THE 9 REPUBLICANS WHO MAY REPLACE CASADA

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With Speaker Glen Casada finally agreeing to exit the speakership stage left (do us all a favor and keep going off the stage entirely, Glen!)…

…House Republicans are starting to jockey for position to be his replacement.

Rep. Hawk, who is not running, says it has already gotten ugly.


The Tennessean has a list of 9 people who may throw their hats in the ring, so we figured we’d give  our own Holler-iffic take on who these people are and why you should or should not be rooting for them to become the 3rd most powerful person in Tennessee.

“BORING” BILL DUNN

Speaker Pro Tem Bill Dunn (R-Knoxville) will preside over the House until a new speaker is chosen, and would like to fill the position permanently.

“I think I can bring a level of boredom to the position,” Dunn told the Tennessean.

He also said he’s “far right but fair” in a TV interview this week.

Dunn played a key part in passing Governor Lee’s public school-harming vouchers bill, but while some seem to be swayed by political favors – which the FBI may be looking into – even Dunn’s opponents seem to agree he’s a true believer on that front.

Of the 9 speaker candidates, Dunn was the only one who didn’t vote in favor of the “Heartbeat Bill”, which would outlaw abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected and force a woman/girl to carry her rapist’s child to term.

Dunn also switched and became a supporter of London Lamar’s bill to give pregnant Hope Scholarship recipients longer leave before going back to school after giving birth.

Also – very importantly – Dunn has already said he believes the women who have been fighting to get Rep. Byrd – who has apologized on tape to 1 of 3 women who say he molested them in high school – removed from office, and says there should be an investigation into the matter.

It’s a shame that it took Casada’s downfall for Dunn to step up and say that, but better late than never. All candidates for speaker should be willing to say and do at least that much.

WILLIAM “COMPUTER GLITCH” LAMBERTH

Casada’s Right Hand Man, Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland) has been a Casada loyalist throughout the Casada saga, even jumping into the middle of the situation surrounding the date discrepancy and possible framing of civil rights activist Justin Jones.

Lamberth was quick to adopt Casada’s “computer glitch” excuse, and had no hesitation about defending the now-shamed speaker.


Lamberth has been a defender of private prisons (without ever acknowledging that they donate to his campaigns), opposes de-criminalizing medical marijuana, and has been a loyal vote for all of Casada’s priorities throughout the session, including the “Heartbeat Bill”, Lee’s vouchers, the anti-LGBT slate of hate, the voter registration criminalization bill and more.

ROBIN “THE VIDEOTAPER” SMITH

Often found videotaping those who videotape her, the freshman Smith (R-Hixson) is well connected, having previously been chair of the Tennessee Republican Party.

Smith is a staunch Casada loyalist through and through. When the House Caucus voted overwhelmingly that it had “no confidence” in Speaker Casada after his complicity with racism, sexism, drug use at the office, lying, possible fraud, misuse of taxpayer funds, etc… there were still 25 votes in favor of Casada.

1 was Casada himself. We currently know who 4 of the others are, and that group includes Smith.

Smith has been a Casada apologist right up until the end, even trying to lay down a smoke screen to help him blame it on the a-a-a-alcohol. It takes some nerve to offer up ethics bills when you won’t even vote against a guy who has no ethics whatsoever.

She even tried to steer the conversation to Democrats, telling a Chattanooga paper “My hope was we would have censured him and that we would have challenged our other partisans in the [Democratic] caucus to censure members that also engage in unbecoming behavior.”

Smith has been loyal on all the key votes, engaged in anti-Muslim saber-rattling, and Obama-bashing.

A warning about Smith From Vanity Fair, back when Smith ran for Congress (and lost):

Smith was the head of the Tennessee Republican Party during the ’08 presidential campaign and approved the distribution of some of the most underhanded and insidious anti-Obama propaganda to appear during the election. You may recall, for example, the video that the Tennessee G.O.P. released hammering Michelle Obama for her comment about being “proud of her country for the “first time” in “her adult lifetime.” (The ad prompted Barack to tell critics to “lay off” his wife.) You may also remember the Tennessee G.O.P. press release titled “Anti-Semites for Obama” that pointedly referred to the candidate as “Barack Hussein Obama.” Both smears drew national condemnation, even from Republican Party leaders. But one gets the feeling that if the Party gave into its true impulses and elected Ann Coulter or Rush Limbaugh its leader tomorrow, there’s a good chance Robin Smith would be at the top of their list for chief strategist… How did Smith respond when, following her announcement, a reporter brought up the heat she took for the smear tactics? She called the question “unprofessional” and railed against the “liberal media.” Were she to be elected, Smith would likely be among the most conservative members in Congress. Her Facebook and Twitter pages overflow with right-wing rhetoric. In one Facebook status update, for instance, she tells “Judeo-Christians” to “wake up” and oppose President Obama’s attempts to reach out to the Muslim world.

MATTHEW “ETHICS COMMITTEE” HILL

Speaking of Ethics, Matthew Hill is the chair of the ethics committee, which means he played a big part in trying to orchestrate the rigging of an *advisory opinion* that would have attempted to help clear Speaker Casada.

That effort was stopped in its tracks, and prompted Rep. Mike Carter, a judge, to call it the “most egregious act I have been made aware of” and call for Casada’s resignation from the House entirely.

Needless to say, it takes a special kind of person to help rig an ethics committee opinion from the chair position.

Hill is another House Republican who has defended Casada up until the end. Hill claims he voted against Casada when it came time for the “no-confidence” vote, but since the vote was silent and we’ll never know, color us skeptical.

Rep. Jeremy Faison put it best when he said there were 45 votes against Casada, but suddenly after the fact there were 68.


While we’re on the subject of ethics, Hill was also recently seen on the House floor claiming the Tennessee State Employees Association supported Lee’s school vouchers, when they did not.

He has yet to apologize for offering that false information.

If that’s not enough, Hill has the support of Rep. Micah “Heartbeat Bill” Van Huss, which should send a chill down everyone’s spine and be enough to make you very afraid of Hill all by itself.


Funny how moral these reps who defended Casada to the end all suddenly became once they realized they were on the wrong side of history.

“JUDGE” MIKE CARTER

Rep. Mike Carter (R-Ooltewah) is a judge who held off on speaking out against Casada until he had all the facts…


…then pulled no punches once he realized Casada was trying to rig the ethics committee to try to get away with everything. Carter then went hard at Casada, saying his concern was “it shows a heart for misrepresentation” and calling it the “most egregious act” yet.

Once Carter turned, he opened the door for others to speak out and likely played a big part in why the “no-confidence” vote went the way it did.

Carter was a loyal vote on vouchers, the heartbeat bill, the slate of hate, gun permit-weakening, the voter registration criminalization bill, etc.

From the Tennessean, regarding his bid for Speaker:

Carter vowed to keep all committee chairs in their position, form a political action committee, review all policies, procedures and rules and never intimidate members.

JERRY “WE ALL MAKE MISTAKES” SEXTON

Pretty much all you need to know about Jerry Sexton (R-Bean Station) – a former Baptist preacher – is summed up in this clip right here, where he defends Rep. David Byrd’s presence as chair of an education subcommittee by saying “we all make mistakes”:

It’s worth noting though that Sexton didn’t extend such leeway to Casada, leading the effort to call on the GOP caucus to meet and vote on their support of him, and introducing the resolution stating the caucus no longer had confidence in him.

Erik Schelzig reported that Sexton argued for the state muzzleloader to be the Knight Muzzleloader because:

“I’m from Bean Station, and Bean Station was settled by the first white settlers in Tennessee, and had the first white baby born in the state of Tennessee. They were also makers of firearms and muzzleloaders. And this company is owned by descendants of the Bean family.”

SCHELZIG: First of all, having the first white baby born in the state, unless we’re a pile of open racists, isn’t an accomplishment. Second, unless we’re kicking French people out of whiteness, it’s not true. Martin Chartier lived here in Nashville up on the burial mound that used to exist just south of Jefferson Street in what would later be called “the old Shawnee trading post” in 1690. His son, Peter, was born here that year.”

Nothing good going on there. Sexton also made a stand against the 2017 Improve Act which provided funds for road improvements – obviously a socialist plot!

Sexton has been a loyal vote on vouchers, the heartbeat bill, the slate of hate, gun permit-weakening, the voter registration criminalization bill, etc.

RYAN “LET’S ARM TEACHERS” WILLIAMS

 Ryan Williams (R-Cookeville) carried the bill that would’ve armed Tennessee’s teachers, before eventually withdrawing it.

You can watch some of the discussion here:

From the Tennessean:

The former House Republican Caucus chairman said Wednesday he and his wife were praying about his options and a potential bid for speaker.

“Now more than ever we as a caucus need to unify around someone,” said Williams, R-Cookeville.

Williams has been a loyal vote on vouchers, the heartbeat bill, the slate of hate, gun permit-weakening, the voter registration criminalization bill, etc.

CAMERON “EVERYTHING IS SOCIALISM” SEXTON

In fairness that nickname above could apply to pretty much every TN GOP house member. We gave it to Sexton because of this diatribe about medicaid expansion being socialism posted on the TN GOP twitter account recently.

Sexton once unbelievably said “no one has died because they didn’t have access to health care” on the house floor — a claim disputed by medical experts.

Sexton doesn’t seem to realize Ronald Reagan expanded Medicaid 4 times, and like the rest of his caucus refuses to acknowledge that accepting the billions we’re rejecting each year would obviously help health care access and struggling rural hospitals in Tennessee.

That’s not socialism, it’s math.

From the Tennessean:

As the House Republican Caucus chairman, Sexton, R-Crossville, has avoided wading too deep into the Casada controversy, instead seeing his role as a referee for the GOP lawmakers to discuss the matter… Sexton confirmed Tuesday that several members of the caucus have encouraged him to considering running for speaker… “I’m mulling it,” he said. “But out of respect for the office, there’s been no (resignation) date given, it’s a little early to start trying to run for office or leadership position that’s no available yet.”

While Sexton has been a loyal vote on most things, it’s worth noting that he’s the only one in this group to vote against Bill Lee’s public school-harming vouchers.

CURTIS “NOT GLORIA” JOHNSON

We gave Curtis Johnson (R-Clarksville) that nickname because we don’t know much about him, and haven’t really heard from him this session. But maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe what this legislature needs right now is someone who is low profile and stays out of the limelight.

WORTH NOTING: Curtis Johnson was the FIRST of this group to call for Speaker Casada’s resignation.

Johnson was up against Casada in the caucus speaker’s race this past fall.

From the Tennessean:

At the November caucus vote where Casada was nominated, Johnson told his colleagues he would not be a speaker who would bring division and scandal.

“If you’re looking for a speaker who’s going to use this position as a stepping stone to the next position, I’m not the one,” Johnson said at the time.

Maybe they should’ve listened to him.

Special Prosecutor On Casada/Jones Case Says “Islam Is Evil”, And “No Constitutional Rights” Only Rights From The “One True God”

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In recent Facebook comments, Coffee County D.A. Craig Northcott, the man now overseeing the Glen Casada-Justin Jones case, expressed intensely Islamophobic views, and also added that “there are no constitutional rights” only “God-given rights protected by the constitution”, adding: “If you don’t believe in the one true God, there is nothing to protect” because “no one other than God has given us any rights.”

In February, civil rights activist Justin Jones was charged with assault and banned from the capitol for throwing a cup of iced tea into the elevator in which Speaker Casada was riding. Casada had been dodging a meeting with Jones to discuss the removal of the bust of the KKK’s first Grand Wizard from the state capitol.

In the wake of the incident, Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk issued a “no-contact order” to Jones, which prohibited him from contacting Casada. Days later, Jones received a revocation of his bond because of an email he had supposedly sent to Speaker Casada AFTER the no-contact order, on March 1, according to an email printout sent by Casada’s office to the D.A.

But Jones had done no such thing. We now know the email in question was actually sent BEFORE the no-contact order.

Was it a “computer glitch”? An I.T. issue, as the legislature’s I.T. department has said?

Or was it Speaker Casada’s office – who has been exposed as using deeply racist language in text messages – doctoring evidence to have Jones thrown in jail?

These are questions that need answering. It will not, however, be District Attorney Funk who answers them.

Funk has recused himself from handling the case, according to a spokesman with his office, because his office was the recipient of the email whose date of receipt has come into question, and therefore Funk believes his office’s role as a potential witness puts him in conflict.

Instead, Funk referred the case to the District Attorneys General Conference, an umbrella group that oversees all the judicial districts in the state of Tennessee, which has since assigned the case to the Coffee County District Attorney’s office.

Why Coffee County? According to someone at the District Attorneys General Conference office, that process involves ruling out districts that are too close or too far away, checking availability, and then choosing from the districts that remain.

Coffee County’s District Attorney is Craig Northcott.

Craig Northcott has made it very clear in a Facebook conversation with the chair of the Coffee County Young Republicans that he believes the ideology of Muslims to be “evil”.

Extended excerpts from the conversation between District Attorney Craig Northcott and Daniel Berry, chair of the Young Republicans, follow below, but here are a few direct quotes from Northcott:

“Their (Muslims) belief system is evil, violent, and against God’s Truth.”

“They are evil because they profess a commitment to an evil belief system… They are no less evil because they don’t act on their belief system if they refuse to disavow that system.”

“It is no different than being part of the KKK, Aryan Nation, etc. if you support those viewpoints, you are rightly and readily condemned in our society. However, it is now politically incorrect to take a stand against Islam that has the same core of hate.”

“standing firm in God’s Truth which directly opposed to Islam will always be at the center of my position.”

“to deny their religion teaches hate is a denial of the truth”

“There are no constitutional rights. There are God given rights protected by the constitution. If you don’t believe in the one true God, there is nothing to protect. No one other than God has given us any rights.”

To be clear, Justin Jones is not a Muslim. He is a Christian who attends Vanderbilt Divinity School.

Still, Northcott’s Islamophobic beliefs would seem to be a problem not only for his involvement in the Justin Jones case – since Jones is a civil rights advocate who fights for the rights of people of color, and minorities in general – but also for his ability to perform his duties as District Attorney in general.

What follows are excerpts from Northcott’s conversation on Facebook with Berry.

The original post is Berry’s, asking if it’s ever “acceptable” to stereotype an entire group:

After a lengthy back and forth between Berry and other Facebook users about whether or not stereotyping Muslims is OK – during which Berry takes the position that it is not – someone then chimes in with an image from www.TheReligionOfPeace.com which makes the claim that “nearly 35,000 deadly terror attacks have been carried out by Islamic Terrorists since 9/11”:

Berry responds that even if that were true, that would mean in infinitesimally small % of Muslims had committed those atrocities: “So let’s damn 1.8 Billion people because of the actions of (a few). That seems pretty logical to me.”

That’s when District Attorney Northcott jumps in.

Right off the bat Northcott says “Their belief system is evil, violent, and against God’s Truth… they are taught to commit many atrocities in the name of their ‘God’ including pedophilia, beating of their wives, female genital mutilation, and ‘honor’ killings… they are evil because they profess a commitment to an evil belief system.”

As for who the “They” are, Northcott indicates he doesn’t just mean those who kill, but Muslims in general: “They are no less evil because they don’t act on their belief system if they refuse to disavow that system. Romans 1:32 comes to mind in which we are taught that you are just as guilty before God if you give approval to those who engage in evil acts. It is no different than being part of the KKK, Aryan Nation, etc. if you support those viewpoints, you are rightly and readily condemned in our society. However, it is now politically incorrect to take a stand against Islam that has the same core of hate. I do not hate the individual but I will not be cowered into pretending that their belief system is legitimate or one of peace.”

Northcott goes on to point to “what is happening in Europe” as evidence.

Berry responds by pointing out that not all Muslims are the same, just as not all Christians are the same, and that the barbaric “customs” Northcott mentioned are only carried out by a few and not part of the religion millions upon millions of Muslims follow. He also addresses many other “misconceptions” in Northcott’s post.

Berry concedes there are dangerous sects of Islam, but that the vast majority are peaceful people. He then suggests they continue the conversation in person, and says anti-Islam ideas Northcott is describing will not be the position of the Young Republicans of Coffee County, because he and other members believe that “close-minded mentality” and “negativity” is why people won’t join.

Northcott does not agree: “Just because some claim to not hold to some of it doesn’t change the fact that it is the core of Islam. Just because some actual or professed Christians disavow God’s Truth on marriage doesn’t make it any less part of Christianity. Falling for political correctness or an individual’s take on Islam is dangerous.”

Berry then tries to impart to Northcott that at the very least vilifying Muslims shouldn’t be at the forefront of what Republicans do, because it doesn’t help the people of Coffee County and takes away from “actual issues” – but Northcott doesn’t go with him on with that.

Northcott: “If the Republican Party doesn’t stand for anything, it has no reason to exist. The whole purpose is so citizens can know what the core values of a candidate are if they run as a Republican. If that makes me closed minded, so be it. Frankly, I find that our community and country are crying out for people with principles and the courage to stand up for them.”

Berry then says he trusts Northcott and law enforcement to protect from Islamic extremism or hate crimes, to which Northcott responds he “will work for our community, but standing firm in God’s Truth which directly opposed to Islam will always be at the center of my position.”

Islamophobia isn’t just something he dabbles in, it’s “the center.”

Berry then goes on to explain that he’s not defending those who are violent or extreme, and again reiterates that not all Muslims are. He says he believes there are many misconceptions he’s trying to counter, and that he doesn’t believe “the best way to go about moving people away from Islam (if that is the goal) is to go around and label everyone as a terrorist threat. That pushes people away and isolates them further which in turn has the opposite of the intended effect.”

Northcott answers by telling Berry he finds it “extremely offensive that you chose Easter weekend to be an apologist for Islam,” and says the focus should be on Christ instead and the “historical facts” of Christ’s return, and that whoever believes them “is saved and will spend all eternity in Heaven with God.”

Berry asks D.A. Northcott “not to label him as an apologist simply because you disagree with or don’t understand my stance, to which Northcott decides to summarize it all and then he’s “moving on”.

To summarize, Northcott turns to bullet points.

#1 is that Berry saying Christians and Muslims worship the same God is “blasphemy”.

#2 is that he’s troubled Berry hasn’t cited any scripture, only the Koran.

But #3 is the kicker…

3) There are no constitutional rights. There are God given rights protected by the constitution. If you don’t believe in the one true God, there is nothing to protect. No one other than God has given us any rights.

Quite a statement from a District Attorney.

In bullet point #4 Northcott says if being D.A. means he has to stay silent on this, he doesn’t want his job: “I will not be silenced by implications that I am not and can not do my job correctly if I don’t agree with you. If I have to remain silent and not give a defense of the Gospel, I don’t want my job.”

He then says he’s “clearly” not required to stay silent because he has freedom of speech.

In #5 Northcott says “to deny their religion teaches hate is a denial of the truth” – then goes on to tell Berry where to find *better* info about Islam.

Did #3 concern you? It concerned Berry too.

Berry says, “I would argue #3 disqualified you from being D.A.”

Berry says Northcott represents “EVERY SINGLE PERSON” as an elected official regardless of their beliefs, “Not just Christians,” and says #3 concerns him greatly because he swore an oath to uphold the Constitution.

Northcott then elaborates on #3, adding that “Rights come from God”, and therefore “if there is no God there is nothing to protect”.

Berry says one of those rights is the freedom of religion and asks if Northcott defends that right regardless of which religion it is. Northcott responds by citing the Declaration of Independence and says the Founding Fathers asserted our “self-evident” rights come from God, and among them is the freedom of religion – even if it means not worshipping Him: “So, yes, freedom of religion comes from God even when that freedom results in rejecting him.”

Northcott says he does defend the right to freedom of religion, as long as nobody gets hurt, but again reminds Berry he thinks Islam = Hate: “No one including myself or the government can stop the mental attitude of hate.”

He then goes on to say Berry saying bullet point #3 disqualified him from office was said “without factual basis” and therefore “ends up just harming your (Berry’s) credibility.

Berry seems relieved Northcott does defend Freedom of Religion, and suggests Northcott’s bullet point #3 where he says “there are no Constitutional rights” was “easily misinterpreted” by anyone reading it.

Berry apologizes to Northcott, and elaborates on his views.

Northcott accepts his apology, and offers to come by and teach on the subject of the role of Christians in government (which does not seem to subscribe to the separation of church and state).

In summation, the man now in charge of Justin Jones case thinks Islam is”evil” and on par with the KKK, and that there’s no such thing as constitutional rights, only rights the one true God gave us that the constitution upholds. 

Northcott has also “liked” the page of Act! For Coffee County, the Coffee County chapter of Act for America, which the Southern Poverty Law Center designates as a hate group.

When contacted for comment by the Holler, Northcott responded:

“The laws protect everyone equally. I judge every situation based up on the facts and circumstances… you assess each individual as you find them, but the ideology is evil.”

While Berry told us:

“I was a little alarmed in the statement he made regarding that ‘all rights come from the one true God.’ Coming from a prosecutor, that’s a little alarming. I believe religion is separate from the law. When you become an elected official it’s ok to hang onto those beliefs but you have to separate those on some level.”

As for Northcott’s beliefs about Muslims, Berry says:

“I think he’s absolutely wrong in his beliefs. I understand his fear, but when I read those comments as a non-Muslim, they’re extremely offensive to me. If I were a Muslim, especially coming from a public official, I’d find that to be extremely offensive and not becoming of somebody in that position.”

Does Berry believe Justin Jones should be concerned about Northcott’s ability to oversee a case like this?

“I would be extremely concerned if I was an activist (like Jones) fighting for those rights and that was the person on my case, having read those comment. I would question his ability to be fair.”

If after reading all of this you agree that Justin Jones – and people of color, and Muslims in general – may have a hard time getting justice from a man who holds these beliefs, feel free to holler at District Attorney Northcott HERE.

SPEAKER CASADA, A TIMELINE: 2012-2019

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Timeline of Some of Tennessee Speaker of The House of Representatives Glen Casada’s Actions and Statements

FROM 2012-2019

Compiled by Tina Cahalan Jones

 

2003 

• Casada elected to TN House of Representative

2009

• Casada a plaintiff in failed “birther” lawsuit against President Obama

2012

• Jeremy Durham elected, Casada mentors him
• Josh Smith, owner of the Standard Club (popular with lawmakers) starts a PAC

2013

• Jeremy Durham involved in prescription drug fraud probe in Williamson Co; Glenn Funk involved as defense counsel
• Durham sent inappropriate, late-night texts to three women
• Lawmakers were using $3k donations from the Standard PAC to pay their $3k dues to the Standard

2014

• February 2014, Casada backed legislation cutting off welfare recipients who test positive for drugs, saying “If taxpayers are going to support you there are certain criteria you need to adhere to.”
• February 2014 in a text conversation Casada Chief Of Staff Cade Cothren discussed an intern’s attractive appearance. “I’m gonna keep hitting on her just to see what happens.”
• Durham had sex in his legislative office w/20-year-old college student
• Grand Jury could not come to a “true bill” decision on Durham and did not indict re drug charges
• Dec 2014 Durham narrowly elected House whip – specifically thanked Casada “for his vocal support”: Casada “This is a perfect role for Representative Durham“

2015 

• Cothren, while working as spokesman for House Republican Caucus – which Casada chaired – sends text saying “black people are idiots.” (CASADA: “If I received that, I don’t remember. If I had seen it, you would have seen another text coming from me saying ‘this has to stop’ because I know me. I know I would have responded that way if I had seen that text.”)
• Cothren texted: “just did a gram of cocaine in my office.” At 10:38 a.m. on a work day
• April 2015 Cothren via text solicited oral sex and nude photos from an intern. He also asked her whether she was wearing underwear and attempted to pivot the topic of a conversation to orgasms.
• May 2015 Durham engaged in illegal campaign finance transactions
• Summer 2015 Casada becomes aware of sexual harassment allegations against Durham but takes no action
• December 2015 Casada says he didn’t think the two allegations [drugs and sexual harassment] “should or do disqualify him [Durham] from leadership”; said he considered the drug abuse allegations were “case closed”; Cade Cothren involved in messaging

2016 

• About Jan 5, Casada and other GOP leadership staffer told of new sexual harassment allegations against Durham
• Jan 12 Republican Caucus met to decide whether to strip Durham of leadership position – debate got hung up in procedural wrangling and vote to proceed on discussion failed
• Jan 13 Republicans introduced a bill placing responsibility for legal fees on plaintiffs who lose sexual harassment claims against state and local gov’t employees – House Bill 1679
• Jan 24 Tennessean investigation found Durham acted inappropriately towards 22 women puts the pressure on Durham to resign
• Jan 24th Durham resigned from leadership position as House Majority Whip, Casada stood by him until the very end when he finally joined calls for his resignation saying “it was the mature thing to do” but not calling for ouster from House
• Jan 27 Durham left the Caucus voluntarily / Casada: “If the rumors about Durham are true then he needs to focus on his family and receiving the help that he needs.” – but no call for resignation from the legislature, as Speaker Harwell and other members of the GOP were doing
• Jan 28 Casada: “Have we not all heard rumors? . . .Not one of them had proof or evidence. . . “Says he informed the victims of the legislative sexual harassment policy . . . / confirmed he had heard of rumors for months – but evidently did nothing
• March 2 HB 1679 shift in economic burden to some victims of sexual harassment passed House, Casada and Durham voted “yes”; effective June 1
• Early April state attorney general issued a report midway through his investigation about Durham calling him a “continuing risk” to women; then speaker Harwell, the Governor, and other GOP leaders again called for his resignation from the legislature / Casada did not join them
• April 21 Despite not joining calls for Durham’s resignation, Casada did sign onto a letter calling for the firing of a high-ranking GOP official b/c his wife was working as a consultant challenging GOP incumbents
• May 2016 Cothren sent text message to Casada, but he did not respond- “I have many miles and many girls to go before I sleep”
• May 2016 despite Durham no longer being in the caucus and being under severe scrutiny Casada attended a fundraiser for him in Franklin
• Casada said because Durham has denied the allegations he is willing to support him, “If there is direct evidence refuting his words to me, that would change everything.”
• Campaign Finance Allegations. June 2016 Allegations re Durham campaign finance problems come to light – Casada says “if true” Durham should resign but distinguishes between them and the sexual harassment allegations saying, “This [the campaign finance allegations] is empirical, this is measurable, it’s is his own words indicting him where the harassment charges were he said this and she said this” 
• Casada admits he didn’t lose faith in Durham until the allegations turned financial: “When you invest a lot in somebody you hope against hope that maybe it was incorrect and I knew it wasn’t. At that point I knew it was over.”
• His financials showed that Durham paid Michael Lofti’s consulting firm $51,000 (while he was Andy Holt’s Legislative Aide – $9k was later refunded) and paid Andy Holt $500 for “office supplies”
• July 2016 House committee re Durham’s sexual harassment – recommended leaving it up to the voters
• July 2016 Attorney General report about Durham – recommended expulsion – Casada: “[Durham] lied to me” – continued to prior knowledge of Durham’s behavior, called Durham’s behavior “an isolated incident”
• July 2016 Cothren texted a picture of a female friend pole dancing to Casada. / Casada responded, “Nice pics.” / Cothren: “Hands to yourself :)”/ Casada: “Can I just touch?” / Cothren: “Lol okay maybe just once.”/ Casada: “Lol.”
• Late July 2016 – Casada tries to tie a vote on expelling Durham to a vote on expelling a Democratic lawmaker who was facing charges for tax evasion
• August – Cothren texted Casada about a sexual encounter he had with a woman, “Just so y’all know, I did f—k (woman) in the bathroom at party fowl . . . Will send pictures later,” / Casada’s responded: “Only gone for 60 seconds,” adding, “R u a minute man???;) / Cothren – “Yes, I take after you. Like father like son,” / Casada – “Lolol! If I’m happy, then all is good!!!!!” 
• August 4 Primary Election held – Durham lost to Sam Whitson
• Aug 16 Lofti fired for political activity
• Beth Harwell said his political consulting was “in conflict with his service in the legislature.”
• During that year (by September), Cothren promoted to press secretary for the Tennessee House Republican Caucus.
• September Federal Election officials investigating Durham
• September 13 Durham expelled
• Sometime in the year 2016 (as all the above was happening)
• Casada re: Cothren ”Those girls aren’t safe!!! Shepard? He’s the wolf!!!” 
• Text exchange between Casada and Cothren in which Cothren responded with a “black people” meme – Casada did not rebuke him and claims he never received the text
• Cothren made sexual advances toward a female lobbyist about how he would like to sleep with older women.

 

2017

• February 7 Rep Lovell engaged in sexual harassment
o In the wake of Durham, the House Ethics Committee and other legislators swing quickly into action – reporting him and investigating
o House GOP Caucus Chair Williams questioned Lovell and told him if the allegations were true he should resign, and he does ultimately resign
o By contrast, Majority Leader Casada “chatted with him on the House floor or at a legislative reception that evening. Casada said he did not ask Lovell to resign or even discuss the allegations. Instead they made small talk.”
• March 2017 Casada tried to amend a bill introduced by David Byrd (increasing per diem payment for Reps) in such a way that it would reverse previous policy to allow reimbursement for legislators’ hotels even if they lived nearby; protestors brought him sleeping bags; some claimed it was because he was going through a divorce and had no place to stay
• Early April 2017 – the Tennessean reported re membership in the Standard Club owned by Josh Smith, re the Standard’s PAC being used to fund activities, food, etc for lawmakers including Casada
o Since 2013, lawmakers were paying their $3k membership dues to the Standard after receiving $3k donations from the Standard’s PAC [possible impermissible gift]
o Casada commented: “I can’t speak on specifics, but I contend that’s just coincidental.”
• May 2017 – Casada objected to an honorary resolution for Kay West (music journalist) b/c she once worked as a receptionist at Penthouse – a magazine which he said “has a tendency to make women, uh, objects”
• June 2017 complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission targets Rep. Kelsey but also alleges that Casada “violated federal campaign finance laws.”
o Casada: “It is not uncommon for allies to support each other in their political endeavors.” He called the claims “absurd.”
• July 2017 Casada’s name floated for Speaker position
• Early October Casada met with the FBI regarding Durham
o Casada said the agents asked him if he knew anything about Durham receiving any favors or money in exchange for sponsoring legislation. “I said I do not know anything about that.” He was specifically questioned about any “quid pro quo.”

 

2018

• Feb 2018 For the first time since he was elected in 2002, Casada faced a challenger in the GOP Primary – African American woman Rae Shawn Sanchez
• Feb 2018 One of Byrd’s accusers secretly recorded a conversation with him.
o Byrd: “I wish I had a do-over, because I promise you I would have corrected that and that would’ve never happened. . . .I’ve lived with that …You don’t know how hard it has been for me.” 
• March 5 “The Tennessee House Republican Caucus recalled a resolution … after its resolution Monday after it unwittingly voted to honor” an African American female activist. “The House, following time-worn tradition, unanimously voted for and co-sponsored the resolution. . . apparently without giving the resolutions a close read. Then Monday, Majority Leader Glen Casada successful motioned to recall the resolution for a revote . . . Repeating claims Casada made [Cade] Cothren [spokesman for the House Republicans] said caucus members objected to language in the resolution supportive of Black Lives Matter . . . “and references to the activist’s opposition to the Confederate monument in Memphis. “Cothren also repeated Casada’s controversial claim that some BLM activists had called for the ‘murder’ of police officers. ‘It had nothing to do with racism whatsoever.’ 
• March 27 story breaks that 3 women accused Byrd of assault in WSMV report
o Byrd didn’t deny, said he couldn’t recall
o Speaker Harwell and other GOP leaders immediately called for his resignation 
o Casada said he would reserve his opinion until he could talk to Byrd personally; he was “disappointed by the representative’s statement”; “I just want to look him in the eye, man to man.”
• April 4 Casada statement
o Intended to “follow up” with Byrd
o Would not join call for resignation (b/c allegations were related to activities outside of the legislature)
o “The David Byrd I know is not the David Byrd being described in these allegations. However, they are serious claims and these women have a right to be heard. David Byrd also has that same right for his side of the story.” “Voters will have opportunity to decide.”
• April 18 – Casada’s primary opponent disqualified at the 11th hour by the state GOP party officials
• June 5 – Casada confirms plans to get actively involved in open GOP primary contests throughout the state – clearly a ploy to garner votes for the Speaker job
o Using his CAS-PAC he planned to hire 13 staffers and offer assistance to GOP candidates; making contributions budgeted to total $208k
o Another article stated that he used 12 “team captains” – other legislators – to help him garner votes for the Speaker job
• July – Casada’s CAS-PAC sent out mailers attacking one Republican candidate in a primary race against another Republican in District 73 (Jackson-Madison Co)
o According to the person benefitting from the attack he did not condone nor solicit the mailers
o The attacked candidate believed he was targeted b/c (if elected) he was likely to vote for Casada’s opponent in Speaker race
• Sept 12 Casada announced run for Speaker
• Sept 2018 CAS PAC issued attack ads discrediting Byrd’s accusers, including a video that likened Byrd to President Donald Trump and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, saying the men had been attacked by “unhinged liberals.”  Michael Lofti worked on the ads; Lofti also as part of his job for CAS-PAC ran Facebook page, the Alliance for Tennessee Families, that was working to get Rep. David Byrd re-elected.
o Lotfi has pushed back, arguing that the Facebook ad’s reference to the accusers’ “lies” was generic language that was also used in other races. “The ad you referenced absolutely makes no mention of the women who accused Byrd, and never intended to.” Women involved in opposing Byrd, however, say that – in the context of his race and given the targeting of his district – the implication was clear.
• November – Casada and Byrd handily re-elected in home districts
• November 20 Casada elected Speaker
o Several freshman lawmakers who he had helped get elected backed his nomination
o Said at press conference he would not help lawmakers get re-elected if they were involved in “some kind of criminal activity.”
o Casada disputed rumors that he planned to clean house among employees at the Legislature

 

2019 

• About Jan 8- Casada’s budget for the legislature grows dramatically, including $6m for “legislative operations” plus more funds for new personnel costs
o The Legislative Administration Office has confirmed:
▪ that the House Speaker, Lieutenant Governor and the Senate and House Chief Clerks are now able to listen to and watch the rooms where committee meetings are occurring. 
▪ A white noise system was installed in the ceilings of the hallways inside and outside Casada’s office. 
▪ Cothren (Casada’s chief of staff) received a $130k raise – making him higher paid than the Governor’s chief of staff and most of the State’s Department Commissioners
• Potentially bundled in these personnel costs are the hiring of Michael Lofti for $48k/year – his Financial disclosures show that in 2018 his consulting firm Red Ivory Strategies was paid $123,300 from CAS-PAC
• Recall: part of his job for CAS-PAC in 2018 was running a Facebook page working to get Rep. David Byrd re-elected and discrediting his accusers; also, in August 2016, then Speaker Harwell fired Lofti from working for the House b/c she felt his political consulting was “in conflict with his service in the legislature.”
• Also possibly part of these increased costs – Rep. Faison (R ) alleges the hiring of 50% morelegislative analysts this year who were “researching what was being said” inside hallways of the legislature.
• “at least two research analysts brought on this year have developed reputations among some members as hired busybodies tasked with keeping tabs on House members — particularly Republicans — and reporting information back to Cothren and Casada.”
•  

 

• January 10 Casada appointed Rep Byrd to chair Education subcommittee despite abuse allegations – “It is an accusation, but we cannot make actions on accusations.”
o “This happened long ago, so it’s not within the House of Representative’s purview” 
• Feb 19 Casada said, in a video, referring to Byrd accusers, that if he had been raped he would have moved. “I don’t think they’re lying. I think they’re believing something that’s not true.” Casada was asked twice in the video if he knows what exactly Byrd was apologizing for, and both times he said he does not know. 
o Casada issued a statement on Feb 20thattempting to clarify that he had meant re: the rape comment – “you should absolutely move to hold those involved fully accountable”
o Also, in video Casada said re: the victims — “They came into my office and spoke, . .[I] “listened to the victims.” – which was not true.
o In response to being corrected on this point Cothren said: “Once again the media is letting a liberal political activist drive their agenda instead of sticking to the facts. Speaker Casada has talked to and met with dozens of Tennesseans who have expressed their view on this matter over the last several months.” Cothren said he was “not aware of him (Casada) meeting with these specific women.” Asked if Casada lied about meeting with Byrd’s accusers, Cothren said, “No. He was referring to the many, many people he has talked to about this.” 
• Feb 20 reporter escorted out of Casada’s office by State Troopers after seeking comment on Byrd allegations –  at Casada’s order
• Feb 21 Justin Jones, an African American activist, is lied to by Cothren regarding Jones’ attempts to get a meeting with Casada  https://youtu.be/mnJkGm6_TG8
• Feb 23 Casada’s handling of the Byrd matter comes under sharp criticism
• Feb 24 Casada wrote an op–Ed in The Tennessean: “Integrity and consistency matter with sexual misconduct allegations” – he falsely claimed that an “anonymous website” had been the source of a false claim by the Tennessean that he said that rape victims should “just move”
o He also accurately said (but not in the way he meant): “I’ve seen first hand how political operatives . . . will readily, happily and irresponsibly betray actual victims of sexual misconduct as a means to an end to achieve their agenda.”
• Feb 25 Jones emails Casada seeking an appointment to talk 
• Late Feb – a cup was thrown onto Casada’s elevator — activist Justin Jones was arrested for assault/released on bond – ordered to have no contact w/ Casada
• Feb 26 3 women accusing Byrd push back on Casada’s claim that he met with them to discuss allegations
• Feb 26 demonstrators removed from Byrd’s hearing room at Casada’s order
o Cothren said they were removed b/c they were “disrupting the legislative process”
o Trooper said they were directed to do so because they were making some “uncomfortable”
o Gov. Lee responds with statement that all voices should be heard
• Feb 28 Microphones of 2 lawmakers shut off when they attempted to question Casada from the floor re Byrd protestors.  
• March 3 Spokesman for House GOP threatened to end press conference b/c reporters were asking Casada questions about sexual misconduct rather than his legislative agenda
o Casada said: Your 1st Amendment rights “end at your nose.”
• March 3 Cothren forwards (altered?) email from Jones to Funk claiming it is evidence of unauthorized contact
o Same day, the DA’s office responds to Cothren questioning the date discrepancy 
• March 4 Glenn Funk filed a motion to revoke Jones’ bond
• March 5 Cothren asked to “hold off” on filing motion – too late / Casada said he “know nothing of that — nothing“
• March 20 Gov. Lee meets w/one of the Byrd accusers– she thinks “he believed her”
o The next day Lee says he is “processing” and weighing his options
• House Ethics Committee members ask Casada to remove Byrd from chairmanship
• March 29 Casada asks Byrd to step down from Chairmanship b/c he had become a “distraction” – not due to allegations that had come to light a year previous
o “Following discussions with members of the House and after careful consideration, I have formally asked Representative Byrd to step down from his position as Chairman of the House Education Administration Subcommittee. Representative Byrd agrees that this is the best path forward in ensuring the House of Representatives can focus on the issues that truly matter to all Tennesseans. This decision is based on input from members and to continue the orderly operations of the House. I thank Representative Byrd for agreeing to serve in this position, and I am confident this body will be even stronger moving forward,” 
• May 2 End of session press conference – Casada claims “there’s something not right about that story”, claiming it was “fake news”
• May 5 (Sunday) NewsChannel 5 informed Casada and Cothren that they had photos and videos from Cothren’s texts
• May 5 – In a secretly recorded phone call, Casada accused a former associate of being the source of racist text messages sent by Cothren. “What’s happened is there’s accusations that Cade has sent some inflammatory text messages. . . You haven’t released any personal text messages Cade would have sent you, have you? . . . It sounds like you might have…. I hate that you did that.”
• May 6 Early Monday morning – Cothren confronted with past drug use and racist and sexist texts; admitted he sent “some” of the texts
o “Regarding the texts in question, I readily admit that I sent some of them,” Cothren said in a joint statement with Casada.
o Later in the day Cothren said he “couldn’t remember” if he sent them
• May 6 Casada appears on Phil Valentine radio show
o Valentine: “The text messages – You’ve seen those. Are they real?”
o Casada (despite knowing about the texts and their source) says this: “You know, I asked my chief of staff point blank: ‘Did you do this?’ He said, ‘Glen, you know me. You know my character’… Phil, I’ve worked with him for 10 years. I have never heard him make a derogatory, racist, or bigoted statement. … I am convinced in this environment that we live in, because we as conservatives are winning the intellectual battle, I’m convinced some liberal guy living with his mom and dad in their basement created this to frame my chief of staff… I can’t prove it, but it’s the only thing that makes sense. .. .  I’m convinced this is a hatchet job by liberal activists.”
• May 6 newscast, NewsChannel 5 releases second batch of lewd texts, this time implicating Casada
• May 6 about 7 pm Cothren resigned 
• May 7 Tuesday morning Casada appoints Scott Gilmer as new Chief of Staff
o Gilmer had been former Speaker Harwell’s chief of staff and Casada had kept him on in a different capacity, where he earned slightly less than Cothren
o However, Gilmer and Casada’s relationship comes with some baggage – In 2009, when he was Casada’s aide, Gilmer entered a no contest plea to a misdemeanor charge for creating a fake political website and impersonating a Democratic lawmaker; Gilmer had been paid by Casada and another GOP lawmaker to provide consulting work around the same time the fake website was created. A restraining order was filed against Gilmer to have the website taken down. A House Ethics complaint was filed against Casada for his implications with Gilmer but that committee passed on hearing the complaint saying they “weren’t the right body”.
• May 7 Casada appeared on WWTN FM radio
o defended his lewd exchanges saying it was “locker room talk” that does not reflect his current views about women; no longer claiming texts were false
o “I’m embarrassed about that. In the last couple of years, I have come to realize … I can’t do thisand it is not appropriate behavior. So, yes, I participated in locker room talk with two adult men that was not intended to go to anyone else, and I was wrong. In the last several years, that kind of talk has not entered and left my mouth.”
o As for the racist text message sent to him, Casada said: “If I received that, I don’t remember . . .If I had seen it, you would have seen another text coming from me saying ‘this has to stop’ because I know me. I know I would have responded that way if I had seen that text.”
• May 7 – Black Caucus members call on TBI to investigate Speaker Casada’s office, Cothren involvement in Jones e-mail
o Nashville DA Glenn Funk asked the state DA’s conference to appoint a special prosecutor, and the TBI said it will be working with that agency to figure out its next move.
• May 7, late in the day, the Tennessean reported that Casada 
o Placed a white noise machine system inside and outside his legislative office,
o allowed Cothren to eavesdrop on committee rooms, and
o caused enough concern among some lawmakers to have at least three to have or plan to have their offices checked for recording devices.
▪ Casada responded re: the bugging “These accusations are untrue and inaccurate.” Later he said, “The notion that my office would bug someone else’s office is laughable and patently false.”
• May 8, Wednesday – Calls for resignation begin
o Phil Valentine calls for Casada’s resignation based on his lies
▪ “I don’t appreciate the fact that he came on my show and lied to everybody out there . . . I can’t believe that he hasn’t resigned already. I think it’s time to go, time to move on.”
o Jeremy Faison (R) from East TN forcefully calls for him to step down from speaker position
o State House, Speaker Pro Tem Bill Dunn, echoed Faison’s call.
o State Rep Bob Freeman (D), Rep Sam Whitson, etc
• May 8 Dems call for federal probe into eavesdropping
• May 8 House GOP Caucus Conference call
o  
o afternoon Casada apologized and released an “Action Plan”
• May 9 – Thursday – the FBI opens an investigation in the controversial voucher plan vote
o Specifically looking at whether campaign contributions were traded for votes
• May 9  afternoon Rep. Jason Zachary R said on Twitter he has formally requested that his caucus meet – wants to “discuss the direction moving forward in your House of Representatives”; said Rep. Sexton had already written the letter
o Tennessee Firearms Assoc replies to Tweet calling for Casada’s removal
• May 9 evening – Governor Lee weighs in – if Casada worked for him, he would ask him to resign
• May 10 Friday – Craig Northcutt, the DA for Coffee County, appointed special prosecutor to investigate email 
• May 10 Reports surface that Casada had hired Michael Lofti to work for him, with apparently no real duties

 

 

Casada Talks To Phil Valentine, Defends Racist Staffer, Calls Out Phil Williams

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Speaker Glen Casada recently went on Phil Valentine’s radio show on 99.7 to address the recent situation(s) with his racist chief of staff. It was the longest Casada has spoken about the issues, so we figured we’d break down what he said here…

They started by talking about the dust-up at the legislature on the final day, where Democrats were kept off of key committees then locked inside the house by Casada when they attempted to leave in protest during a recess.

Valentine asks:

“Let’s start with this whole notion Democrats were locked inside the house floor, is there any truth to that?”

He seems to expect Casada to say “nope, no truth at all”. Casada does not:

“They were elected to serve the people, and to vote. State law is very clear that if you’re not there in the chamber the speaker has the authority to come get you by state trooper… if they had left the building I was going to have state troopers come get ’em.”

In other words, yes, he did that.

Valentine then recalibrates, calling it “routine”. Casada agrees, saying the law is if you’re going to be a state legislator “you cannot leave with no cause” and “We’re not going to forcefully hold someone in a room. But we were reminding them of their duties.”

Welcome to Glen Casada’s Tennessee.

Anyway, moving on… next Valentine brings up Speaker Casada’s $200,000 chief of staff Cade Cothren’s text messages, which call Tampa Bay QB Jameis Winson a “thug nig*er” and says “black people are idiots”, among other things.

Here are some screen shots from Channel 5’s Phil Williams, who broke the story:

Valentine:

“The text messages – You’ve seen those. Are they real?”

Casada:

“You know, I asked my chief of staff point blank: ‘Did you do this?’ He said, ‘Glen, you know me. You know my character… Phil, I’ve worked with him for 10 years. I have never heard him make a derogatory, racist, or bigoted statement.”

Well, if you asked him and he said “no” Glen, that should be good enough for anyone!

This seems like a good time to point out that we uncovered Cade’s Venmo account which also has racist *digital blackface* emojis, as well as some blatant homophobia:

Also, Cade Cothren has now deleted all of his social media accounts. Not quite the actions of an innocent man.

Casada then turns to the issue of whether or not his office falsified evidence by changing the date on an email to frame civil rights activist Justin Jones and get him thrown in jail for violating a no-contact order, as Channel 5 reported.

To Recap: Jones sent an email to Casada’s office on February 25th. Casada’s office says they received it March 1st, which would violate a no-contact order put on Jones by the D.A.’s office in the wake of an assault charge for throwing iced tea at the speaker, who was avoiding meeting with Jones about removing the bust of the first KKK Grand Wizard sitting in the capitol.

Casada’s Chief of Staff had previously lied to Jones, telling him he was misspelling the word “capitol” in his emails, when he wasn’t.

Upon receipt of the email with the March 1st date from Casada’s office, D.A. Glenn Funk’s office filed a motion to have Jones thrown in jail, before eventually circling back to Casada’s office about the date discrepancy and dropping the motion.

Here’s the latest explanation for what happened, from I.T. at the legislature – which says the email was held by them before releasing it days later.

But forgive us for remaining skeptical, since we’ve heard from state reps who say they’ve received pornography from outside the legislature without it being caught up in the system.

Questions remain:

Why would a REPLY from someone Cothren was already emailing with get caught up in the system?

And would the date on a “quarantined” email say when it hit the Speaker’s office, or when it initially hit the system? (We’ve heard from many IT people who say the latter)

And why would these messages from Phil Williams, which contain no inflammatory content, not have made it through to Casada’s office?

All due respect to the I.T. department at the legislature, we’re going to need to hear from someone who doesn’t work for Speaker Casada about all of this.

D.A. Glenn Funk’s office needs to investigate.

We’ve asked Funk’s office what the scope of the special prosecutor’s investigation is – are they looking into all of this? Or are they just looking into the actions of Justin Jones?

So far we haven’t heard back.

The racists texts from Casada’s Chief of Staff are one thing, but if his office was intentionally falsifying evidence to get a man thrown in jail, that’s something that must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Back to the interview, Casada then tried to use the technical defense of the date discrepancy to turn the tables on Channel 5’s Phil Williams, essentially saying that if the falsification of evidence story was explainable, that then calls the racist text messages part of the story into question:

“Here’s what we know about this Phil Williams story – the emails he alleged that we doctored is false, and our I.T. department has contacted Channel 5 and said here’s the timeline, here’s the evidence that it went into Casada’s office on March 1st… they still allege we tampered with it. The evidence shows we didn’t. If Channel 5 is willing to run a story they know isn’t true – or at a minimum, misleading – could the rest of the story be false? Did someone feed Phil Williams false text messages that were not real?”

See what Casada’s doing there? He’s using a maybe plausible explanation for the email date discrepancy to then cast aspersions on the veracity of the racists texts from his Chief of Staff Cade Cothren – and, in turn, Phil Williams of Channel 5.

Here’s the problem though: As you can see above, Cothren wasn’t responding to Phil Williams when he was asking for an explanation. He also didn’t respond when Williams showed up with a camera, and neither did Casada, whose only answer was “I know nothing, about that.”

Then, hours later, they had their story straight.

So to act like Williams didn’t give them every opportunity to explain themselves is simply disingenuous.

As for the veracity of the texts – again, this is something that is easily proven or disproven by whoever has the texts. But knowing what we know about Cothren’s Venmo account (see above), it’s hard to believe they aren’t real.

And in the background of all of this is the fact that this started because the speaker refuses to move the bust of the KKK’s first Grand Wizard, and that the speaker supported and promoted admitted child sex abuser Rep. David Byrd – while lying about the easily disprovable fact that he had met with Byrd’s victims, when he had not.

You can see why anyone who’s paying attention would have trouble taking Casada’s word for anything these days.

Casada then goes on to tell Phil Valentine he has “full faith and confidence” that his chief of staff is not a racist:

“I am convinced in this environment that we live in, because we as conservatives are winning the intellectual battle, I’m convinced some liberal guy living with his mom and dad in their basement created this to frame my chief of staff… I can’t prove it, but it’s the only thing that makes sense.”

No, Glen – your chief of staff being a racist also makes a lot of sense.

Also, racism and forgery are not partisan issues. Casada would like to politicize this, but Every Tennessean who isn’t a racist should be deeply concerned if Casada’s #1 guy is using the N word and calling black people “idiots”, and his office framing people.

The callback to President Trump’s “guy living in a basement” excuse is cute, but let’s not forget Trump used that to say Russia was NOT hacking and tampering with our election, which we now know from Mueller they WERE.

May want to choose a better example next time, Glen.

Valentine then asks Casada what he’ll do if he *finds out* the text messages are real (reminder: he knows they are, so take this with a grain of salt).

Casada:

“There is no room for anybody at the state capitol to be bigoted or a racist or a hatemongerer. So no matter who it is they would be either resigned or let go. But that’s how much confidence I have in my chief of staff that he did not do this.”

He’s on record: If they’re real, Cade’s gone.

Valentine asks Casada if he’ll require Cothren to turn over his phone. Casada says it’s his personal phone so he can’t compel him to turn it over:

“That would be a bar we ask no one else to comply with… he in front of me typed in key words to see if it would pop up on his phone, and it did not.”

As we all know, all you need to do is delete the text conversation for the words to disappear, so this is a really bad excuse. Hiring Mobile Phone Forensic Experts to properly analyze the phone and recover any deleted texts would be the best way of investigating these rumors.

Casada then goes on to poke the hornets nest that is Phil Williams:

“Phil Williams gets sued for slander about every other day. So this is not the first time he’s run that kind of story… he knew it wasn’t true, and they still ran the story.”

It is true that Phil Williams has had a run-in with a defamation lawyer more than once, but in a truth-off between Glen Casada and Williams, we’ll ride with Williams 10 times out of 10.

We’re not sure going at Williams like this is in the Speaker’s best interest, but time will tell. In the meantime we’ll have our DVR set for Channel 5 at 6pm for the foreseeable future.

Casada also added:

“When we found out the next day, we opened it up and read it, and in the body of the email from Justin Jones it did say February 25, we contacted the D.A.’s office and we said look we said this but we don’t know why it says February 25th… our I.T. Department can 100% say it didn’t go into my inbox until March 1st.”

It’s unclear who initiated the dialogue about the date discrepancy. Some emails seem to show it was actually the D.A.’s office who caught it, not Casada’s office. Also, “the next day” is an interesting phrase to use, since the motion to revoke Jones’ bond was filed on March 4th.

Casada then closes by saying:

“I’ve done a little research. These messages can be created and made to look authentic. That’s why I’m convinced this is a hatchet job by liberal activists.”

Again, Cothren has deleted all social media. He was racist and homophobic on Venmo. He lied to Justin Jones about misspelling “capitol” in emails, and Casada himself lied about meeting with Rep. Byrd’s victims.

Casada has repeatedly shown us his relationship with the truth is distant. Regardless of party, everyone should be concerned about what it says about Tennessee’s speaker of the house that he’s so willing to support admitted child sex offenders and blatant racists.

Valentine then asks about Cothren’s $200,000 a year salary, and asks Casada to commit to lowering it to something more reasonable, but Casada refuses:

“What he does is invaluable.. it’s a very high stress job. The better people are paid well. When you do that you don’t get someone who’s top-notch.”

Let’s remember that Cothren was working for Casada for $60,000 just last year. And “Better People” don’t use the N Word and say “black people are idiots”.

District Attorney Funk, if you’re listening, please investigate the actions of the Speaker’s office. Tennessee deserves to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he isn’t harboring racists who are willing to falsify evidence to have a man thrown in jail. And they need to hear it from someone other than his own I.T. department.

If you think Cade Cothren needs to be fired, holler at Speaker Casada here: [email protected]

If you think District Attorney Funk needs to investigate all of the above, holler at him here: [email protected]

Gov. Lee Gets Vouchers Help From Porn-Addict Who Made Wife Watch Sex With Prostitutes

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This post was first seen on the TN Ed Report. Make sure you follow @TNEdReport to stay updated on Education in Tennessee.

We’ve already seen Bill Lee and his team of school privatizers use desperate measures in order to win votes for their “educational savings account” voucher scheme, but the latest effort reaches a new low. Team Lee turned to conservative mega-donor Lee Beaman (who gave Lee’s gubernatorial campaign $8000 in 2018) to pen an article in defense of school vouchers.

While the opposition to school vouchers includes resolutions from 44 school boards around the state, groups of parents, teachers, charitable foundations, civil rights groups, and even a former Senate sponsor of voucher legislation, the support appears to come from a small group of big money backers.

The public face chosen for this group? A guy with a porn addiction who taped himself having sex with prostitutes in order to teach his wife how to better please him. You might say he’s certainly a fan of choice.

Beaman and Lee have been working together for years to bring school privatization to Tennessee. Both Bill Lee and Lee Beaman have been consistent supporters of the Tennessee affiliate of Betsy DeVos’s American Federation for Children, a group that works to undermine public education and advance school vouchers.

It’s no surprise, then, that after bringing Betsy DeVos to Nashville, Bill Lee would turn to his other voucher buddy, Lee Beaman, to advance his privatization agenda.

In fact, as I wrote in December, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Bill Lee is taking our state down this dangerous road:

Even though as early as 2016, Bill Lee was extolling the virtues of school voucher schemes and even though he’s a long-time supporter of Betsy DeVos’s pro-voucher Tennessee Federation for Children and even though he has appointed not one, but two voucher vultures to high level posts in his Administration, it is somehow treated as “news” that Bill Lee plans to move forward with a voucher scheme agenda in 2019.

Now, we’ve got Lee Beaman as the face and voice of vouchers ahead of a week when the privatization scheme known as ESAs will face key votes in the House and Senate.

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport

BREAKING: Casada Removes Byrd as Education Sub-Committee Chair

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Sometimes, people do the right things for the wrong reasons.

At 10:30 a.m., the Tennessean broke the news Tennessee Speaker of the House Glen Casada had removed Rep. David Byrd as chair of the House Education Subcommittee.

Byrd, of course, is the former girls basketball coach accused by several of his former high school players of sexually assaulting them – some in exchange for court time – in the 1980s. In a taped conversation with Christi Rice, one of the victims, Byrd apologized to her saying he “prays every week” about what he did to her, although he doesn’t give specifics on what he asks forgiveness for.

For months, supporters of Rice and other women involved have been asking Casada to remove Byrd as chair of the committee: It’s a clear slap in the face of education supporters to appoint an accused sexual predator to chair an education committee, but Casada maintained in a taped face-to-face interview with former congressional candidate and Holler editor Justin Kanew: “(Byrd) will do a good job.”


However, today’s removal of Byrd comes one day after the former educator voted against one of Casada and right-wing Governor Bill Lee’s pet projects: Education vouchers.

So, did Casada strip Byrd of his duties because a) the pressure from victim advocates got to him, b) the father of daughters and grandfather of girls finally saw the problem with having a molester as chair of a committee, or c) he wanted retribution for Byrd’s vote?

Casada hasn’t said, but sometimes people do the right thing for the wrong reasons.

Emily Tseffos, leader of Enough is Enough -Tennessee, had this to say:

“This is a good first step but it’s not enough. This campaign will continue until David Byrd is no longer in public office.”

Casada strips Byrd of chairmanship

This is a developing story.

VIDEO: Rep. Faison’s “Facts” Flub – On Guns & the Bahamian Death Penalty

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This week Rep. Jeremy Faison made an inaccurate statement in his defense of HB 1264, a bill that would would create a new concealed handgun carry permit process that requires no fee and only a 2 hour online training, meaning people would be able to get permits and carry guns nearly everywhere without ever firing one.

Here’s our previous video of highlights from the hearing, in case you missed it.

The bill is being carried by Rep. Andy Holt. It passed the House Judiciary Committee easily, despite the fact that even Speaker Casada’s own polling shows 93 percent of Tennessee voters – including 93 percent of Republicans, 94 percent of Democrats, 88 percent of gun owners and 89 percent of current permit holders – support the state’s current permit requirement for carrying a handgun in public.

For some context: Tennessee is already the 11th worst state when it comes to gun deaths. 6 of the 10 that are worse have laws that make guns easier to get and carry everywhere. In 2017, Tennessee led the entire nation in shootings involving children with access to unsecured, negligently stored firearms.

Studies have repeatedly shown states with stricter gun laws have fewer gun deaths, but some refuse to accept that and cite exceptions to the rule – like Chicago, or in Faison’s case the Bahamas – to “prove” that the correlation is not causation.

At the hearing Rep. Jeremy Faison – who thankfully seems to be recovering well after his recent accident – decided to go with the Bahamas as his example, saying:

“The places where the highest amount of crimes where a gun was used in America… those were in places that we have some of the most strict, draconian, anti-constitutional laws. So somehow this notion that if we pass what y’all call ‘common sense gun laws’ – which don’t exist – that crime’s just gonna go away… ask the Bahamians how that works. In the Bahamas you can get the death penalty for having a gun, and they have major gun crime every day. So I just want to encourage you when you’re trying to use that as an argument – you might want to research your own facts.”

Here’s the video:

Ok Jeremy, let’s “research the facts”.

Faison is simply wrong that “you can get the death penalty for having a gun in the Bahamas”. From the Bahamian Firearms Act:

Any person who purchases, acquires or has in his possession, uses or carries a gun without a licence therefor shall be liable —

  1. (a)  on conviction on information, to imprisonment for a term of ten years and to a fine of ten thousand dollars;
  2. (b)  on summary conviction before a Stipendiary and Circuit Magistrate, to imprisonment for a term of five years and to a fine of ten thousand dollars

There’s more to it, and the years have since been amended, but absolutely nothing in their laws that says “you can get the death penalty for having a gun.”

As one lawyer in the Bahamas told us:

“I have not heard of anyone being subject to a penalty of death upon being convicted of possessing a firearm in the Bahamas. Those convicted are often given a custodial sentence or made to pay a fine at the discretion of the court.”

Another Bahamian resident:

“Frankly, I don’t think you’ll get the death penalty for anything in the Bahamas. The Privy Council has effectively abolished the death penalty.”

Turns out the last execution in the Bahamas was in the year 2000, and as of August 2012 only one man was under the sentence of death – and he killed a police officer.

So that’s a big ol’ whiff from Jeremy there.

Where Faison has an inkling of a point is that the Bahamas does have restrictive gun laws and yet still high gun violence rates, but pointing to that as proof that in general stricter gun laws don’t work is no more valid than it would be to say that one country with much stricter gun laws has almost no gun violence proves they DO work.

Say Japan, for instance.

Again, studies of the issue in general have shown repeatedly there is a relationship between gun laws and the amount of guns, and gun deaths.

This is a complicated problem with many factors playing a part. The Bahamas and some other impoverished countries do have higher gun violence rats, but when it comes to the richest countries in the world, the United States is simply off the charts regarding gun deaths and gun ownership:

 

The Key Word is “Rich”.

The element that often gets left out of the gun violence conversation is the societal factor that has the highest correlation with gun violence is far and away poverty and wealth inequality.

The World Bank has a study that found:

“violent crime rates decrease when economic growth improves… faster poverty reduction leads to a decline in national crime rates.”

As Mark Kaplan professor of Social Welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs put it:

“There is a strong correlation between homicide per million and income inequality… countries that are most equal have the lowest rates of gun-related homicides.”

Here’s a good conversation about it.

So yes, the Bahamas and Chicago have high murder rates. They also have high poverty rates.

When poverty and inequality are rampant in certain countries/neighborhoods, and people are in dire straits and desperate, bad things happen – particularly when guns are extremely accessible within the vicinity. (Chicago has states with lax gun laws right next door, and the Bahamas has the United States nearby)

This doesn’t mean gun safety laws don’t work. On balance the numbers are clear: They do.

What it does mean is if we’re serious about addressing gun violence in our communities, making them cheaper and even easier to get in already dangerous states is not the answer. Instead, we should be focusing on gun safety legislation and policies that address inequality and poverty:

…Raising our $7.25 an hour minimum wage to a livable one…expanding medicaid… subsidizing daycare for low income families… lowering health care costs and drug prices… tax reform that actually helps regular Americans (rather than corporations and the wealthy)… criminal justice reform…

Programs that put more money directly in people’s pockets, makes their lives better, and takes them out of desperate situations will save lives when it comes to gun violence.

In summation: The Bahamas doesn’t tell us gun laws don’t work. The Bahamas reminds us gun violence is a poverty/inequality problem as much as anything else.

And with all due respect to Rep. Faison, maybe next time you should “research your facts” before saying things that aren’t true on a legislative committee, especially one that’s helping to create a more dangerous environment for our children.

Letting people carry in public without ever firing one is like doing away with Driver’s License tests. If you agree, holler at Rep. Faison HERE.

(P.S. – Gun safety laws and the 2nd Amendment are not incompatible. Ask Justice Scalia.)

 

Heartbeat Bill Van Huss “Can’t Find Evil” In Coach Raping/Impregnating Teenage Girl

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Yesterday at a Health Committee hearing Rep. Micah Van Huss (R) once again presented his “Heartbeat Bill” – HB 0077 – and reiterated that the bill, which outlaws abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, often around 6 weeks, does not provide exceptions for rape and incest.

Critics note that many women don’t know they’re pregnant until after 6 weeks, particularly in the case of an unplanned pregnancy, and that the committee is almost entirely male.

Van Huss made headlines last week with his responses to questions from Rep. Vincent Dixie (D), saying that incest is “either consensual or rape” implying that incest should not be included in the abortion exemption conversation, and that rape was a “sin” of both the father and mother that the “baby” should not pay for.

At today’s hearing Dixie and Van Huss again went toe to toe, and again Van Huss gave an answer that elicited gasps from the audience when Dixie presented a detailed scenario in which a high school basketball player was raped by her coach, impregnated, and forced to carry his baby to term.

Dixie asked Van Huss if he can find the evil in that scenario, to which Van Huss replied:

“I cannot. Because the evil I find is what you left out. I don’t believe it’s right to rip an innocent baby limb from limb.”

Watch the video here:

HB 0077 does not provide exceptions for rape and incest. It forces a woman to carry her rapist’s baby to term, and would make it a Class C felony for a doctor to perform an abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected.

The bill passed 15-4 along party lines, with only 3 women voting. It will now be voted on by the legislature.

The bill has been called “constitutionally suspect” by the committee attorney and the attorney general has also questioned its constitutionality, which means costly legal battles are ahead which the taxpayers of Tennessee would be on the hook for.

Time to holler at your reps loud and clear.

‘CAPITOL’ OFFENSE: Casada Chief of Staff Fibbed About Emails Before Clash

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At the capitol on Thursday, Speaker Glen Casada had a run-in with a group of young engaged and active citizens who have become regulars in the halls of the Tennessee legislature expressing their disgust with the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest, the first Grand Wizard of the KKK, which is still featured prominently in the lobby.


The group had been trying to schedule a meeting with Casada for weeks. In emails obtained by The Holler, Justin Jones, one of the leaders, emails Casada and his chief of staff Cade Cothren with reporters copied on the email asking to schedule 20 minutes for the group to come in and plead their case for why the bust should be removed:

After repeated attempts to communicate, Cothren finally responds to an email saying “it looks like we can get you in during the first week of March”:

Jones then immediately responds affirming that date works, and asking for Casada’s position on the bust so they can be prepared when they get there:

A few days go by with silence from Cothren, so Jones replies again:

Two days later, on Thursday, the group showed up in the lobby to talk to Cothren in person. The video can be seen below, in which Cothren asks to see Jones’ phone, then tells Jones he had the spelling of “capitol” wrong in his emails and makes the claim that that’s why he hasn’t responded.

As you can see in the emails above, that simply is not the case.

The claim is even more preposterous considering Jones was responding to an email Cothren had already sent.

In the video, Jones then sees Casada coming down the stairs and asks him directly for a meeting, to which Casada replies “we’re meeting!” before pushing Jones, who had slid in front of Casada’s path, aside.

Troopers then forcibly removed Jones from the door Casada disappeared behind as Jones shouted through it.

Nobody was hurt, and things immediately calmed down as Jones and fellow protestors, including Jeneisha Harris, talked to the troopers, who assured them they were there to protect everyone.

As they talk to the trooper Rep. David Byrd can be seen walking by, which Jones points out might be something they should be more concerned with considering he has apologized on tape for sexual misconduct with high school players he coached, as CNN pointed out yesterday.

Casada can be seen in one of our previous videos about that topic lying on tape about meeting with those victims also. Anyone else sensing a theme here?

If you are, holler at Casada HERE to tell him and his office to stick to the truth, meet with the protestors, pull down the bust, and get rid of Rep. David Byrd, the admitted sex offender Casada promoted to chair of an education subcommittee.

UPDATE: Rep. Byrd’s Accusers Say They Never Met With Speaker Casada

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Yesterday we posted a video, picked up by the Tennessean, News Channel 5, Slate, and the Huffington Post, where former congressional candidate Justin Kanew confronted Tennessee Speaker of the House Glen Casada about his support for Rep. David Byrd – who has admitted on tape to sexually assaulting players he coached at Wayne County High School.


Former Speaker Beth Harwell asked Byrd to step down. Speaker Casada instead ran attack ads against the victims, then promoted Byrd to chair of the education subcommittee when he was re-elected with 78% of the vote.

In the video, Kanew asks Casada if he has heard the victims’ side of the story. Casada says that he has, and that in fact he met with the victims:

“They came into my office and spoke.”

Turns out that’s news to the victims.

Christi Rice, who has been the most outspoken of the three women who have leveled the allegations at Byrd, responded to Kanew’s video on twitter saying:

Meanwhile Robbie Cain said in a message to Christi Rice obtained by The Holler that she had no idea who Casada was:

The 3rd victim has remained anonymous apart from the initial WSMV interview. Christi Rice is in contact with her and says she is “absolutely” sure she has not spoken with Speaker Casada:

The Holler has reached out to Casada’s office for comment, and so far has not heard back. We will update the story if we do.

So not only did Casada attack the victims, he also didn’t even take the time to talk to them to hear their stories- then lied about whether or not he did.

There’s nothing defensible about any of this. Since posting the original video the Holler has heard from countless women of all political stripes who have stories like this of their own.

Meanwhile a reliable source has told us they saw Channel 4’s Jeremy Finley and a crew being escorted from the building by security, after going down to Casada’s office to ask around about Byrd. And we also heard CNN is down there knocking on Byrd’s door.

If you agree we don’t need an admitted sex offender in the state legislature chairing the education subcommittee, holler at Casada and Byrd, and lend your support to Enough is Enough.