Marion County Elections Administrator Holly Henegar repeatedly answered "I don't know" when asked whether she ever had funneled money to her husband through underage family members, according to a recording from a Tuesday hearing.
In a Nashville hearing with state Elections Coordinator Mark Goins, Mrs. Henegar admitted writing payroll checks for Election Day two years ago for employees who did not work that day but had worked earlier.
Based on that admission and others, state election commissioners voted unanimously to bring Mrs. Henegar before an administrative law judge for possible discipline, Mr. Goins said.
"What you've got here is a pattern that would seem to add up to an administrator not performing her duties correctly," said Mr. Goins.
PDF: Henegar complaint
But John Ray Clemmons, Mrs. Henegar's attorney, on Thursday called the charges "completely baseless" and a "political witch hunt."
"All allegations of that type that were made during the state election committee meeting were the exact same allegations that were made last year, and Mrs. Henegar was cleared completely," he said, citing a 2009 Tennessee Bureau of Investigation probe that was closed last year.
TBI spokeswoman Kristin Helm confirmed Thursday that the probe has been reopened.
The complaint -- filed Feb. 1 by Dean Reames, a county election commission worker who was fired by Mrs. Henegar -- includes the names of relatives and friends of Mrs. Henegar that Mr. Reames claims were never provided to TBI agents last year.
Some of those names were discussed at Tuesday's hearing. Four were nieces or nephews of Mrs. Henegar between the ages of 10 and 13.
When asked if she wrote checks to those children so the money could be funneled to her husband, Mrs. Henegar answered "I don't know" four times.
"Sometimes the check was issued to (my husband), and then if ... for instance, my son or anybody would help him with machines or whatever he needed help with, we issued the check to them," she said.
Mr. Clemmons said he could not comment on the new list of names because the TBI's criminal investigation has been reopened.
But he said the Marion County attorney approved using Mrs. Henegar's husband to do chores, such as moving voting machines and building shelves. And he said records show Marion County Election commissioners approved her husband's employment as well.
The complaint also alleges that Mrs. Henegar cashed checks on behalf of family members and other workers at the election commission. Mr. Goins asked her Tuesday whether that had ever occurred.
"I can't say that I have or haven't," she said.
Mrs. Henegar was appointed by Democrats but since then Republicans have become a majority in the Legislature and also have a majority on state and local election commissions.
Ms. Reames' complaint states that the Republican chairman of the Marion Election Commission recently refused to hear a motion to fire Mrs. Henegar.
County Democratic Party Chairman Jim Lewis said politics is behind the complaint.
"They can say anything they want to about Holly, but they're simply covering up a horrible truth in that they're violating the law by trying to discharge someone because she's a Democrat," Mr. Lewis said Thursday.
County Republican Party Chairman Travis Layne said Thursday he doesn't know much about the case.
"If she's done anything like (what has been accused), then she's definitely in the wrong," he said.