District Attorney Will Not Prosecute Rep. Kelsey For Text Message
Posted on February 12, 2009 at 1:19 pmFrom the Office of Torry Johnson:
On Wednesday, February 4, 2009, this office was asked to review the communication from Mr. Kelsey. The entirety of the fax was a line of a text from Kelsey to the assistant, reading “Tell Kent I’m willing to talk about reconciliation if he’s willing to talk about chairman of the full committee”.
Johnson says this appears to be more of a request than anything else. Tennessee’s extortion statute requires an element of coercion that is clearly not present in this instance.
“I don’t think the TBI needs to devote valuable time to investigate what appears to be an outgrowth of an internal political squabble that is best handled within the House of Representatives itself,” Johnson wrote to Speaker Williams.
The DA will also not prosecute in the case of Rep. Jim Cobb’s secret recording of staffer Paul Overholser stating that “due to the incomprehensible nature of the content on the tape, and the short amount of time the recorder was used, this case will not be pursued criminally.”
UPDATE: Rep. Kelsey released the following statement this afternoon referring all further questions to his attorney:
“I sincerely hope the Speaker and the Democratic Leader will join me in tackling the serious problems facing our state: people no longer feel safe in their own homes, and they are worried about keeping their jobs.”
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Kelsey Interviewed On Textortiongate
Posted on January 30, 2009 at 9:07 amPREVIOUSLY:
Um, I Think You’re Supposed To Do That Kind Of Thing Verbally
You’re Damn Right He Did: Kelsey Admits Sending The Text Message
Gary Odom Calls On Rep. Brian Kelsey To Resign
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Gary Odom Calls On Rep. Brian Kelsey To Resign
Posted on at 8:01 amRevelations that the Germantown legislator sent a text message to the new House speaker offer to resolve differences in exchange for a committee chairmanship has led to calls for resignation:
Kelsey did not return calls for questions about the new allegation and Odom’s suggestion that it amounts to extortion, and his call to resign.
In his statement, Kelsey said he filed the ethics complaint knowing that he would not win a chairmanship but before he knew Williams appointed him chairman of the civil practice subcommittee.
The text message was sent to Williams’ office while he and Republican and Democratic leaders met to appoint committees and their highly sought chairmanships.
Williams would only say that he read the text out loud and then told his staff “to handle it however they thought it was appropriate.”
Odom said he believes Kelsey committed an ethics violation.
“He demanded a full committee chairmanship — indicated that if that took place, it would resolve his differences with the speaker,” Odom said. “When that didn’t happen, he filed a sexual harassment complaint about an incident in which he wasn’t involved nor was a witness to.”
MORE:
Jeff Woods
Theo Emery
You’re Damn Right He Did: Kelsey Admits Sending The Text Message
Posted on January 29, 2009 at 5:33 pmIn a statement, Rep. Brian Kelsey concedes he sent the text message that Democrats have interpreted as an offer to drop his fierce opposition and criticism of the speaker in exchange for a committee chairmanship. But, ya know, it’s not what it looks like:
“The first day Representative Williams was elected speaker, we had a public disagreement on the House floor in which he asked me whether I had a problem with his being speaker. I answered in the affirmative. After reflecting upon the occurrence over the weekend, I decided to make a peace offering. I realized that, my personal feelings aside, we would both have to work together over the next two years for the good of the people of Tennessee. I sent his assistant a text message saying, “Tell Kent I’m willing to talk about reconciliation if he’s willing to talk about chairman of the full committee.” I sent the message at 9:50 a.m. on January 20th to offer reconciliation and to request my preference regarding committee assignments—the discussions for which were just beginning among the leaders. I had never turned in a committee preference form to Representative Naifeh or Representative Williams, as had other members, because I did not expect either of them to be elected Speaker. Committee assignment discussions began the morning of the 20th and lasted throughout the day of the 20th and 21st.
“The afternoon of January 20th I read the new Speaker’s public statement in which he, in essence, called Rep. Lynn and others liars by denying that he had ever told her he would give a week’s pay to see her naked and by denying he was ever reprimanded by Leader Mumpower for doing so. When I read the statement, I was outraged that he would intentionally make such a false statement to the public, and I began to draft an ethics complaint that evening, which I filed early the next afternoon on January 21st.
“I filed the ethics complaint knowing full well that I was virtually ensuring that I would not be named chairman of a full committee and thinking that I would probably lose Vice Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, a position that Speaker Williams had offered me the previous week. Nonetheless, I still thought it was the right thing to do to file the complaint. I, along with all other members, did not receive word of my committee assignments until the evening of the 21st after I had already filed the ethics complaint against the Speaker. At least one change was made to those preliminary assignments, and the official appointments were made the 22nd.”
SEE ALSO: The Woodsman
Um, I Think You’re Supposed To Do That Kind Of Thing Verbally — And In Coded Language
Posted on at 3:54 pmThe AP reports that Rep. Brian Kelsey tried to barter for a committee chairmanship:
Reps. Mike Turner and Gary Odom say Kelsey made the offer in a text message sent to a Williams aide the same day that a 2-year-old allegation of sexual harassment against the speaker came to light.
One day later Kelsey filed an ethics complaint seeking to have Williams removed as speaker.
According to Turner, the Jan. 20 message said: “I will talk about reconciliation if you make me a full committee chair.”
Kelsey denied to AP that he had sent any text message.
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