And I really do think that's not because of a liberal bias in the political media. Cuz fake lord knows the Press Poodles are always willing to jump on a good old-fashioned Both Sides story so they can countervail their reputation for being a buncha leftie stooges.
So anyway, for now, Republicans are the ones who keep showing up as dog-ass crooks, uninterested in anything but lining their pockets with money that they haven't come by honestly.
Justin King - Beau Of The Fifth Column
Reality has a well known liberal bias.
Liberals have a well known reality bias.
Aug 23, 2022
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee’s former House Speaker Glen Casada and his top aide were arrested Tuesday on federal charges including bribery, kickbacks and conspiracy to commit money laundering involving federal funds.
Their indictments come months after a Republican legislator, Rep. Robin Smith, abruptly resigned while facing federal wire charges that involved Casada. Casada was not directly named in those court documents, but her March indictment kicked off speculation that more charges would come from the corruption investigation.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee’s former House Speaker Glen Casada and his top aide were arrested Tuesday on federal charges including bribery, kickbacks and conspiracy to commit money laundering involving federal funds.
Their indictments come months after a Republican legislator, Rep. Robin Smith, abruptly resigned while facing federal wire charges that involved Casada. Casada was not directly named in those court documents, but her March indictment kicked off speculation that more charges would come from the corruption investigation.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Casada and former Chief of Staff Cade Cothren face a 20-count indictment. FBI agents arrested both at their homes Tuesday morning.
The charging document alleges Casada and Cothren exploited their positions of power by working with another unnamed lawmaker to funnel money to themselves using a political consulting firm that concealed their involvement.
more at NYT (pay wall)
Ex-Tennessee Speaker and Aide Charged With Bribery and Conspiracy
F.B.I. agents arrested Glen Casada and Cade Cothren at their Tennessee homes on Tuesday.
A former Tennessee speaker of the House and his former chief of staff were arrested on Tuesday at their homes on federal charges in connection to a bribery and kickback scheme, prosecutors said.
Former Speaker Glen Casada, 63, a Republican, and his top aide, Cade Cothren, 35, were charged with conspiracy to commit theft from programs receiving federal funds; bribery and kickbacks concerning programs receiving federal funds; honest services wire fraud; and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The charges were announced by U.S. Attorney Mark H. Wildasin for the Middle District of Tennessee and Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s criminal division in a joint statement on Tuesday.
Mr. Casada and Mr. Cothren appeared in federal court on Tuesday. Mr. Casada entered a plea of not guilty “and will present a vigorous defense at trial,” Ed Yarbrough, a lawyer for Mr. Casada, said on Tuesday. He did not comment further. It was not immediately clear who was representing Mr. Cothren. If convicted, Mr. Casada and Mr. Cothren each face up to 20 years in prison.
The arrests came months after the resignation of Representative Robin Smith, a Tennessee Republican who pleaded guilty to a federal wire fraud charge over involvement in the political consulting scheme with Mr. Casada and Mr. Cothren, according to The Associated Press.
Around October 2019, Mr. Casada, who represented Tennessee House District 63 in Williamson County, and another conspirator, who was also a Tennessee representative but was not named in the prosecutors’ statement or court documents, launched a scheme “to enrich themselves” by using their positions to obtain state approval for a company called Phoenix Solutions as a vendor to provide mail services to members of the state’s General Assembly and political campaigns, according to the statement.
Mr. Casada, Mr. Cothren and the third associate then sought to pull state funds for Phoenix Solutions, a political consulting business that was run by Mr. Cothren, according to court documents, one that Mr. Casada and the third individual profited from.
“Casada and the other conspirator are alleged to have enriched themselves by obtaining bribes and kickbacks from Cothren, in exchange for securing the approval of Phoenix Solutions as a mailer program vendor,” according to the statement.
The associates told members of the state’s General Assembly that the company was run by a man named “Matthew Phoenix” who was described as “an experienced political consultant,” but was actually a fabrication, prosecutors said.
Mr. Casada, Mr. Cothren and the third conspirator concealed their involvement in Phoenix Solutions “by submitting sham invoices to the state of Tennessee in the names of political consulting companies” owned by Mr. Casada and the other conspirator to funnel funds to the company from the state, prosecutors said.
In all, Phoenix Solutions received nearly $52,000 through the mailer program, according to court documents.
Mr. Casada was first elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 2003 and was re-elected as a representative in each subsequent General Assembly, according to court records.
In 2019, Mr. Casada resigned as speaker from the Tennessee House after it was revealed that he and Mr. Cothren had “exchanged sexually explicit text messages” about women, according to The Associated Press.
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