TN GOP; House Sleaze: Rep. Mumps sells comptroller vote for MUMPAC contribution

New comptroller gave $36,500 to GOP causes before election
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090131/NEWS0201/901310354/-1/NLETTER01?source=nletter-news
By Theo Emery • THE TENNESSEAN • January 31, 2009



Newly elected Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury Justin Wilson
http://www.tn.gov/comptroller/shared/pdf/20090115ComptrollerWilsonElection.pdf

In the weeks leading up to his election as the new state comptroller earlier this month, Justin Wilson donated $36,500 to GOP House members and political action committees.

Wilson has long been a generous donor to the GOP, and has given tens of thousands of dollars to candidates and political action committees in previous elections for years, as well as to charities.

But some of his fourth-quarter donations arrived at crucial moments in the process of nominating and electing state constitutional officers.

And one contribution appears to signal that Wilson's election was a foregone conclusion. While most of his fourth-quarter donations list Wilson's occupation as attorney, a $500 gift he made on Jan. 12 to an incoming GOP lawmaker records his occupation as state comptroller, even though the election was days away.

This year's unprecedented election of constitutional officers under a GOP-controlled legislature for the first time forced lawmakers to consider the role that campaign contributions could play in candidates' efforts to seek the $180,000-a-year positions.

(...)

House Majority Leader Jason Mumpower, whose political action committee received $5,000 from Wilson about a week before Wilson's nomination, said campaign contributions played no role in the election of the constitutional officers.

Rep. Jason Mumpower, R-Bristol

"Justin Wilson, his late father and his entire family have been strong financial supporters of the Republican Party for decades, not just for years. His character and ethics and integrity are beyond reproach, and I'm proud that he's our comptroller," he said.

Pay-to-play Concern Rose

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The level of concern rose amid the national "pay-to-play" drama of now-impeached Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was indicted for allegedly putting President Barack Obama's seat up for sale. With that scandal in the headlines at the time of the election, that same term also quietly circulated in connection with the constitutional offices.

As part of the Republicans' nomination process, candidates were asked to make numerous disclosures, but not their campaign contributions.

(...)

Dick Williams, chairman of the Tennessee chapter of the watchdog group Common Cause, said contribution disclosures in constitutional office elections should become part of the process.

"That's exactly why we want the disclosure, to discourage pay-to-play, or to discourage the possibility of that," he said. "Not to say that campaign contributions are all bribes … but to say that (at) least if they're public, then people can make up their own minds."

$15,000 Not Disclosed

The week of the nominations and the election, Senate Majority Leader Jim Kyle asked that nominees disclose their donations.

All three Democratic and three Republican candidates did so, and two GOP nominees reported making donations — Wilson and now-Treasurer David Lillard. Lillard specified the amounts he gave — $250 to Sen. Dolores Gresham and $250 to Rep. Josh Evans, but Wilson did not specify the amounts.

The fourth-quarter campaign filings, which were due on Monday, document the amounts totaling $36,500. That included a $15,000 donation to the Tennessee Legislative Campaign Committee, the political action committee for the state GOP, recorded on Jan. 12, the day he received the GOP nomination. He did not include the gift in the disclosure letter he sent to Kyle two days later.

Wilson said he was not sure when he actually made the donation, but was certain it was not on the date of his nomination. A spokesman for the state GOP said there was no way to ascertain by press time what day the donation was actually made.

Regardless, Wilson said it was not an effort to influence GOP lawmakers and rejected the notion that pay-to-play factored into the constitutional office elections. "To my situation, it has no relevance whatsoever," he said.

A spokeswoman for Wilson later called back and said that the $15,000 donation to the GOP had been designated for candidates for federal office and would not have gone to any state lawmakers.

Kyle said he asked for the disclosures because it was important for the public and lawmakers to know about donations from candidates for the constitutional offices. He said he was "disappointed" that Wilson left off the $15,000 donation.

Wilson said that leaving off the donation was probably an oversight on his part and that he did his best to accurately disclose for Kyle where his political donations had gone.




"I didn't have my records, and I filled it out the best I could," he said.

Contact Theo Emery at 615-726-4889 or temery@tennessean.com.

Pssss...someone be sure to tell Mumps and Rumps (Tennssee Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey) that their newly elected Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury Justin Wilson, has "crossed the line" by donating money to political campaigns...including Mumpowers!

TN GOP ready for political shake-up
Party appears united; power shift opens door for many law changes
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/nov/10/tn-gop-ready-for-political-shake-up/?printer=1/

By Tom Humphrey
Monday, November 10, 2008

NASHVILLE - Despite past differences, the Legislature's Republicans now appear united to assure that last week's historic election victories translate into a wholesale shake-up of Tennessee's political power base.

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Mumpower, who currently serves as House Republican leader and was highly active in offering campaign help to GOP candidates, apparently will have no opposition within party ranks to being elected House speaker.

At one point last week, Rep. Beth Harwell, a former state GOP chairwoman, indicated an interest in opposing Mumpower's election as speaker.

She later abandoned the idea, and Rep. Steve McDaniel, R-Parker's Crossroads, a former Republican leader who was mentioned as a prospective Mumpower opponent, said through a spokeswoman that he is not interested.

With Mumpower as House speaker and Ron Ramsey as Senate speaker, there would also be a major geographic shift of state political power to upper East Tennessee from West Tennessee, home of Naifeh, Wilder and previous Democratic legislative leaders.

Once the leadership is decided by legislators at the outset of the legislative session on Jan. 13, election of constitutional officers will be the next order of business. Both Mumpower and Ramsey say they will push to have Republicans replace the Democrats who now serve as state comptroller, secretary of state and state treasurer.

Several candidates are mentioned as potential successors to Comptroller John Morgan, Treasurer Dale Sims and Secretary of State Riley Darnell. The officials have multiple responsibilities in running state government.

They also serve, by virtue of holding the office, on multiple state boards and commissions. The State Building Commission, which has authority over all state property and oversees all construction, has six members - the three constitutional officers, the speaker of the House, the speaker of the Senate and the state finance commissioner.

Currently, Ramsey is the only Republican on the Building Commission. In January, Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz, appointed by Gov. Phil Bredesen, will be the only Democrat.

Mumpower and Ramsey acknowledge that Morgan and Sims have shown considerable skill in handling the complexities of their jobs but say they have shown unacceptable overt partisanship by helping Democratic campaigns.

"That crossed the line," Ramsey said.