A painting of Thomas and Crow smoking cigars in company including the rightwing activist Leonard Leo was included in an explosive report by ProPublica, detailing Crow’s lavish gifts to Thomas over more than 25 years.
ProPublica also described trips on private planes and yachts and stays at lavish resorts.
In a rare statement, Thomas said he had been advised such “personal hospitality” did not have to be declared under federal rules.
He added: “I have endeavoured to follow that counsel throughout my tenure and have always sought to comply with the disclosure guidelines.
Critics said Thomas had “clearly” broken the law regarding the declaration of gifts. The Washington Post noted Thomas has declared just two since 2004.
Crow denied discussing or seeking to influence the court through his friendship with Thomas and his wife, the far-right activist Ginni Thomas.
A member of Republican leadership in the Tennessee House of
Representatives was found guilty of sexually harassing legislative
interns by an ethics subcommittee acting in secret
A member of GOP leadership in the Tennessee House of Representatives
was recently found guilty of sexually harassing at least one legislative
intern, likely two, by an ethics subcommittee acting in secret, NewsChannel 5 Investigates has learned.
About six hours after being confronted by NewsChannel 5 Investigates, Rep. Scotty Campbell gave up his seat in the Tennessee General Assembly.
Until
now, Campbell, who served as vice chair of the House Republican Caucus
and who recently voted to expel three Democrats who engaged in a gun
violence protest on the House floor, had suffered no previous
consequences as a result of his actions.
Despite accusations of sometimes extremely vulgar comments and other
inappropriate advances, Republicans did not remove the 39-year-old East
Tennessee lawmaker from his leadership position nor from his committee
assignments.
But taxpayers are paying for his actions.
NewsChannel
5 has learned that potentially thousands of dollars have been spent to
protect one victim, relocating her from the downtown apartment building
where she and Campbell both had apartments, shipping her furniture back
home in another part of the state and placing her in a downtown hotel
for the remainder of her internship.
Legislative officials refused to say how much they’ve paid out, saying that information is confidential.
Confronted
with the allegations Thursday as he headed to Capitol Hill, Campbell
referenced a second intern who was also involved in the investigation.
NewsChannel 5 was previously unaware of that individual’s complaint. …
In a free society, people should not have their private
correspondence constantly examined. U.S. lawmakers, we would hope,
understand that individuals have the right to a private conversation
without the government looking over their shoulder. …
… The idea of subjecting millions of people to false accusations
of child abuse is horrific. NCMEC will export those false accusations to
vulnerable communities around the world, where they can be wielded by
police forces that have even less accountability than law enforcement in
the United States. False accusations are a price that EARN IT
supporters seem willing to pay.
We need your support to stop the EARN IT Act one more time.
Digital rights supporters sent more than 200,000 messages to Congress to
kill earlier versions of this bill. We’ve beaten it twice before, and
we can do it again. …
“An age builds up cities: an hour destroys them. In a moment the ashes are made, but a forest is a long time growing.”
— Seneca, Natural Questions (via philosophybits)
