(C) Tennessee Lookout
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Stockard on the Stump: Give me something to sit on, man! • Tennessee Lookout [1]
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Date: 2025-05-02
It’s not exactly the trial of the century (or the crime of the century, for that matter). But it’s good enough for folks around here.
They tell me that more corruption takes place at the Cordell Hull Building on a daily basis than in the entire Phoenix Solutions “scam” to tap into lawmakers’ constituent mailer business in early 2020.
In fact, Thursday’s federal courtroom crowd thinned out noticeably. But earlier in the week, when people still had feeling in their butt bones, a handful of interested lawmakers showed up, such as Republican Rep. Todd Warner and Democratic Reps. Gloria Johnson, Shaundelle Brooks, Gabby Salinas and Justin Jones. (The reference to rear end pain stems from sitting for hours on the wooden courtroom pews.)
Other Republicans such as Rep. Jay Reedy and Patsy Hazlewood were compelled — by subpoena — to testify about how they let the secretive company do their constituent mailers, not knowing that the ex-chief of staff for former House Speaker Glen Casada was running the company. Hazlewood and Reedy both said they wouldn’t have let Phoenix Solutions get their business if they’d known Cade Cothren was behind the set-up. He left the post following a racist and sexist texting scandal just four months before Casada vacated the leadership job in 2019 following a no-confidence vote by the House Republican Caucus.
Cade Cothren’s always been straight up to me. He’s done fantastic work. I’d put him up against the best in the state. – Rep. Todd Warner, R-Chapel Hill
Warner, a Chapel Hill Republican, was the only lawmaker to show up in support of Cothren. His home was raided the same day feds visited Cothren, Casada and Smith in 2021, but he hasn’t been indicted and said this week he hasn’t used his printing and postage account for constituent mailers, instead tapping into the $3,000 yearly allowance only to buy items such as flags for schools.
Warner acknowledged Cothren has done consulting work for him, added. “He does very good work,” something the defense is trying to push.
Asked if he has any reservations about continuing to use Cothren, who is believed to be connected to Dixieland Strategies, as well as Phoenix Solutions, Warner said, “We’ll see how it plays out. He hasn’t been found guilty yet. Cade Cothren’s always been straight up to me. He’s done fantastic work. I’d put him up against the best in the state.”
Warner defeated incumbent Rep. Rick Tillis in 2020 while using Dixieland Strategies. Tillis, whose brother is U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis from North Carolina, was an online critic of Casada during his short tenure as House speaker. Someone urinated on Tillis’ office chair in 2019 just to add a little spice to the situation.
In contrast, Johnson wasn’t nearly as kind to the defendants when she spoke with the Lookout during a break in the trial.
“What we’re talking about is what folks are doing up in Cordell Hull and up in the Capitol, and the corruption that we see,” Johnson said.
Smith testified Monday that almost as soon as she arrived in Nashville after winning election and replacing former House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick she met with Casada and Cothren about finding a way to make money, Johnson pointed out.
“And then she starts talking about … we went for the state mail accounts because it was low-hanging fruit,” Johnson said. “So she said her colleagues were low-hanging fruit and those state taxpayer dollars were low-hanging fruit for them.”
“I’m sitting there working on legislation. They’re working on how they can make money off the state, and that’s disgusting to me,” Johnson said.
Questions are being raised by the defense and on-lookers about the minuscule amount of money involved in the case, about $52,000. But while lawyers argued this week over whether evidence could be admitted dealing with efforts to win Republican Caucus and campaign business – which they did – it was likely only the beginning, that is until they got caught.
“Just another brick in the wall”
Defense attorneys for Cothren subpoenaed just about everyone but the late pope to testify.
They also served a subpoena on Smith’s Chattanooga attorney, Ben Rose, on Wednesday (not for his flashy suits) for allegedly trying to communicate with Smith while she was on the stand.
It happened when defense attorney Cynthia Sherwood asked Smith to tell her about discussions she had with Rose this week after trial was recessed. Everyone in the court burst out laughing, knowing talk between attorneys and clients is privileged information.
During a back-and-forth between Sherwood and Smith that got a little tense, the defense attorney asked her if she was communicating with her attorney from the stand. Smith responded by saying she couldn’t see his head in the back of the courtroom.
Still, Sherwood — after co-counsel Joy Longnecker whispered in her ear — said she might try to have that attorney-client privilege waived.
Sources tell the Lookout that they tried to serve a subpoena Wednesday on Rose in the courtroom but then asked him to return it because they needed to make a copy. This hasn’t been confirmed.
Rose tried to have the subpoena quashed Thursday, and his co-counsel, David Bridgers, told Judge Eli Richardson they felt the defense was making a “deliberate attempt” to confuse Smith on the stand.
“We wish the government had objected sooner,” Bridgers said, adding they felt “defenseless.” “All we were doing was saying ‘object’ and to no one in particular other than ourselves.”
Richardson deferred the matter. But the Lookout believes everyone can agree it’s little wonder the trio in question couldn’t keep Phoenix Solutions a secret because Smith can’t stop talking, even when the judge says answer only “yes or no.”
How long can we take it?
First, people wanted to know if this trial would start as rescheduled on April 22 after a multitude of delays. Indictments were made in August 2022.
Now, everyone wants to know when it will end. One of the jurors asked to be excused because she couldn’t afford to miss four weeks of pay. That sent shock waves through the courtroom.
After the first couple of days, it seemed that four weeks was a major underestimation, especially since Judge Richardson had to keep calling the attorneys to the bench for a sidebar every 15 minutes, once because the defense objected to the prosecution asking a witness to describe House “leadership,” not whether they’re good or bad, which we already know, but who they are.
Another major delay broke out in an argument over whether the prosecution could admit evidence dealing with Republican Caucus and campaign work done by Phoenix. Richardson said he hadn’t seen such a ruckus in his 27 years in federal court. Clearly, he’s never covered the Tennessee House chamber where fights, riots and name-calling are as common as sarcasm in the press box.
Anyway, we’re predicting this ain’t over by a long shot.
“It’s been such a long time / I think I should be going / And time doesn’t wait for me / It keeps on rollin’.” *
* “Long Time,” Boston
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