Emails from state officials claim Hamilton County District Attorney Neal Pinkston plans to change the payroll source for relatives employed in his office to comply with state nepotism laws, spurring new concerns about his administration and the state agency overseeing district attorneys.
Pinkston came under fire in May after the Times Free Press reported that he had married one subordinate, Melydia Clewell, and later hired her brother, Kerry Clewell, and that he was listing them both with different titles in his office than they had on state payroll records.
On May 13, after asking about Pinkston’s relatives in a budget hearing, Hamilton County Commissioner Tim Boyd requested that state Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, initiate an audit into the District Attorney’s Office and payroll.
In June, Gardenhire wrote an email to Guy Jones, director of the District Attorney’s Conference, a state agency tasked with administration and coordination among Tennessee’s 32 district attorney offices.
In the email, obtained by the Times Free Press, Gardenhire asked Jones to “take steps to encourage General Pinkston to come into compliance with Tennessee law,” after raising concerns that Pinkston’s supervision of one or more relatives may violate state code.