The preliminary numbers are in. Tennessee State Highway Patrol Lt. Ronnie Shirley accessed background information for at least 182 people. Col. Mike Walker speculated the trooper may have been driven by “nosiness.”
Seriously? After a preliminary investigation, “nosy” is the best “motive” they could invent?
You know – in my former profession, poking around in the pasts of various people (usually criminals and politicians) was a necessary evil. Over a 16 year period, I’m not sure I put 182 people under a microscope. If so, I wasn’t being nosy. I was doing my job – something I was paid to do and/or asked to do by people higher on the totem pole than myself.
I’d imagine the same is true for Shirley.
So, sorry but the “oh, he’s a bored, nosy guy” bit isn’t believable.
“My preliminary conclusion is, you’ve got a guy with too much time on his hands and is nosy and was showing people that he had access to all this kind of information and doing favors for friends and looking things up over a period of time,” the governor said Tuesday. “If it goes beyond that, it’ll be a very serious matter and we’ll handle it appropriately.”
What people? What friends?
These unanswered questions have House Majority Leader Gary Odom, D-Nashville, AND House Minority Leader Jason Mumpower, R-Bristol, asking for an independent investigation and the names of those people targeted for a “lil’ looksie” to be released.
The lawmakers have concerns that the unauthorized checks were politically motivated. The concerns are related to an incident where expunged records of Republican State House candidate A.J. McCall were left anonymously in the locked legislative offices of House Minority Leader Jason Mumpower and Rep. Glen Casada. A copy was also mailed to McCall’s wife – and the information later used against him in automated calls and a push poll in his campaign.
McCall has since joined the request for an independent probe.
Of course, the two incidents have not been officially linked and could be entirely coincidental because… shucks, everybody has access to expunged records, right? Furthermore, the THP could not say for certain whether any current or former candidates for office or any other non-elected politically connected or involved individuals were on the list. (Translation: AJ McCall’s name is probably on the list – or was.)
Mumpower has called for a federal investigation in the matter.
“It is obvious that this cannot be investigated on the state level by state officials, due to individuals’ conflicts of interest, “ Mumpower said. “This is a serious matter, as it appears laws have been broken. Someone must be held accountable.”
I agree and cannot imagine why Bredesen would place so much confidence in an agency, which has a long history of inappropriate political involvement and difficulty examining their own. Seems to me the appropriate thing to do, in order to resolve all doubts and questions would be to allow an outside agency to investigate. We all want the truth, don’t we?
However, Bredesen said of Odom and Mumpower’s request:
“When one of them is governor, they’re welcome to make the determination about how you handle this,” Bredesen said. “At this point, I have considerable faith in (the THP criminal investigators) to look at this issue and to render an opinion.”
After the investigation is complete, the results will be turned over to the Davidson County District Attorney, who is coincidentally a Democrat, for review.
The governor did not add: “Then, if probe finds that the “people” and “friends” were members of my administration or political party, I am confident THP officials and DA would be less likely to run off and blab everything to AC Kleinheider… like those loose-lipped FBI guys probably would.”
(But one might infer.)
Recommended reading: Terry Frank’s Safety or Opposition Research Officer And Bill Hobb’s Troopergate Update, where he offers some solid advice for Shirley.
UPDATE: Oh, and there’s a website.
UPDATE II: Democratic political activist tell AP he leaked McCall’s records. Keith Talley, political director for the House Democratic Caucus, claims he obtained copies through a public records search at the Wilson County Courthouse. (Go here.)
So – technically expunged in the State of Tennessee doesn’t mean “removed and destroyed” as the law indicates. And if the records are on file at the courthouse, I suppose Talley can’t be charged with a Class A misdemeanor, which might’ve been fun. And is it possible to play political hardball without McCall’s opponent knowing they were trying to score for his team?
