The state’s campaign oversight body, the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance, sided with Rep. Michele Reneau, R-Hixson, at a meeting this month, when board members did not accept a $2,500 offer to settle a complaint Reneau had filed last year.
Reneau filed the complaint over a multimedia attack launched against her during the 2024 primary. The subject of the complaint could now have to pay up to $10,000 per violation, depending on what the registry decides, said the executive director, William Young.
“I’m hopeful the board makes the best decision possible to advocate for transparency and accountability,” Reneau told the Chattanooga Times Free Press by email. “Ultimately, I will defer to their judgment on the issue.”
The claims made in the 2024 campaign attack, which Reneau has said are false, included disparaging political ads on a Facebook page called “No Michele Reneau,” a website with the same name and video text blasts and mailers sent to voters that said “Michele Reneau actually believes tinfoil hats cure disease. Seriously.”
“Michele Reneau’s ideas are too crazy,” the mailer said, and her ideas are “ultra-left-wing conspiracies.”
Reneau won the 2024 Republican primary, unseating longtime Rep. Patsy Hazlewood, R-Signal Mountain. Reneau did so despite the multimedia attack, which included what looks like a manipulated image of Reneau wearing a tinfoil hat.
(READ MORE: Chattanooga area elects new law maker Michele)
“This was sort of a public nightmare for a candidate,” Reneau told the registry, according to a video of the group’s July meeting.
However, the complaint Reneau filed technically has nothing to do with the critical contents of the campaign attack.
Soon after Reneau made the complaint in September 2024, the registry turned it over to the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office to conduct a preliminary investigation.
The groups behind the barrage, Citizen Engagement Forum and Civic Engagement Forum, were not registered as political campaign committees — a violation of the state’s election and finance rules, according to the report.
If such a group spends more than $1,000 supporting or opposing a candidate for public office, it needs to register as a political action committee. The AG’s report, obtained by the Times Free Press, found that the two groups tied to the campaign attack are connected and neither is registered. The report estimates that the groups spent $6,950 together.
According to the report, Thomas Datwyler, the financial officer for Civic Engagement Forum, said he had no knowledge of either group acting as a PAC. However, Datwyler also admitted to the registry that the forum should have filed as a PAC, Young, the executive director, said in a phone interview.
“Mr. Datwyler doesn’t comment on matters pending before the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance,” general counsel for Datwyler, Eric Brown, said by email.
Now, instead of accepting the $2,500 settlement offered by the attorney for Civic Engagement Forum, Young said the registry has requested the information both groups are required to provide had they registered properly. The board voted unanimously to seek the required information.
The general counsel for the registry, Lauren Topping, told the board at July’s meeting that the settlement offer was reasonable, “although I do think there is a possibility there for some negotiation.”
The registry will consider issuing civil offenses up to $10,000 per offense, Young said, and will discuss new information at the next meeting in September.
“Mr. Datwyler is a professional,” said Topping, the general counsel. “This is what he does. He has several businesses that operate in the political consulting area and is campaign treasurer for Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger,” who represents Northeast Tennessee.
Based on the documentation submitted, Topping said she was not sure if Datwyler resides in Washington, D.C., Wisconsin, or Missouri.
Young said the registry considers repeat violations when issuing offenses. Last year, Datwyler was involved in a collusion complaint against state Sen. Bobby Harshbarger, Diana Harshbarger’s son.
Registry board member Tom Lawless said at the meeting that Datwyler “should have known better.”
“What I would hope, anyway, is that we could just send a message that we would like them to follow the rules,” Reneau said to the registry board.
Datwyler and his legal representation seem keen and willing to reach an agreement with the registry, Young said.
Contact politics reporter Ruby Rayner at rrayner@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6556.
