Brandon Ogles won’t seek third term in state House

Rep. Brandon Ogles says he won’t seek a third term in the Tennessee House.
The Franklin Republican was elected in 2018 on a platform that included opposing school vouchers. But upon arriving at the Capitol, Ogles became a key ally to then-House Speaker Glen Casada (R-Franklin) and his chief of staff, Cade Cothren, and voted for the voucher measure in a controversial 50-48 floor vote in 2019.
Casada and Cothren have been implicated by former Rep. Robin Smith (R-Hixson) of participating with her in a scheme to drive business to shadowy campaign vendor called Phoenix Solutions, which they allegedly controlled. Ogles has not been named as part of the investigation, but he has been a vocal defender of Casada, speaking out at a Williamson County chamber of commerce event recently against a Registry of Election Finance subpoena issued for the former speaker and other current and former lawmakers to testify about another mystery political action committee involved in defeating Republican Rep. Rick Tillis (R-Lewisburg). The Registry has since referred its probe to prosecutors in Williamson County.
Ogles missed about four weeks of last year’s session with what he said was a severe case of COVID-19. The lawmaker says he will work as advocate for victims of violent crimes.
Here is Ogles’ Facebook statement on his retirement:

Casada blasts Registry as ‘biased,’ Ogles threatens legislative action to halt subpoenas

Former House Speaker Glen Casada (R-Franklin) on Friday called the members of the Registry of Election Finance “biased” for subpoenaing information from him about a political action committee allegedly created at the behest of his onetime chief of staff, Cade Cothren.
Speaking at a Williamson Inc. forum, Rep. Brandon Ogles (R-Franklin) also blasted the move, saying the House plans to take a “deep dive” into the powers of the campaign finance board’s powers. Ogles is close friends with Cothren and was a prominent Casada loyalist before his speakership collapsed in 2019.
Casada is retiring from the House and running for Williamson County clerk this year. The Registry in 2020 hit Casada with a $10,500 civil penalty for failing to keep receipts for $99,000 worth of expenditures made by his PAC. He also had his home and office searched by FBI agents early last year.
The Registry last week voted to issue subpoenas after a former girlfriend of Cothren’s testified under oath that she had set up a political action committee called the Faith Family Freedom Fund at his urging, but then had nothing to with it as it bankrolled attacks on the re-election bid of then-Rep. Rick Tillis (R-Lewisburg). Email correspondence between someone purporting to be herself and the Registry did not come from her, she said.
Here is a transcript of the Williamson Inc. meeting on Friday:
Dave Crouch, moderator: The elephant in the room maybe this morning is you’ve been in the paper with some questions been asked about various things here recently. Is there anything you would like to say?
Glen Casada: I feel like a kid sitting on the side of the road, and someone’s just some come and punched me in the nose for no reason. If you didn’t know, the election registry of finance has subpoenaed me to ask me questions on a PAC. And the frustrating thing is, Dave, I have no knowledge of this PAC, I have no association, and there’s no reason to think that I do. And I realize three years ago, I was quite involved politically across the state on elections and getting people elected. But I just feel like the board has a bias, you know? And so, so let me just be very clear. And I was very clear [when I ] contacted them. Guys, not only do I not know, or never heard of this PAC, or no association with it. Why would you even reach out and punch me in the nose like you did? You know, there’s no reason to do that. So, so let me just put that to bed. And thank you for this opportunity to address it.
Crouch: I’m gonna push back a little just for conversation here. Cade Cothren was your chief of staff?
Casada: Yes. Three years ago.
Crouch: When you were speaker of House?
Casada: He was.
Crouch: And apparently he’s the one that had his girlfriend set this PAC up. That’s correct?
Casada: Yes.
Crouch: And why would he have done that?
Casada: You could ask Sam [Whitson], Brandon [Ogles], or Jack [Johnson] that question. I don’t know. I mean, there’s no association. It’s been three years ago when he was employed by me. So again, it’s just a bias on that board’s opinion. And the legislature gave them certain powers to be deliberative, and to be fair, and not biased. And I feel like you’re exhibiting biases by just assuming because he once worked for me three years ago, you know, that somehow I’m involved. And that’s not the way we run public policy.
Crouch: I just, I didn’t want to totally ignore the subject. I want to just air it out some. Brandon, you’ve got a comment?
Brandon Ogles: I’d like to speak to this because there was a conversation yesterday with members of the Judiciary Committee in the House. The fact that some of the things that were said in the press, they were so sloppily said by these committee members. For them to issue a subpoena that’s not signed by a judge, there’s going to be ramifications for that when you start threatening people to subpoena them. Some of these boards that we’ve set up in the state of Tennessee, these pseudo-entities, even entities within the state of Tennessee, that threaten people. And to issue subpoenas that have no weight, or credit, or value – and are not signed by a judge – circumvents every judiciary process we have in this state, both criminally and civilly. So we’re going to deep dive into this, this threat to subpoena people. And if this continues, remember: also the House committees can subpoena as well. So this will be interesting to watch play out. I’m going to enjoy being a member of Judiciary and seeing this come to light.
Ogles returns to House after extended absence

State Rep. Brandon Ogles (R-Franklin) returned to the House this week after missing several weeks with what he called an “extended battle” with COVID-19 and pneumonia.
“I am thankful for those who have called, sent texts, and helped out during my absence,” Ogles said in a message posted on his Facebook page. “I am looking forward to being back in the office, serving District 61 and finishing out this legislative session strong.”
Legislative attendance records show Ogles was excused from House floor sessions on Feb. 24 and Feb. 25, and then missed another session March 15. He was then away for every floor session between March 25 and his reappearance on Monday.
Several other lawmakers have missed time this year due to COVID-19.