Latest news with #R-Hixson
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former lawmaker testifies Cothren, Casada reputations were 'radioactive' following scandal
The federal corruption case of a former Tennessee House speaker and his one-time top aide continued into its fifth day, beset by repeated defense objections and lengthy private conferences between attorneys at the judge. The trial inched forward on April 28 with the appearance of former Rep. Robin Smith, R-Hixson, who resigned from the General Assembly in 2022 before quickly striking a plea deal with prosecutors. Smith admitted to conspiring with former House Speaker Glen Casada, R-Franklin, and his former chief of staff Cade Cothren in launching a political consulting firm under false pretenses to take advantage of a state-funded account lawmakers could use to pay for constituent communications and mailers. Smith called it "low-hanging" fruit for the trio, who were eager to get the company off of the ground and turn a profit at the end of 2019. Casada had stepped down from the speakership under a cloud of scandal related to Cothren, who quit his high-paying legislative job in the wake of a racist and sexist texting scandal. Smith told the jury she was tapped to "escalate the lies and conceal their identities" when the trio agreed to seek taxpayer-funded legislative business as Phoenix Solutions, a company Cothren developed while using the alias Matthew Phoenix. Smith testified she had to conceal Cothren's identity and shield Casada's involvment with Phoenix Solutions due to the recent scandal. "It was understood I was the only one without a radioactive halo around me from a scandal at the time," Smith said. Prosecutors argue Cothren, Casada and Smith conspired to take advantage of a $3,000 allowance given to lawmakers to mail legislative materials after Casada left his post as House speaker. Both Casada and Smith already had their own political consulting firms, which did similar work, but the trio still agreed to team up and split the nearly $51,947 Phoenix Solutions billed the legislature through 2020. The defense has argued the case is political retribution from current House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, and the political consulting firm was nothing more than 'business as usual on the hill.' Sexton has previously said he cooperated with authorities in the case. He could be called as a witness in the trial. So far, state Rep. Jay Reedy, R-Erin, has testified, along with a former GOP caucus aide and the longtime director of the Office of Legislative Affairs, which acts as the human resources and financial office of the legislature. Connie Ridley, the former OLA director, revealed in the first week of trial that she grew suspicious of Phoenix Solutions after it sent in early invoices and failed to submit timely paperwork to receive payment. Smith also pressed Ridley behind the scenes on the payment issue, which Ridley said she found unusual. Matthew Phoenix, who prosecutors say was really Cothren, later submitted a signed W-9 form. Ridley testified she would not have approved Phoenix as a vendor if she knew of Cothren's involvement, questioning his judgment due to the scandal that led to resignation. Defense lawyers sought to lay the foundation that Ridley didn't actually have any power to block Phoenix from operating even if Cothren was transparent about his involvement. Ridley also testified she later learned of a Department of Justice investigation but was advised to continue processing payments for Phoenix Solutions. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Casada trial: Smith testifies to 'radioactive' reputations of Casada
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former lawmaker testifies Cothren, Casada reputations were 'radioactive' following scandal
The federal corruption case of a former Tennessee House speaker and his one-time top aide continued into its fifth day, beset by repeated defense objections and lengthy private conferences between attorneys at the judge. The trial inched forward on April 28 with the appearance of former Rep. Robin Smith, R-Hixson, who resigned from the General Assembly in 2022 before quickly striking a plea deal with prosecutors. Smith admitted to conspiring with former House Speaker Glen Casada, R-Franklin, and his former chief of staff Cade Cothren in launching a political consulting firm under false pretenses to take advantage of a state-funded account lawmakers could use to pay for constituent communications and mailers. Smith called it "low-hanging" fruit for the trio, who were eager to get the company off of the ground and turn a profit at the end of 2019. Casada had stepped down from the speakership under a cloud of scandal related to Cothren, who quit his high-paying legislative job in the wake of a racist and sexist texting scandal. Smith told the jury she was tapped to "escalate the lies and conceal their identities" when the trio agreed to seek taxpayer-funded legislative business as Phoenix Solutions, a company Cothren developed while using the alias Matthew Phoenix. Smith testified she had to conceal Cothren's identity and shield Casada's involvment with Phoenix Solutions due to the recent scandal. "It was understood I was the only one without a radioactive halo around me from a scandal at the time," Smith said. Prosecutors argue Cothren, Casada and Smith conspired to take advantage of a $3,000 allowance given to lawmakers to mail legislative materials after Casada left his post as House speaker. Both Casada and Smith already had their own political consulting firms, which did similar work, but the trio still agreed to team up and split the nearly $51,947 Phoenix Solutions billed the legislature through 2020. The defense has argued the case is political retribution from current House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, and the political consulting firm was nothing more than 'business as usual on the hill.' Sexton has previously said he cooperated with authorities in the case. He could be called as a witness in the trial. So far, state Rep. Jay Reedy, R-Erin, has testified, along with a former GOP caucus aide and the longtime director of the Office of Legislative Affairs, which acts as the human resources and financial office of the legislature. Connie Ridley, the former OLA director, revealed in the first week of trial that she grew suspicious of Phoenix Solutions after it sent in early invoices and failed to submit timely paperwork to receive payment. Smith also pressed Ridley behind the scenes on the payment issue, which Ridley said she found unusual. Matthew Phoenix, who prosecutors say was really Cothren, later submitted a signed W-9 form. Ridley testified she would not have approved Phoenix as a vendor if she knew of Cothren's involvement, questioning his judgment due to the scandal that led to resignation. Defense lawyers sought to lay the foundation that Ridley didn't actually have any power to block Phoenix from operating even if Cothren was transparent about his involvement. Ridley also testified she later learned of a Department of Justice investigation but was advised to continue processing payments for Phoenix Solutions. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Casada trial: Smith testifies to 'radioactive' reputations of Casada
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Tennessee lawmakers back immigration bill that creates a permanent underclass
There is no justification for House Bill 793 and Senate Bill 0836, the sister bills that in the legislature that would allow Tennessee's public and charter schools to deny enrollment to undocumented students. First, as critics have mentioned, the argument that undocumented students create a financial drain on education systems holds little weight. Even undocumented immigrants pay taxes that support local schools. If anything, the legislation will cost money, as the state could stand to lose around $1 billion in federal education funding. And that's to say nothing of the legal fees Tennessee will incur as the lawsuits start rolling in. The Senate version passed on April 10. The House version, which is different in some significant ways, has yet to pass. The legislation directly violates the Supreme Court ruling in 1982's Plyler v. Doe, which determined that states could not deny any child an education, no matter their immigration status. Of course, Rep. Willam Lamberth, R-Portland and Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson − the respective sponsors of the House and Senate bills − have made clear that this constitutional challenge is the intent. They want to leverage the (conservative) Supreme Court to re-open the door for schools and districts to refuse to educate undocumented kids. It's an egregiously cruel leg of the right's attempt at immigration 'reform,' but there's an ugly reality that undergirds this attempt to punish children for their parents' decisions. Even with Trump's stated goal of deporting millions of documented immigrants, many of the reported 11 million will likely remain. And they know that those who do − the undocumented children that will later become uneducated adults − will simply assume their predestined position in America's underclass, continuing to serve as part of the overlooked, underpaid fuel that powers this country's economic engine. Education is the great equalizer. Everyone knows this. It's an understanding that transcends race and socioeconomic status. It's the focus of well-to-do parents who want their kids to sustain, and grow, family wealth, as well as the struggling families pushing their children to do more, be more, have more. Education doesn't just divide the haves from the have-nots; its absence reinforces the demarcations that have always existed. It's why the enslaved were forbidden from learning to read and why, in urban districts across America, the Black and Brown still receive a substandard education when compared to their White counterparts. We like to blame these truths on individual flaws − on laziness or an unwillingness to learn, on parents who plop their kids in front of the TV instead of helping with homework. Opinion: Trump's deportations emboldened GOP. But they're going after kids, not criminals Rarely do we consider the systemic. Rarely do we acknowledge that the system is actually designed to replicate, generation after generation, a workforce of millions of uneducated or undereducated people, people who will do the hard labor for the low wages because they have no other choice. During his 2024 campaign, President Donald Trump repeatedly referenced 'Black jobs' while attempting to stoke anger toward the throngs of migrants from Mexico and Central/South America. According to Trump, these immigrants − with their limited language and resources, who typically earn pennies on the dollars in poultry plants, on industrial farms, and similar − have been taking jobs earmarked for Black Americans. It made sense. The Black and Latino have long languished on the bottom rung of America's socioeconomic hierarchy. I won't call it a 'ladder' here, though it is commonplace, because the opportunity to climb from one social class to the next was never part of the American agreement − not for the majority or the Black and Brown. Opinion: Keeping undocumented children out of schools is a civil rights violation For how could we actually allow everyone to 'get a good education' and 'get a good job?' Who, then, who would pick the tomatoes? Who, with reasonable options, would slaughter and defeather the chickens before packing them onto convenient Styrofoam trays of wings and breasts and thighs? Who, with a good education, would perform the grueling, dangerous labor of our most essential jobs − but only at poverty-level wages? The answer is, of course: No one. Because if America's socioeconomic spectrum really is a ladder, the bottom rungs have been slathered with superglue, sticky enough to all but ensure generational poverty. Again, the people at the bottom aren't lazy or stupid. They're destitute and desperate and, too often, devoid of hope. So they keep showing up to do the necessary work that the people with options won't do because, for them, it's the only option. After all, the best, most reliable, way to lock in a perpetual underclass is to strip away any opportunity to rise above that station. And the best, most reliable, way to strip away those opportunities is to block access to a high-quality education, or any education at all. And that's exactly what HB 793 and SB 0836 are designed to do. Andrea Williams is an opinion columnist for The Tennessean and curator of the Black Tennessee Voices initiative. She has an extensive background covering country music, sports, race and society. Email her at adwilliams@ or follow her on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @AndreaWillWrite and BlueSky at @ This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Undocumented students have the right to go to public school | Opinion
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Few details available so far as Tennessee hits nearly $1.28B in corporate tax refunds
As the Tennessee Department of Revenue continues to plow through processing about $1.5 billion in franchise tax refunds approved by lawmakers last year, little information is publicly available so far on the payouts – including how much of the funds were sent outside of the state. So far, the agency has handed out nearly $1.28 billion in refunds to corporations, as of Dec. 20, 2024 – the latest available number, according to a budget document released by the Lee administration last week. The department did not provide a more recent total of refunds paid out during January and February when The Tennessean asked on Feb. 11 for updated information. With most of the funds now paid, it also remains unclear how much money remained inside the state, and how much landed outside of Tennessee. While about 81% of the estimated 100,000 businesses determined eligible for refunds are located inside Tennessee, the revenue department estimated that the majority of refund dollars (53%) were headed out-of-state, according to documents obtained by The Tennessean last year through a records request. The Tennessean made multiple requests beginning on Tuesday, Feb. 11 for updated information on the tax refund, including the number of eligible companies that did not apply for refunds, whether unused money dedicated for refunds would revert to the state's general fund and the number of in-state versus out-of-state applicants and the final destination for any funds paid out. "The department has been working diligently to deliver an update that will be complete at the start of business next week, and while it will not be possible to change this timeline, we look forward to updating you and the public on Tuesday morning," department spokesperson Kelly Cortesi said by email Friday. She said information on in-state versus out-of-state information wouldn't be available until the department finalizes program figures. She said final data will not be available until May 1, the extended deadline for taxpayers impacted by Hurricane Helene. By law, the department must publicly disclose names of businesses that filed for a refund and general brackets of refund amounts for a 30-day period from May 31, 2025 to June 30, 2025. After June 30, the information will be taken down. Republican leadership has continued to defend the unprecedented expense as unavoidable for the state due to legal issues – despite no lawsuit being filed. No state agency has publicly provided evidence of a legal threat, or named any company behind such a liability. 'That particular piece of legislation was to avoid a potential and probable lawsuit that would have cost the state of Tennessee billions of dollars,' Senate Finance Chairman Bo Watson, R-Hixson, told reporters Thursday. The tax refund created a $400 million recurring loss to the state budget, but Watson argued the refund resulted in 'savings' for Tennessee. 'The most important thing is that we were able to mitigate hundreds of millions of dollars in legal fees,' said Senate Republican Caucus Chair Ken Yager, R-Kingston. 'There were going to be hundreds of attorneys involved in this. It's in the best interest of the state to do this.' Republicans passed the $1.9 billion franchise tax reform bill last year after 17 senators – including Watson and Yager – disclosed conflicts of interest on the bill. Watson touted strong Republican fiscal management for making it possible for the state to weather the financial 'body blow.' 'If that same situation had occurred 15 years ago... it would have been unsustainable,' Watson said. 'Because the way we've managed the budget over the past 15 years, we could take on a really significant financial hit.' Meanwhile, administration officials are recommending the state take on more than $900 million in debt to help pay for capital projects. It remains unclear whether, or how much, Gov. Bill Lee's family business, the Lee Company, has benefited financially from the legislation. Lee said last year he is unaware if the company could benefit, citing a blind trust that was initiated prior to his taking office. Vivian Jones covers state government and politics for The Tennessean. Reach her at vjones@ This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee franchise tax refunds: Nearly $1.28B paid out so far
