It would seem that Rep. Gerald McCormick got caught trying to make his primary residence Nashville, not Chattanooga.
That is, after all, what he agreed to on an VA loan application he and his wife signed last year as co-applicants and homeowners for a residence in our capital city. It's also a requirement for receiving a VA home loan. Item 6 of the McCormicks' contract dated Aug. 4, 2017, says "borrower shall occupy, establish, and use the property as borrower's principal residence within 60 days after the execution of this security instrument and shall continue to occupy the property as borrower's principal residence for at least one year ." Item 8 notes that the borrower "shall be in default" if he or any persons give materially false, misleading or inaccurate information to the lender. The contract specifies that those representations include but aren't limited to the borrower's occupancy of the property as their principal residence.
Fast-forward to June of this year. McCormick spent a lot of time and energy to prove that while his wife, who works in Nashville, will live in the $487,000 Nashville house, he would actually live in their Chattanooga home in Big Ridge - inside Tennessee's District 26, which he represents as a Tennessee legislator. But perhaps Item 8 loomed large in McCormick's mind when, less than a week after getting state Elections Coordinator Mark Goins to affirm his Big Ridge primary residency, our state congressman suddenly dropped his re-election bid.
Now, state Republicans and the Hamilton County Election Commission seem to have gotten caught trying to twist state law to say McCormick withdrew under a provision of election law that allowed them to reopen qualifying for seven days to get at least one GOP candidate on the ballot to replace McCormick.
State law lists seven reasons, including death, as acceptable for candidates to withdraw after the qualifying withdrawal deadline. Reason D states: "Withdraws because such candidate is forced to change residence by the candidate's employer for a job-related reason."
The Tennessee code further makes it clear that "[c]andidates may withdraw for reasons other than those listed ; however, no additional candidates may qualify."
McCormick's employer didn't require him to move. McCormick was his own employer until he took the Nashville job. The only requirement that he had to move - even that he had to take a new job - was his own.
In Chattanooga in the district he represents, he has been his own employer as a commercial real estate broker. He started his own commercial real estate brokerage firm in 2013 under the name McCormick & Company Commercial Real Estate. That firm adopted the name Stone Fort Properties in 2016 after relocating their offices to the Fleetwood Building, the original Stone Fort limestone quarry location. In March, according to a news release at the time, McCormick joined his firm with Second Story Real Estate Management "to grow their network of commercial real estate across the region."
Only now - actually, in October when he leaves the real estate brokerage - will he no longer be his own boss. In Nashville, he has taken, in his words, "a professional position with Asa Engineering and Consulting, a Chattanooga-based company, [that] requires me to relocate to Nashville to grow the firm's new office."
To rational minds, that means he didn't withdraw with a proper excuse, as Republican Party and the Republican majority on the election commission claim. Had he and the party not twisted the tale, then his name would have remained on the ballot as the only Republican seeking the office. After the election, if the law was correctly followed, he would have been disqualified, leaving the only other challenger - Democrat and political newcomer David Jones - as our new representative.
On the other hand, had no one noticed McCormick's Nashville home purchase, he might have continued being our representative for who knows how many terms. Or he might have resigned sometime after the election, and we'd either have an appointed replacement or a special election.
The stakes were high for McCormick. But they were even higher for the Tennessee Republican Party. And both seem to have gotten caught trying to cheat.
Democrats have sued, accusing the Hamilton Count Election Commission of improperly opening candidate qualifying after McCormick dropped out in mid-June. They are asking that the new ballot not be used in voting and requesting an expedited hearing.
The first hearing in the case is today.
Naturally, Republicans are accusing Democrats of breaking the rules. House Republican Caucus Chairman Glen Casada said: "As Tennesseans in all corners of the state continue to reject their liberal policies, Democrats have once again resorted to lying and cheating to try to win an election."
At a Hamilton County Election Commission meeting Thursday when commissioners voted to hire a Nashville attorney to defend them, candidate Robin Smith said Democrats "have a long history of being unable to win at the ballot box" and while Republicans "win hearts and minds with policy," Democrats "resist, litigate and attempt to steal elections and disenfranchise the voters."
Really? Come on, folks. Who's trying to steal an election here? It looks a lot like the would-be thieves are Republicans, madly scrambling to cover up their cover-up.
As for McCormick, he'll be using plenty of his 12 years of legislative experience in Nashville.
Jeff Sikes, a senior vice president of the engineering firm Asa, said recently in a statement that the firm is glad to have McCormick join Asa.
"He brings years of experience in understanding the regulatory and policy areas of state government that are important to our customers, Sikes said. "He brings a keen understanding of ways to navigate a number of areas that are critical to supporting our projects."