Tennessee House Republicans commend Speaker for “uncovering” Casada-Cothren scheme

Tennessee House Republicans lauded House Speaker Cameron Sexton, left, for his role in uncovering a corruption scheme. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

In the wake of guilty verdicts in Tennessee’s political corruption trial, House Republicans are lauding Speaker Cameron Sexton for alerting federal authorities to a secret political vendor and cooperating with them to get a conviction.

The House Republican Caucus released a statement immediately after the case’s outcome saying the guilty verdict for former Speaker Glen Casada and his ex-aide Cade Cothren “reaffirms the principle that public office is a sacred trust, not a license for personal gain or abuse of power.”

The jury found Casada guilty on 17 of 19 counts of fraud, kickbacks, bribery, money laundering and conspiracy and Cothren guilty on all 19 counts. Former Rep. Robin Smith pleaded guilty in the case and testified against the pair.

The caucus said it appreciates Sexton’s leadership as he was “instrumental in uncovering illegal activity by two former members and providing critical facts to federal authorities.”

The statement adds that Sexton’s “commitment to integrity in state government reflects the standards to which all public officials should be held.”

Former Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada, ex-aide, guilty in federal corruption case

Sexton, a Crossville Republican, was expected to testify for the prosecution but was never called to the stand in the four-week trial. 

Casada’s defense attorney, Ed Yarbrough, said the absence of Sexton testimony left a hole in the prosecution’s argument. Yet the defense called no witnesses to testify, including Sexton, despite issuing subpoenas to him and numerous people.

Cothren and his defense team went after Sexton before the trial started, making the claim that he or one of his staff members wore a device to record conversations with lawmakers. In addition, Cothren said he helped Sexton win the House Speaker’s race in 2019 after Casada resigned the post, then fell out of favor.

Phoenix Solutions, the secretive company run by Cothren in cahoots with Casada and Smith, tapped into House members’ postage and printing money for constituent mailers. The trio had to keep Cothren’s role quiet because of his 2019 resignation from the chief of staff post in a racist and sexist texting scandal.

Phoenix Solutions ran into trouble getting paid by the Legislative Administration office run by Connie Ridley. As questions arose about the vendor, Cothren signed a W-9 form as “Matthew Phoenix,” a bogus name for the company’s president, one of the linchpins for the government’s case.

When FBI agents raided Casada’s home in January 2021, he ultimately told them that Cothren couldn’t “deal” with lawmakers or be known as running Phoenix Solutions because Sexton didn’t like him.