When a Crossville, Tenn., city councilman voted to hire Hamilton County Commissioner Curtis Adams as the city's new manager, he might have violated the city's ethics code by not telling the council he donated $1,000 to Mr. Adams' campaign in 2006, according to the city's attorney.
City Attorney Kenneth Chadwell said "one could argue," using Crossville's ethics code, that Councilman Boyd Wyatt should have disclosed the donation when he voted to hire Mr. Adams.
But Mr. Chadwell said Mr. Wyatt wasn't necessarily required to abstain from voting to hire Mr. Adams.
Mr. Wyatt said his failure to disclose his 2006 campaign contribution to Mr. Adams did not constitute a violation of the city's ethics code. The code states any official should disclose potential conflicts of interest before a vote.
"I didn't feel like it was relevant," Mr. Wyatt said. "Why would I? It's been so long that I didn't even remember what year it was."
The Crossville ethics code states violators of the code are "subject to punishment as provided by the municipality's charter or other applicable law" and that the City Council can censure violators.
Mr. Adams' story about how he got the Crossville job contradicts itself. Initially, he claimed he did not know any of the councilmen who voted to give him the job, but he clarified that Tuesday when a Chattanooga Times Free Press reporter discovered Mr. Wyatt gave Mr. Adams a $1,000 campaign contribution in 2006.
He said he meant he did not meet with the councilmen immediately before they voted to hire him.
Mr. Adams also said the city contacted him about the open position, but Crossville Mayor J.H. Graham III said Wednesday that Mr. Adams called him about the job.
Attempts Wednesday and Thursday to reach Mr. Adams were unsuccessful.
Mr. Graham said Wednesday he did not believe Mr. Wyatt's vote to hire Mr. Adams constituted a conflict of interest as defined by the city's ethics code.
The Crossville ethics code defines personal interests in part as "any financial, ownership, or employment interest in the subject of a vote."
Drew Rawlins, executive director of the state Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance, referred questions to the local district attorney's office.
Attempts Thursday to reach a district attorney in Crossville were unsuccessful.
Mr. Wyatt defended all his actions on the Crossville City Council, saying he's done nothing wrong.
"You're headed in the wrong direction," he told a reporter.
Chris Carroll covers politics for the Times Free Press. A Chattanooga native, he graduated from Red Bank High School in 2005 and earned a bachelor’s degree in history from East Tennessee State University in 2009. Chris has investigated violent crime, hospitals, Red Bank politics and East Ridge politics since joining the newspaper in January 2010. For a jailhouse interview story with accused murderer Antonio Henry, he won a third place Tennessee Associated Press Managing Editors ...
Dan Whisenhunt covers Hamilton County government for the Times Free Press. A native of Mobile, Ala., Dan earned a degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Alabama. He won first place for best in-depth news coverage in the 2010 Alabama Press Association contest; the FOI-First Amendment Award in the 2007 Alabama Press Association contest; first place for best public service story in the Alabama AP Managing Editors contest in 2009 for economic coverage; and ...
"What? Bein' a good ole boy is unethical? What'n'the h*** do you mean by that, boy? R'u a communist or somepin? That's the way we do bidness around here, son. The way we've always done bidness. Now move along, I gotta poker game to git to."
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