FBI raids state lawmakers’ homes, offices

Federal agents descended on the homes and legislative offices of Republican state Reps. Glen Casada of Franklin, Robin Smith of Hixson, and Todd Warner of Chapel Hill on Friday. They also executed searches at the home of former Casada chief of staff Cade Cothren and three current legislative staffers.
The FBI didn’t say what it was investigating, though speculation spread around the Cordell Hull Building that agents were looking into efforts supporting Warner defeat of Rep. Rick Tillis (R-Lewisburg) in last year’s primary and the previous year’s push to pass a controversial school voucher bill.
Lee and McNally weigh in on Casada text message scandal

Senate Speaker Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge), center, attends an economic development announcement in Nashville. At left is Gov. Bill Lee and on the far right is House Speaker Glen Casada (R-Franklin). (Erik Schelzig, Tennessee Journal).
Republican Gov. Bill Lee and Senate Speaker Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) have issued statements on the text message scandal surrounding House Speaker Glen Casada (R-Franklin).
Here’s what Lee had to say:
When we choose to enter public service, we have an obligation to hold ourselves to a higher standard and cultivate an environment of professionalism and respect. We owe it to Tennesseans to ensure they know that all of us in elected office hold ourselves to that high standard. Recent revelations have shaken that faith, and we need to ensure that confidence is fully restored.
And here’s McNally:
Senate leadership and I are greatly disappointed by the inappropriate actions and attitudes revealed in recent news reports. Every person who interacts with the state legislature should be treated with the utmost respect. It is deeply troubling that some have fallen short of this standard. Tennesseans expect and deserve better from those who serve the public trust. Senate leadership is united in our commitment that members and staff continue to uphold the standard Tennesseans demand of their public officials.
Casada says support among GOP caucus remains ‘overwhelming’

House Speaker Glen Casada (R-Franklin) presides over a floor session in Nashville on April 23, 2019. (Erik Schelzig, Tennessee Journal)
House Speaker Glen Casada says he still has “overwhelming” support among fellow Republicans in the chamber despite the resignation of of chief of staff amid allegations of racist text, drug use in his office, and soliciting sex acts with an intern and lobbyist.
“If you look at the results of what we’ve done in the House of Representatives, I think no one can dispute things have run smoother than they have in a generation, and we have had bold conservative leadership,” Casada told told WTN-FM’s Brian Wilson.
“Based on my conversations with them, they are proud to have someone in charge that’s leading them in a direction of making Tennessee the most conservative state,” he said.
The text message exchange included Cothren boasting to Casada about having sex with a woman in a Nashville restaurant they had attended together.
“I participated in locker room talk with two adult men that was not intended to go to anyone else and I was wrong,” the Franklin Republican said “In the last several years, that kind of talk has not entered or left my mouth.”
“I got caught up in the moment at that time, and participated in that text messaging the two adult men,” he said. “And that is not me today.”
Casada said the text messages were released by a “disgruntled employee” who vowed to take down Cothren and Casada after being fired.
“Cade did an excellent job. Three years ago, he came to me and said he had a problem. He said he was struggling. And he didn’t say what it was, but I knew what it was, and that he wanted a second chance to turn his life around. I gave him that and his did turn his life around,” Casada said.
“Why he is resigning is things that he did before he turned his life around,” he said. Casada denied prior knowledge of Cothren’s drug use or soliciting sex acts from other women at the Capitol complex.
Casada’s chief of staff resigns after sexual texts with intern
House Speaker Glen Casada’s Chief of Staff Cade Cothren following a whirlwind day of revelations including that he sent text messages soliciting sex acts from an intern and used cocaine in his legislative office, The Tennessean reports.
House Speaker Glen Casada's chief of staff resigns amid sexually explicit texts scandal https://t.co/rV2IMVzgLQ via @tennessean
— Joel Ebert (@joelebert29) May 6, 2019
Cothren the top strategist for Casada’s campaign to nail down his election as speaker by getting involved in contested primaries for open Republican seats last year. Cothren also played a pivotal role in ensuring the razor-thin passage of Gov. Bill Lee’s school voucher bill.
“It was just a distraction,” Cothren told The Tennessean. “We’ve accomplished a lot of great things this year and I don’t want to take away from those for our caucus.”