Did you hear? Sabrena Smedley – when first elected eight years ago she was Sabrena Turner – is the daughter of former state Rep. Brenda Turner and the granddaughter of the infamous late and former Hamilton County Sheriff Bookie Turner. Did you hear that campaign whisper?
So seductive, this juicy tidbit begs to be believed. There’s even an article out there in a slick local magazine from 2021 about the inspirations of local leaders and trend-setters. One photo features Sabrena and her mom – Brenda Turner. But it’s not THE Brenda. So the whisper – one Smedley tells the Chattanooga Times Free Press she’s asked about at least once a week – is not true. She is not related to Rep. Brenda Turner (or Rep. Turner’s father, Bookie Turner).
One could say it’s a reflection of humankind’s propensity to look for connection – often a bad connection. We think it’s more part and parcel of the times we live in, where trashy lies live on in emails, social media and especially political campaign whispers.
In recent weeks, the TFP has received more than one “tip” or misguided email about the so-called Turner connections – some from people we think of as normally reliable sources.
But hey – this is after all the time in our history when a sadly oversized number of our population believes the Big Lie (that our last election was stolen from the former president). It is a germ so virulent that three Republican candidates for mayor of Hamilton County – including Smedley – were given a litmus test on stage in a recent debate about whether they believed Joe Biden was legitimately elected president.