Roy Exum
Sam Venable is a longtime pal of mine, ever since we worked together at the old News-Free Press many years ago. He left us to become an award-winning columnist in his hometown at the Knoxville News-Sentinel. He’s always had a good “nose for news” and with his incredible ability as a storyteller, the cold case the Hamilton County District attorney solved and brought to light last month was of special delight for Sam. If memory serves right, Sam covered the sensational downfall of Gov.
Ray Blanton.
Neal Pinkston’s find was enthralling to Sam because it held several gems that only if we had known 42 years ago, Blanton would have served a lot more jail time than the 22 months he was in prison for mail fraud, conspiracy, and extortion for selling liquor licenses.
In 2012, the website RealClearPolitics named Blanton one of the ten most corrupt politicians of all time. He died of liver failure at age 66 in 1996 after serving as the state’s governor from 1975 until 1979, when he was succeeded by Lamar Alexander.
Hollywood did a movie on the scandal, entitled “Marie,” for whistleblower Marie Ragghianti, chairwoman of the state's Board of Pardons and Paroles, who Blanton fired when she refused to release prisoners who, as was later determined, had bribed state officials in exchange for obtaining pardons. “Marie” was played by Sissy Spacek and Morgan Freeman played Charles Traughber, who was the chairman of the Parole Board under Blanton. (Ragghianti later sued and won a $38,000 judgment against the state).
In yesterday’s Knoxville News-Sentinel, Venable’s column was a good one:
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‘BETTER LATE THAN NEVER DOESN’T FEEL RIGHT IN THIS CASE’
By Sam Venable
(NOTE: This column appeared in the Sunday, July 18, 2021, edition of the Knoxville News-Sentinel.)
You may have missed it, but an event of historical significance occurred last month in Chattanooga.
After re-studying a 42-year-old murder, investigators in Hamilton County now believe they’ve finally put pieces of the puzzle together. And did they ever come up with a blockbuster.
It involves the corrupt administration of Tennessee Gov. Ray Blanton during the mid-to-late 1970s.
For those just tuning in, the slime oozing out of Nashville back then was the stuff of legend. Hollywood eventually made a movie out of the fiasco — “Marie,” named after Marie Ragghianti, the insider who blew the whistle on her dishonest boss.
We’re talking cash bribes for liquor licenses and clemency for prisoners. A state paving contract with his family’s business. The sale of surplus state vehicles to political cronies.
And as impossible as it seems in today’s fiercely partisan political climate, consider what happened toward the end of Hizzoner’s first term: Worried there was no limit to Blanton’s shenanigans, leaders of his own Democrat party engineered a plan to usher him out of office three days early and inaugurate a freshly elected Republican, Lamar Alexander.
(Principle above party; what a concept! Too bad Alexander didn’t do the same decades later.)
Fast forward to a press conference on June 9, 2021, when authorities claimed they have linked Blanton’s administration to a contract murder.
In 1979, Chattanooga businessman Samuel Pettyjohn was shot, execution-style, shortly after testifying to a federal grand jury about the “cash-for-clemency” scandal. (The informer Pettyjohn was working undercover for the FBI.)
Based on what they’ve uncovered, investigators say the hit was carried out by Ed Alley, a convicted felon. His fee, estimated to be $25,000-$50,000, was paid by a third party on behalf of the Blanton administration.
All of this was explained by Hamilton County District Attorney Neal Pinkston. “I’m very sure. I’m proof positive,” he told The Associated Press when asked about his confidence in the findings.
Don’t expect any arrests, however. Everyone directly involved in the crime is dead and has been for some time. Mike Mathis, supervisor of the department’s cold case unit, said the only upshot is a “legal closing.”
That, and a dollar, will buy you a large coffee at McDonald’s.
“If only we’d known at the time” is the standard lament for this kind of revelation.
Families want answers.
Cops want answers.
The courts want answers.
History wants answers.
It’s interesting to wonder, 42 years down the pike, “if only we’d known at the time” is being lamented about the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
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Believe me, this was a heck of a discovery. Yet some want to know if Pinkston’s wife is paid by the state or the county? Please …
royexum@aol.com