While the FBI made a big splash raiding the homes and offices of three state lawmakers on the eve of the legislative session, The Tennessee Journal has learned that initial flurry of activity didn’t mark the end of federal agents’ probes within the Cordell Hull Building.
Lawmakers who hired Republican Reps. Glen Casada of Franklin and Robin Smith of Hixson to design and mail constituent correspondence or campaign materials have been quietly interviewed by investigators over the course of the legislative session that concluded Wednesday. Reps. Casada, Smith, and newly elected Rep. Todd Warner (R-Chapel Hill) were subjected to searches in January, along with current and former aides.
Rep. Jason Zachary told colleagues on the House floor he had been visited by agents as recently as this week. The Knoxville Republican spent $4,408 in the third quarter with Phoenix Solutions, the New Mexico based political vendor believed to be at the center of the FBI investigation. House members have said Rep. Smith was a major promoter of the mysterious outfit that went from no presence in the state to capturing $231,144 worth of business from Republicans last year. Reps. Smith and Casada have declined to say whether they hold ownership stakes in Phoenix Solutions.
House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) has said he became aware of the FBI investigation after he took over the speakership from Rep. Casada in August 2019. Speaker Sexton this session spearheaded legislation to ban lawmakers from obtaining services contracts from the state, a move designed to end legislators’ consulting firms being paid with taxpayer money to organize constituent correspondence for their colleagues. The measure was cosponsored by Senate Speaker Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge), who likened the practice to “money laundering.” The bill passed the House 82-0, with Reps. Casada, Smith, and Warner declining to cast votes.
Phoenix Solutions received $28,500 to send out constituent surveys on behalf of members, Rep. Smith’s Rivers Edge Alliance was paid $11,000, and Rep. Casada’s now shuttered Right Way Consulting billed for $12,500 in work. Rep. Smith’s attorney has suggested Speaker Sexton adviser Chip Saltsman somehow inspired the raids. Rep. Smith and Mr. Saltsman are both former state Republican Party chairs who later branched out into political consulting.
WTVF-TV reported earlier this year that Rep. Casada had told colleagues the FBI had asked him about his role in the controversial passage of Governor Bill Lee’s signature school voucher legislation in 2019.
One of Rep. Casada’s most vocal critics when he was speaker was then-Rep. Rick Tillis of Lewisburg, whom Rep. Warner defeated in the August 2020 primary. The Registry of Election Finance voted last month to conduct an audit on the $75,500 Tillis disclosed spending on another previously unheard-of vendor called Dixieland Strategies of Rainbow City, Ala. Rep. Warner told a reporter he couldn’t remember whom he dealt with at the company, though his attorney told the Registry checks will show the money was made out directly to the outfit.
Questions had been raised about Dixieland after it sent out mailers with the same Chattanooga postal permit code as Phoenix Solutions and a political action committee called Faith Freedom Family Fund. An unrelated vendor has said he was told to bill work for both the PAC and Phoenix Solutions by Rep. Casada’s former chief of staff, Cade Cothren, another subject of the raids.
The FBI probe’s shadow loomed over the House for the entire legislative session. Lawmakers are now waiting for the other shoe to drop with a round of indictments. But for the moment, no one is the wiser about what — if anything — will come of the investigation.