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William Farmer

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Ward Crutchfield

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Memorandum of Plea Agreement

Case facts

Flurry of names emerge for Crutchfield seat

By Andy Sher

Nashville Bureau

MEMPHIS -- A half-century political career approached its end Thursday for Sen. Ward Crutchfield, D-Chattanooga, as the 78-year-old lawmaker admitted to taking $3,000 from an FBI undercover operative in the Tennessee Waltz corruption sting.

Prosecutors agreed to drop a more serious extortion charge as the veteran lawmaker, a former Senate deputy speaker and majority leader, pleaded guilty to the bribery count.

He had been scheduled to go on trial Monday and becomes the fourth of five current or former state lawmakers to plead or be found guilty in the Waltz sting.

Dressed in a gray suit, Sen. Crutchfield stood at a podium in U.S. District Court Judge J. Daniel Breen's courtroom in Memphis as the judge walked him through the charges and the plea agreement.

"It's an unusual experience," Sen. Crutchfield, a 1951 University of Tennessee law graduate, told Judge Breen. "I understand it (plea) fully. I accept responsibility."

Sen. Crutchfield is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Breen on Nov. 28. He could face up to five years in prison, up to $250,000 in fines and three years of supervised probation.

State Sen. Ward Crutchfield, center, talks with reporters Thursday as he leaves U.S. District Court in Memphis.

The Associated Press

The senator's attorney, William Farmer of Nashville, later said he expects Sen. Crutchfield to resign from his Senate post "soon" but provided no details.

Sen. Crutchfield's law partner, Bill Pope, said the senator would resign before the Nov. 28 sentencing hearing. Mr. Pope said Sen. Crutchfield will lose his law license as well.

Mr. Farmer said he would like to get the senator probation if possible.

"We'll have to wait and see," Mr. Farmer said. "I'm not going to speak for what's going to happen at the sentencing. That's up to the court when we get there. Clearly, we're going to do our very best."

In 2005, then-Rep. Chris Newton, R-Cleveland, pleaded guilty to taking $4,500 in the Waltz sting and was sentenced to one year in a minimum security facility. He was released to a halfway house after serving nine months.

Meanwhile, former Sen. Kathryn Bowers, D-Memphis, also charged in the bribery sting, has a change of plea hearing scheduled for Monday.

Earlier, Sen. Crutchfield, one of Chattanooga's most prominent politicians at the state level, entered Judge Breen's 11th floor courtroom to change his original not guilty plea to one of guilty with regard to the one bribery count in the May 26, 2005, two-count indictment.

Mr. Farmer said that it was prosecutors who approached Sen. Crutchfield about a plea deal.

Sen. Crutchfield originally was accused of accepting $12,000 in bribes to help an FBI-created front company called E-Cycle Management with favorable legislation involving an electronic equipment recycling contract with the state.

During the court proceeding, the judge, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim DiScenza and Mr. Farmer referred to the $3,000 the senator admitted to taking as a "gratuity."

Mr. Farmer said there's a legal distinction between a bribe and a gratuity.

"A bribe is where you accept something to do something in the future," Mr. Farmer said. "That didn't happen here. Senator Crutchfield was clearly for this bill, thought it was a good bill from the very beginning. Where he made an error is when they gave him a gratuity ... long after he agreed to support this bill."

According to the original indictment and plea agreement, Sen. Crutchfield was in his Senate office on Feb. 15, 2005, when he met with and accepted two envelopes, each containing $1,500 in cash, from a man who had identified himself as E-Cycle President Joe Carson. Mr. Carson was undercover FBI operative Joe Carroll, a retired agent.

Accompanying Mr. Carroll at the Feb. 15, 2005, meeting, according to the plea agreement, was then-Hamilton County School Board member Charles Love, E-Cycle's unregistered lobbyist and "bagman" who has pleaded guilty on Waltz charges. He is awaiting sentencing.

Mr. Love, who is cooperating with federal authorities, had been subpoenaed to testify.

The original indictment alleges a series of payoffs that began in September 2004, much of which went to Mr. Love. Mr. Love claimed the money was shared with Sen. Crutchfield or his administrative assistant.

While that person officially has not been identified, filings in the case this week revealed a transcript of a conversation about politics and campaign finance involving Mr. Carroll and Linda Johnson, Sen. Crutchfield's law office administrative assistant. She has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

Asked whether he was happy part of the ordeal is now over, the senator smiled and said, "I'll be happy when I get home to Chattanooga tonight."

Sen. Crutchfield will be eligible for a state pension that will pay him about $3,500 a month, said Jill Bachus, director of the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System.

That is for his eight years of service in the House and Senate in the late 1950s and early 1960s, his service since coming back to the Senate in 1985 and his nearly 35 years of work as the attorney for Hamilton County Schools, she said.

While a series of laws now bans state pensions for many lawmakers convicted of felonies arising out of their official duties, Sen. Crutchfield would have had to run again in 2008 to be affected, she said.

Missy Crutchfield, one of the senator's two daughters, thanked Chattanoogans for their support.

"I love my father very much," she said in a statement. "And my father has done wonderful things for this community."

Senate Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Haynes of Nashville said Democrats are saddened and "hope that this does not obscure what was a record of noteworthy public service."

Hamilton County Democratic Party Chairman John Bailes in a statement called Thursday a "tragic day for a man who has done (a) great deal for our county and our state."

Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville, the Senate's speaker, said in a statement that Thursday's events "are yet another step toward restoring trust between the people of Tennessee and their government. The lesson of Tennessee Waltz is that no one is above the law."

E-mail Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com