NASHVILLE – Tennessee’s top House and Senate leaders are pushing a bill to bar legislators from doing any business with the state following the Jan. 8 FBI raids on two lawmakers who as political consultants handled taxpayer-funded constituent mail for some colleagues as well as for themselves.
House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, the Republican Senate speaker from Oak Ridge, said their bill is intended to expand the state’s existing ban on legislators selling goods to the state into a new arena – that of “services.”
The speakers acknowledged their effort comes at least in part as a result of the FBI’s raids on the homes and legislative offices of Reps. Robin Smith, R-Hixson, and Glen Casada, R-Franklin, the former House speaker who forced to step down in 2019 amid scandal.
Both Smith and Casada have political consulting firms that offer campaign services and have provided those services to send legislative updates and surveys for some GOP colleagues through members’ state-funded postage accounts. A third lawmaker whose home and legislative office were hit by FBI agents was freshman Rep. Todd Warner, R-Chapel Hill.
The FBI has yet to specify what it’s investigating. Smith and Casada did extensive business during the 2020 election cycle with two little-known political vendors. Smith also recommended one of them, New Mexico-based Phoenix Solutions LLC, to lawmakers not only for their campaign mail but for their state constituent mail accounts.