While roughly half of the country is bemoaning the end of American democracy, Tennessee’s Republican leaders are delighted to see the axe fall on anything President Donald Trump and his billionaire friend Elon Musk despise. Who cares about congressional approval?
Gov. Bill Lee recently touted the work of the Department of Government Efficiency by Musk, the world’s richest man, in eliminating millions in spending just by giving a thumbs down. Legislative Republicans are falling in line too, saying massive reductions, even by an unelected person, are perfectly fine, since Trump approves.
How easily they give up.
“People can take him to court if they want,” said Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton of President Donald Trump’s executive orders. (Photo: John Partpilo/Tennessee Lookout)
Dozens of lawsuits have been filed to roll back the Musk-Trump slashing, which affects everything from United States Aid for International Development programs designed to display American compassion to Medicaid and nuclear facility oversight, as well as the president’s executive orders redefining birthright citizenship and foreign aid freezes affecting agriculture and solar power programs for low-income folks.
“I don’t think it’s illegal at all,” House Speaker Cameron Sexton said Thursday. “The president has the capability of making the determination on cutting personnel and doing other things. People can take him to court if they want to.”
With national debt at $36.2 trillion and the deficit at $1.8 trillion annually, Americans want the federal government to get a hold of itself, Sexton said. He added people elected Trump to do exactly what he’s doing.
“I applaud him for it,” the Crossville Republican said.
Interestingly, congressional Republicans gathered at Trump’s Doral golf complex in Florida this week to figure out how they were going to cut Medicaid. The poor babies.
Democratic lawmakers in Congress also called for the Internal Revenue Service, which is undergoing its own personnel cuts, to answer questions about Musk’s access to tax information as filing season arrives. Labor unions and former and current government employees have filed numerous lawsuits to stop Musk from eliminating agencies.
But Sexton said he hopes Democrats continue to oppose the Musk-Trump team because he believes the American people will side with Trump, based on polling.
House Majority Leader William Lamberth of Portland is just as enthusiastic, saying the state already has its own version of DOGE, the “TOGE,” since Tennessee is required to balance its budget. (Some have said the legislature should do nothing but pass a budget and go home.)
Any elected official who supports these purposeful blows to our local economies and harm to working families should reconsider their priorities.
– Rep. John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville
Rep. John Ray Clemmons of Nashville said Thursday that Democrats favor “trimming fat” but that hacking away at “vital” government programs affects a host of items such as Social Security and veterans benefits, delays in federal tax returns, nuclear jobs at Oak Ridge, medical research, tourism around the Great Smoky Mountains and more.
“Any elected official who supports these purposeful blows to our local economies and harm to working families should reconsider their priorities,” Clemmons said. “Our loyalty should be to Tennessee families, not our political party or radicals promoting the inherently flawed theory of the ‘Unitary Executive.’”
With that in mind, the question is not whether the federal government should cut spending but whether those reductions should go through Congress, which is allegedly made up of elected representatives.
Of course, if Congress capitulates to Musk-Trump, it won’t matter anymore.
All those people who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 could move in and set up tents since the president pardoned or commuted their sentences. They wouldn’t have to fight the Capitol police again, because they would be invited, and no one would die as they did in 2021 — a tell-tale sign of late-stage democracy if ever there was one.
Saving farms?
Talk about needing a “TOGE,” Lee wants to spend $25 million to pay farmers for conservation easements designed to stop development from encroaching on farm land.
The bill, which is sponsored by Lamberth and Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson of Franklin, passed the Senate Energy, Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee this week after dying there last year. They had to install Sen. Shane Reeves of Murfreesboro as chairman after the bill stalled last year because of concerns raised by Sen. Steve Southerland.
Former state Rep. Andy Holt, a Dresden Republican now an assistant commissioner with the Department of Agriculture, tried to smooth everything over, but according to hallway talk, which is sometimes accurate at Cordell Hull, the more Holt opened his mouth, the shakier the support grew.
At least one person called the measure “vouchers for Williamson County farm owners.” That would include the governor, who owns a cattle farm there, though he needs no subsidy unless traveling to Florida to speak to ultra-conservative groups.
The measure passed 5-4, squeaking its way to the Senate finance committee. Voting yes were Chairman Reeves and Sens. Bobby Harshbarger, Adam Lowe, Jessie Seal and Page Walley, all Republicans. Voting no were Republican Sens. Janice Bowling and Mark Pody and Democrats Heidi Campbell and Charlane Oliver.
“So long, farewell”
U.S. District Court Waverly Crenshaw turned down former Sen. Brian Kelsey’s last-gasp request to avoid prison on a federal campaign finance fraud conviction and Kelsey is set to report to federal prison in Kentucky on Monday. Kelsey pleaded guilty to masterminding a scheme to run more than $100,000 from his state campaign account through two political action committees to the American Conservative Union, which bought advertising to support his failed 2016 congressional campaign.
Kelsey, a former Germantown Republican, reneged on the plea in 2023 and asked the judge to let him go to trial because what he did wasn’t a crime. He claimed he didn’t understand the law although he is an attorney who chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee. Kelsey also said his decision was clouded by the birth of twin sons who made it hard to sleep and the illness of his father, who later died. But to tell a judge you don’t understand the law when some of the best attorneys in Middle Tennessee represented you, is a stretch — at best.
Heading to the hoosegow: Former Sen. Brian Kelsey is due to report to federal prison on Monday. (Photo: John Partipilo)
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up Kelsey’s case, and the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered him to start serving a 20-month sentence.
Crenshaw chastised Kelsey to some extent in his latest ruling, which pointed out the former lawmaker committed perjury by saying he didn’t do the things he earlier admitted he did. Kelsey also claimed insufficient counsel and prosecutorial misconduct by the U.S. Department of Justice.
“The Court will give Kelsey the benefit of the doubt and assume he merely misread the Court’s statements at sentencing, but it sees no reason to address this argument any further. What matters is that, at bottom, Kelsey has not demonstrated any exceptional circumstances here that deserve special treatment in the interests of justice,” Crenshaw’s ruling said.
It appears Kelsey is out of straws. And for what? To make a miscalculated effort to win a seat in “the swamp”? He finished far out of first, and if he’d accepted the sentence in 2023, he might have served his time by now
“I believe it’s time for me to fly”
Kelsey’s co-conspirator, Josh Smith, pleaded guilty in the campaign finance scheme and cooperated with federal prosecutors, accepting probation and a $250,000 fine.
Smith, proprietor of The Standard, an upscale restaurant club where they cut the deal and exchanged a check, has paid his fine and completed more than 151 hours of community service, according to a recent court filing.
Next stop? Mexico, Italy, Africa and the Caribbean.
Since he’s complied with his sentence but remains on probation, Smith asked the court for permission to get a passport to travel to Mexico, his wife’s home country, from Feb. 28 to March 8 for his birthday and to see extended family.
Owner of the Standard Club Joshua Smith, left, leaves federal court with attorney Philip Georges on Oct. 19, 2022. (Photo: John Partipilo)
After that trip south of the border, Smith wants permission to travel to Irsina, Italy in April and September where he’s building a home. He needs time to inspect work and finish the job, which is understandable. (Making steaks at The Standard must pay pretty well.)
In addition to those excursions, he wants permission to go on an African safari. And, of course, his family is planning an annual holiday cruise to the Caribbean in late November and early December 2025, according to the document.
His attorney told the judge the probation office has been notified and doesn’t object.
With all due respect to Judge Crenshaw, I say: Let him go. He never lied to the court — as far as we know.
In perpetuity
One of the most critical pieces of legislation Tennessee lawmakers will take up this session is headed Monday for the House Naming and Designating Committee, a panel created by former House Speaker Glen Casada to pay back lawmakers who put him in that vaunted seat — albeit for only seven months.
You might be asking: What is this important bill? You might also be telling yourself, “This is not my beautiful house” and “This is not my beautiful wife.” How did I get here?
Anyway, Rep. Gino “Bathroom Bill” Bulso and Sen. Paul Rose are backing HB346, which will name the desk of House chamber seat 60 as the “Legislative Desk of Representative John J. Deberry Jr.” and directs the clerk to design and install a plaque on the desk recognizing it as Deberry’s desk forever.
Readers might remember Deberry as a Memphis Democrat who was bounced by the Tennessee Democratic Party from its ranks after he voted for Gov. Lee’s first voucher bill in 2019, then followed up with a vote to ban abortions. He ran as an independent but was soundly defeated, then took a job as Lee’s senior advisor, which pays $227,364, plus a $5,000 bonus, possibly for his efforts in passing the governor’s private-school voucher bill this year.
Whether Deberry should have been kicked out of the party is debatable. But one thing that can’t be argued is that he took the golden parachute.
Incidentally, Bulso chairs the Naming and Designating Committee, so look for this little tid-bit to pass.
“There is water at the bottom of the ocean.” *
* Talking Heads, “Once in a Lifetime”
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Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com.
SUMMARY: Desmond Mills Jr., a former Memphis officer who pleaded guilty, testified during the trial of Tadarrius Bean and others charged in Tyre Nichols’ 2023 death. Nichols was beaten after fleeing a traffic stop; footage showed officers laughing while Nichols struggled. Mills admitted hitting Nichols out of anger after accidentally pepper-spraying himself and regretted failing to stop the beating. Nichols died three days later from blunt force trauma. Defense argued Nichols resisted arrest, while prosecutors said officers were “overcome by the moment” and failed to intervene. The trial, moved from Memphis due to publicity, addresses charges including second-degree murder amid scrutiny of MPD’s conduct.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Kim Jarrett | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-30 12:15:00
(The Center Square) – Democrats and Republicans from three states are supporting a 287-mile trail that would include Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina.
The lawmakers are asking for a feasibility study on the Benton MacKaye National Scenic Trail. U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn., said Wednesday the trail deserves a national scenic designation.
“The Benton MacKaye Trail is an invaluable part of my district in East Tennessee that thousands of Tennesseans and Americans hike each year, and the trail connects some of the most beautiful and pristine parts of Tennessee with Georgia and North Carolina,” Fleischmann said.
The trail that winds through the Southern Appalachian Mountains was completed in 2005, according to Bob Cowdrick, president of the Benton MacKaye Trail Association, which has supported its development since 1980, according to the bill.
“This study would help protect our storied outdoor heritage for future generations, support local economies, and provide a wide array of recreation opportunities for everyone from day hikers to thru-hikers and solo trekkers to families,” Cowdrick said.
The trail’s path is made up of 95% of federal land. It passes through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Chattahoochee-Oconee, Cherokee and Nantahala National Forests. It begins at North Georgia’s Springer Mountain and ends at North Carolina’s Mount Sterling, according to the Benton MacKaye Trail Association.
The bill is cosponsored in the House by Democrats Steve Cohen of Tennessee and Lucy McBath of Georgia. Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., is also a cosponsor. Republican North Carolina Sens. Thom Tillis and Ted Budd are cosponsoring it in the Senate with Rep. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga. The bill is currently in the House Natural Resources Committee.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
The article reports on bipartisan support for a feasibility study on the Benton MacKaye National Scenic Trail, without advocating for a particular ideological stance. The language used is factual and neutral, primarily focusing on the collaboration between Democrats and Republicans from three states. The article does not show a clear bias in favor of one political party or the other. It simply highlights the specifics of the bill, its sponsors, and the potential benefits of the trail, such as supporting local economies and outdoor recreation. Therefore, it adheres to neutral, factual reporting without promoting a specific viewpoint.
The trio charged in a Tennessee political corruption case shared text messages in early 2020 complaining about the state’s failure to pay a mysterious vendor for work on lawmakers’ constituent mailers, at one point cursing the administrator in charge of handling invoices.
One text message from former Rep. Robin Smith of Hixson to ex-Speaker of the House Glen Casada said, “Connie’s a bi—.” Casada responded, “Agreed!”
Smith, who pleaded guilty in the fraud and kickback case and is cooperating with federal prosecutors, was referring to now-retired Legislative Administration Director Connie Ridley, who handled payments for the state’s postage and printing program for lawmakers. Ridley held up payments because of problems with W-9 tax forms by the vendor, Phoenix Solutions, which was run by former legislative aide Cade Cothren, and Casada, testimony showed.
Smith testified she was “highly frustrated” because Ridley approved work without having the federal tax documents on hand. Eventually, Cothren sent the state a W-9 signed as “Matthew Phoenix,” one of the key documents prosecutors are using in the case to show deception by Smith, Casada and Cothren to direct business to Phoenix Solutions without state officials or lawmakers knowing who was behind the company.
Casada and Cothren had stepped down from their posts at different points in 2019 because of a racist and sexist texting scandal. Casada remained in the General Assembly but not as House speaker.
Connie Ridley, former director of legislative administration, shown leaving Nashville’s federal courthouse on April 25, 2025. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
Another text displayed for the jury Tuesday showed the state had paid for work on a lawmaker’s constituent mailer but didn’t include taxes.
Smith and Cothren sent each other “incredulous” text messages and Smith added another one saying, “Quite the bullsh–.”
Smith, former chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party, met with Ridley to speed up payments in February 2020 when the state owed Phoenix Solutions $34,000 for work on several Republican lawmakers’ constituent mailers, including now-former Rep. Patsy Hazlewood of Signal Mountain, Rep. Dan Howell of Cleveland, Rep. Esther Helton-Haynes of East Ridge, Rep. Dennis Powers of Jacksboro, Rep. Susan Lynn of Mt. Juliet, Rep. Bud Hulsey of Bristol, Rep. Chris Hurt of Halls, Rep. Andrew Farmer of Sevierville and Smith and Casada.
Ridley testified earlier this week she didn’t find out Phoenix Solutions was run by Cothren until May 2020 when federal authorities told her to continue processing the New Mexico-based company’s invoices.
Earlier Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Eli Richardson ruled that prosecutors can present evidence showing the trio wanted to expand from constituent mailers, which are paid for with tax money, to House Republican Caucus work. Defense attorneys argued that the prosecutors should be limited to evidence about the postage and printing program because it is outlined in the indictment, not an effort to tap into caucus funds.
Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Right
The content highlights a political corruption case involving Republican lawmakers in Tennessee, presenting factual details about legal proceedings, text communications, and testimonies. While it exposes misconduct within a specific party, the reporting style remains largely neutral and focused on the facts without overt editorializing or broad partisan critique. This aligns with a center-right bias, as it scrutinizes members of a right-leaning party but in a relatively balanced and fact-based manner typical of moderate conservative or center-right news coverage.
