policy decisions about the police department,” the station quoted her as saying.
Murphy, the station reported, has been fighting for a Community Oversight Board over the police.
“And she said this ethics case could set a rigorous standard for investigating Metro officials,” according to the station.
“It’s worth happening because government is going to work better and be more responsive and accountable to the people,” she told Nashville Public Radio.
“I as a citizen — we all as citizens — need to be able to hold our government accountable.”
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
