To date, we have not opined about the FBI raid of legislative offices in Nashville in January because we don’t know enough about what is being investigated. So far, no law has been alleged to have been broken and no wrongdoing has been alleged to have occurred.
Yet.
But as the story has unfolded, bits of information have dribbled out from legislators who have been interviewed by the FBI.
What has become clear is that the saga revolves around a vendor called Phoenix Solutions, allegedly a New Mexico-based company organized in December 2019 that did about $231,000 in work for legislators during the 2020 campaign cycle. And then recently, in articles in the Times Free Press and the Tennessee Lookout, former House Speaker Glen Casada was first linked to Phoenix Solutions and then said to be the owner of the firm.
That, in itself, is not likely a problem since Casasda, R-Franklin, and state Rep. Robin Smith, R-Hixson, for that matter, have been political consultants for other legislators.