Tennessee State Employee Association Prez In Trouble At Work

By Kleinheider Posted on March 2, 2009 at 2:47 pm

From Andy Sher:

Tennessee State Employees Association President Zoyle Jones has been demoted from a top post at the state Department of Correction for allegedly double-billing the state and the employees’ group for identical trips, records obtained by the Times Free Press show.

The matter has been turned over to Davidson County District Attorney General Torry Johnson, according to a Feb. 17 letter from Correction Commissioner George Little to Mr. Jones.

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Tags: Department of Correction, Tennessee State Employees Association, Torry Johnson, Zoyle Jones  

District Attorney Will Not Prosecute Rep. Kelsey For Text Message

By Kleinheider Posted on February 12, 2009 at 1:19 pm

From 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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Tags: Brian Kelsey, District Attorney, Kent Williams, TBI, text message, Torry Johnson  

Nosy…And Lonely?

By Kleinheider Posted on September 21, 2008 at 11:23 am

The THP has completed its investigation of the unauthorized background checks performed by Lt. Ronnie Shirley but has revealed a bit more about that illustrious list of 182 which included two journalists and a country music artist:

Davidson County District Attorney Torry Johnson and U.S. Attorney Ed Yarborough will evaluate the case delivered to them on Friday. THP Lt. Ronnie Shirley is accused of running unauthorized checks on as many as 182 private citizens and state employees. Many were women, a fact that the patrol leadership has been reluctant to elaborate on.

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Tags: Brad Schrade, Ed Yarborough, Ronnie Shirley, THP, Torry Johnson, Victoria Hansen