Former state Rep. Patsy Hazlewood, testifying about former fellow legislator Robin Smith, told a Nashville jury on Thursday, "I think she was incredibly dishonest. I don't like the fact that I was misled."
Ms. Hazlewood, along with current state Rep. Esther Helton-Haynes, testified for the government in the case in which former House Speaker Glen Casada and his former top aide, Cade Cothren, are standing trial on federal criminal charges.
Ms. Smith earlier pleaded guilty to a single charge of dishonest services and is due to be the star witness for the government.
Prosecutors said Ms. Smith hatched a plan in which she and Casada would get payments for lining up legislators for a service that provided constituent mailers. It was noted that legislators get $3,000 each for such services.
The government said Cothren and Casada were out of favor at the time after a "scandal" involving allegedly salacious and racist emails so it was decided to set up a company (Phoenix Solutions) operated by a fake person (Matthew Phoenix) - actually run by Cothren.
Ms. Hazlewood said Ms. Smith, a former Hamilton County and Tennessee Republican Party chairman, approached her about doing a mailer. Ms. Hazlewood said Ms. Smith told her it would be provided by an individual who had lived in Northeast Tennessee, but who had moved with his partner to Santa Fe, New Mexico for a lifestyle change.
She said Ms. Smith had worked with Phoenix before and "vouched for his work."
Ms. Smith said she had met Matthew Phoenix at Turning Point USA (a conservative group working with young people), it was stated.
Ms. Hazlewood, asked if she had gone along with the mailer if she knew that Cothren was actually doing the work, said definitely not. She cited "the scandal," which she said involved "very graphic things." She said, "I had two young grandchildren at the time."
She stated, "I had no faith or trust in his integrity. I had no interest in working with him."
Ms. Hazlewood said, "I trusted Robin pretty implicitly."
She said, "She (Ms. Smith) told me lies about who they were (Phoenix). She told me that Matthew Phoenix was a real person. That was a total fabrication."
Ms. Hazlewood said looking back she is not sure that all the mailers that she paid for were delivered. She said always when she did a mailer a number of them would come back as undeliverable. On this one, she said she does not remember any undeliverables.
Cost for the mailers was $3,275.40 for the front and back color mailers. Ms. Hazlewood said she was able to cover the cost because she had some accrued funds from prior years in her mailer account.
The witness said the mailer situation "reflects on me personally as well as the Legislature itself."
Rep. Helton-Haynes said she had initially been introduced to Robin Smith by her now husband (Assessor of Property Marty Haynes). She said Ms. Smith ran her legislative campaign in 2018.
She said Ms. Smith spoke to her about a mailer and she gave the go-ahead. She said she assumed it was being done through Ms. Smith's River Edge Alliance consulting firm.
Rep. Jay Reedy testified that he was approached by Nick Crawford, who was associated with the Phoenix firm, and he agreed to do a mailer. He said he only learned when approached by the FBI that Cade Cothren was involved in the production.
He said, "I couldn't believe it. In my mind, that was a very corrupt way of doing business."
Rep. Reedy said he is a cattle farmer and also has a locksmith company, but he makes it a point not to do business with the government.
He said Cothren "has a very abrasive reputation."
Of Casada, he said the former House speaker had helped him win a campaign. Later, he said, "I started to have my doubts about him."
Defense attorneys, in their questioning, focused on the fact that legislators were generally happy with the mailers from Phoenix and had no complaints.