Several Rutherford County employees received a mysterious email message cautioning them to support incumbent property assessor candidate Rob Mitchell following a Tennessee Star report about his hiring practices, according to an email obtained by The Star.
Ahead of Mitchell’s bid for reelection, he hired Michael Maxwell, the son of two prominent Rutherford County political figures, for a position in the property assessor’s office created for Maxwell after determining he was unqualified for the original job posting, The Star previously reported. Michael Maxwell—son of Rutherford County GOP Chairman and Murfreesboro City Council Member Austin Maxwell and Rutherford County School Board Member Claire Maxwell—marked on his job application that he did not possess the required experience for the position he applied for.
Mitchell “is being attacked by the media for running the department the way he sees fit,” the email to the Rutherford County department directors read. The email also linked to a report published by The Star.
The February 13 email message warned Rutherford County officials and employees to “not let the threat of investigations, discrimination lawsuits or legal settlements cloud our thinking in support of Rob.”
The email’s author signed the message “Mitch Roberts” and used an email address that referenced one of Mitchell’s campaign slogans—”Keep Rob on the Job.” However, Mitchell’s campaign appears to have no connection to anyone named “Mitch Roberts” or this individual’s email address.
Some email addresses that received the message did not appear publicly available, and some did not belong to Rutherford County employees.
The Star reached out to “Mitch Roberts” using the address he used to send his message. The Star asked him whether he was a Rutherford County voter, whether he was affiliated with Rpb Mitchell or his campaign, and how he accessed the email addresses that were apparently not available to the public, but Roberts did not respond by press time.
However, Roberts said he supported Mitchell and sent the email because he wanted people to “not let rumors about Mr. Mitchell’s hiring practices in an election year influence their decision to vote for Mr. Mitchell.”
Mitchell, a Republican, will face off against former Rutherford County Commissioner and Deputy Chief Virgil Gammon in the property assessor primary election on March 5. The winner will advance to the August 5 general election.
Rutherford County voters originally elected Mitchell as property assessor in 2012. He is seeking his fourth consecutive term.
Mitchell’s campaign denied affiliation with Roberts in an email to The Star.
Gammon said he did not know anyone named “Mitch Roberts” and was unaware of the email, he told The Star over the phone.
“I don’t believe it’s any kind of mudslinging going on or anything like that between us,” Gammon said about his campaign against Mitchell. “I don’t know Rob that well, but I know him. And to that point, I also consider him a friend.”
On February 9, Gammon posted a link to The Star‘s report on Mitchell’s hiring practices to Facebook. He made another post the same day and linked to the report in the comments section of that post.
“[sic] honesty implies a refusal to lie, steal, or deceive in any way,” Gammon wrote in the post. “[sic] honor suggests an active or anxious regard for the standards of one’s profession, calling, or position. [sic] integrity implies trustworthiness and incorruptibility to a degree that one is incapable of being false to a trust, responsibility, or pledge.”
Gammon told The Star he heard others speculate that legal action could be taken because of Mitchell’s hiring practices.
“I did get calls from several employees who were deeply concerned and upset about it because all of a sudden [Michael Maxwell’s] making more money than they are, and [other employees had] been there five, eight years,” he said.
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Matthew Giffin is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Matthew on X/Twitter.
Photo “Rob Mitchell” by Rob Mitchell. Background Photo “Rutherford County Courthouse” by Ichabod. CC BY-SA 4.0.
