The Tennessee Registry of Election Finance fined Nashville Metro Councilmember Jonathan Hall to the tune of $360,000 at their meeting on Thursday.
The Registry found Councilmember Jonathan Hall guilty of campaign finance law violations related to his run for Council in 2018 and 2019. Councilmember Hall represents District One on the Metro Council which covers Bordeaux, parts of North Nashville, Whites Creek and Joelton.
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Former Tennessee Speaker of the House Glen Casada and current Rutherford County Mayor Bill Ketron are both being investigated for allegedly misspending campaign money, according to NewsChannel 5. The Tennessee Registry of Election Finance unanimously voted Wednesday to look into both politicians’ campaign and political action committee accounts. Registry Board Member Tom Lawless told Channel 5 he wanted two things: transparency and integrity. “It’s not something I’m thrilled to ask for by any stretch of the imagination but I think we have to,” he said. “It’s of sufficient import to the folks that put us here and to the taxpayers and to the people elected that we do this.” The state’s election finance registry has had a hard time collecting fines for violating campaign and ethics rules. As The Tennessee Star previously reported, the registry has $1.5 million in outstanding unpaid fines, including fines against Ketron, who already owes $50,000 to the state. Casada, upon learning about the upcoming investigation, issued a statement to The Tennessean. “I am confident that an independent review of my PAC and campaign finances by the registry will make it clear that I have not used any funds inappropriately, and I urge them to…
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Tennessee State Rep. Harold Love Jr., D-Nashville, used campaign money for illegal purposes, according to an audit the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance recently released. Love failed to report thousands of dollars in campaign contributions. He also spent more than $13,000 on food and beverage expenses, and otherwise did a shoddy job maintaining his financial records, auditors said. It is illegal to use campaign funds for personal purposes. “Rep. Love incurred and reported numerous food and beverage expenses during the two-year audit period (approximately 300 transactions totaling over $13,400),” auditors wrote. “The disbursements range from $2.50 to $1,223.94, with 8 of the transactions over $100 and 109 of the transactions being $20 or less. The volume of transactions and small dollar amounts of individual transactions appear to indicate individual meal purchases or snack type purchases instead of catering or food purchases for campaign events.” Based on the frequency and location of the transactions the expenditures were apparently not campaign related. Those expenditures occurred on 191 days throughout the election and non-election year, auditors said. Also in violation of Tennessee law, Love did not report $5,580 in campaign contributions during his 2016 election campaign, according to the audit. Auditors also said Love…
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New State Rep. London Lamar (D-TN-91) was hit with an $8,175 fine for filing two campaign reports late. Both Lamar and State Rep. Jesse Chism were fined by officials for issues related to their campaign finance disclosures, The Tennessean reported. Voters elected Chism and Lamar in this year’s Nov. 6 midterm election. Chism was fined $5,000 for filing a campaign finance report late. The Registry of Election Finance also levied two more fines, totaling $20,000 against Rep. Joe Towns Jr., D-Memphis, for not filing two reports. The list of delinquent report filers is online here. The Tennessee Registry of Election Finance was created by the General Assembly in 1989 as an independent entity of state government. Lamar earned international attention after The Tennessee Star reported the story of her Facebook video rant calling white Tennessee Republicans racist and uneducated. “Looking here at Tennessee, let’s just call a spade a spade,” Lamar said in the video. “Tennessee is racist, period. Period. And if you for one moment thought that white people in Tennessee were going to leave their own to jump over here and give us more access, they just told you last night it’s not happening,” Lamar said. As The Star reported, Lamar livestreamed her…
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On Friday’s Gill Report, broadcast live on WETR 92.3 FM in Knoxville, conservative pundit and Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill reflected on the players and issues influencing Tennessee’s candidates running for high office, and the important role the Volunteer State has to play on the national stage heading into November. “Bob Corker is not popular in Tennessee,” he said with a chuckle, as he described the political ‘field of play’ less than thirty days from primary election day. He continued: Donald Trump is very popular. President Trump announced today that he is going to be narrowing his list of 5 potential supreme court justices to about 5 choices. He may interview a couple of the next few days, but he plans to name his pick by July 9th, so we won’t have to wait long for the real war over that Supreme Court confirmation process to move ahead. Again, you have Marsha Blackburn making it clear that she will back a conservative, constitutionalist Supreme Court pick that Donal Trump nominates. And you’ve got Phil Bredensen, trying to kind of marginalize on the edges pretending that he might actually support a conservative that Donald Trump would pick, but nobody seriously…
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The Tennessean reported Friday that a complaint alleges that gubernatorial candidate Bill Lee is using a tax-sheltered trust to illegally donate money to his own campaign. The complaint, filed by Joe Darke of Dover, Tennessee, also alleges that the Republican candidate has accepted illegal contributions from some individuals and businesses while raising questions about Lee’s frequent use of television ads for his company. The complaint was filed with Tennessee’s Registry of Election Finance, WKRN said, and claims Lee uses his businesses to supplement his campaign without disclosure and beyond limits. More specifically, the complaint says Lee Company commercials featured Lee, while campaign ads have touted Lee’s company experience. It speculates Lee is running company ads for a business expense deduction to avoid more income taxes. Campaign spokesman Chris Walker called the complaint “nonsense,” WKRN said. The complaint contains at least two errors, which could lead campaign finance officials to dismiss it, The Tennessean said. A campaign spokesman said the complaint was evidence he was gaining momentum.
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Former State Rep. Jeremy Durham issued a statement through his attorney Peter Strianse late Tuesday outlining his response to a Show Cause letter from the Registry of Election Finance. “Frankly, I am surprised that the Registry would publicly disclose Mr. Durham’s audit response before conducting a fair and honest review of its contents. Despite obvious violations of Mr. Durham’s constitutional rights, Tennessee law, as well as the Registry’s own policies and procedures, Mr. Durham has responded in exhaustive detail to every question raised,” Strianse said in his statement. “The selective inquisition of Mr. Durham and his records appears to be driven by an agenda rather than a good faith effort to police legislative fundraising, expenditures and the reporting process,” Strianse added. “The Tennessean, by simply reviewing one year of certain legislators’ public records, has uncovered far more egregious examples of financial abuse than the allegations made against Mr. Durham after an audit of four years. If the Registry is serious about policing the legislature, then it should follow up on this paper’s reporting and pursue audits of the legislative abuses identified in recent stories. The failure of the Registry to take such action speaks loudly to its real intent…
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The Tennessee Registry of Election Finance decided this week not to contest a ruling by an administrative law judge that found that Williamson Strong is not a political action committee, registry attorney John Allyn confirmed to The Tennessee Star. Judge Michael Begley ruled March 28 that the parent group did not spend any money on “express advocacy” in supporting candidates. He also said in his ruling that Williamson Strong met the media exception in that members “posted factually accurate information and commentary regarding issues related to public education.” Formed shortly before the 2014 school board race, Williamson Strong portrays itself as nonpartisan but its blog on its website and its Facebook page are highly critical of conservative groups, including the Tea Party, Americans for Prosperity and Glenn Beck’s 9/12 Project. Former conservative school board member Susan Curlee, elected to the board in 2014, filed a complaint against Williamson Strong with the registry in December of that year. In May 2015, the registry fined Williamson Strong and the group appealed. The group was issued a $2,500 fine for failing to register as a PAC by filing a form for appointing a treasurer. A second $2,500 fine for failing to file campaign financial disclosure…
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A decision on Williamson Strong’s appeal of fines for political activity will be issued by an administrative law judge between now and March 23, says John Allyn, an attorney for the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance. Williamson Strong is a parent group started in 2014 that is said by conservative critics to be a sophisticated operation acting politically in favor of progressive-leaning school board candidates and policies. In May 2015, the registry agreed with some of the accusations about political activity and issued the group two $2,500 fines, the first for failing to file a form for appointing a treasurer. “This is required of any entity that makes expenditures in support of or in opposition to a candidate for public office,” Allyn told The Tennessee Star. “The registry found that Williamson Strong came within this definition. Williamson Strong obviously disagrees.” The second $2,500 fine was for failing to file campaign financial disclosure reports. Because that requirement is dependent on Williamson Strong being found to be a political action committee (PAC), any action on the financial disclosure reports is deferred until there is a final ruling on whether the group is a PAC, Allyn said. Former conservative school board member Susan…
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