Associated Press: Tennessee kickback scandal leaves GOP reps feeling betrayed

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee House Republican lawmakers say they were betrayed by one of their own after they hired a shadowy political consulting firm talked up by a colleague who has since pleaded guilty to fraud in an alleged kickback scheme that also implicates a former House speaker and others.

House Republican Caucus Chairman Jeremy Faison told reporters that GOP caucus members had no reason to suspect fraud when they hired Phoenix Solutions to perform campaign and related services for lawmakers. Faison promised “greater scrutiny every time” on hiring vendors, saying they will always be established companies.

Faison’s comments were in response to the guilty plea on a wire fraud charge by former Republican state Rep. Robin Smith of Hixson, entered Tuesday in Nashville federal court. Authorities say she, former House Speaker Glen Casada and his one-time chief of staff, Cade Cothren, created Phoenix Solutions as a way to illegally funnel money to themselves through both campaign and taxpayer-funded work. Smith resigned her seat Monday.

Longtime Tennessee public interest lobbyist Dick Williams, who heads Common Cause Tennessee, said the alleged Phoenix Solutions scheme is a “more extreme” example that likely doesn’t indicate a larger problem with the system, which can always use fine-tuning.

“It’s an example that in any group of people, including legislators, you’re going to have a few people that are wanting to game the system, one way or another, and be deceitful of, supposedly, their friends even,” Williams said.