Stockard on the Stump: Former House staffer’s petition certified in spite of state penalty

Despite a hefty penalty for setting up a bogus political action committee, embattled ex-House staffer Cade Cothren qualified to run for a House seat. 

Tennessee’s Registry of Election Finance notified Cothren in late February that it levied an $80,000 civil penalty against him for eight violations. Yet the Secretary of State certified his election petition, enabling him to run in the August primary.

This is where it gets murky.

The filing deadline to run for office was Tuesday, and failure to pay the penalty could have put a dent in Cothren’s plans to run for the House District 71 seat held by Republican Rep. Kip Capley.

Registry members say Bill Young, executive director of the Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance, didn’t send the order to the Secretary of State. 

“He has not sent the letter yet. … We have a meeting later this month, and we will be taking that up, I’m sure,” said Registry member Paige Burcham Dennis. 

But Young told the Lookout Thursday that he sent the order to the Secretary of State and Tennessee Elections Coordinator Mark Goins in early March.

Stockard on the Stump: Campaign finance board hits former staffer with $80,000 penalty

“Until the order becomes final, there’s not a lot we can do. And it’s not final yet,” Young said.

Secretary of State spokesperson Ben Hill referred questions back to Young and said he would notify the office about whether Cothren is unable to qualify because of the penalty.

The Secretary of State’s Office issued a statement Thursday saying, “The Registry has jurisdiction and enforcement authority over orders they issue. We have requested clarification from Bill Young regarding whether action taken by the Registry has disqualified Mr. Cothren from running for office.”

That didn’t exactly answer the question about whether it received the order.

The Registry board penalized Cothren in January for misleading the state about the secret formation of a 2019 political action committee called the Faith Family Freedom Fund that helped Rep. Todd Warner beat Rep. Rick Tillis. An ex-girlfriend of Cothren told the Registry she formed the PAC at his direction and put her name down as treasurer even though he ran it. Cothren has refused to testify, invoking Fifth Amendment rights against incriminating himself. 

A Registry letter sent Feb. 26 to Cothren and his attorneys, Rob Peal and Erik Lybeck of Sims Funk in Nashville lets them know he has the right to request reconsideration within 14 days and/or a contested case hearing within 30 days. Without a timely request, the order becomes final.

“Please be advised that an order that becomes final with the civil penalty unpaid will be forwarded to the State Attorney General for collection,” the letter says. It notes that campaign funds cannot be used to pay civil penalties.

State law says if a civil penalty against a political campaign committee isn’t paid within 30 days after becoming final, the PAC’s treasurer and officers are ineligible to qualify for election to a state or local public office until the penalty is paid.

Cothren became a pariah in 2019 amid a racist and sexist texting scandal that led to his resignation and, ultimately, removal of his boss, Franklin Rep. Glen Casada, as House speaker. The pair was convicted in 2025 of running a fraudulent campaign consulting vendor and were set to report to prison before the president rescued them with a full pardon. 

But once again, this case is in limbo. It remains to be seen whether Cothren could win the primary and make the November general ballot if he doesn’t pay the penalty.

The Registry is likely to take up the matter in executive session at its late March meeting. Typically, discussion out of the public eye centers only on litigation and personnel matters. In this matter, it could focus on both.
Faith Family Freedom Foundation – Cothren Order

Lawsuit winner

Dennis came out with a win in federal court this week when a jury found she didn’t violate the rights of Mark Clayton at a 2022 Registry meeting when the board asked a state trooper to remove him.

Filed in U.S. District Court, Clayton’s lawsuit alleged slander, false light, conspiracy and false imprisonment. The failed Democratic U.S. Senate and gubernatorial candidate estimated it would cost $17.8 million to restore his reputation.

NewsChannel5, Bill Young, board member Tom Lawless and others were named originally in the lawsuit but all were dropped except for Dennis because she was chair. 

Clayton went before the board to speak on behalf of former Metro Council member Jonathan Hall, who was facing a $360,000 civil penalty. After Clayton rambled for a few minutes, Dennis asked if he had made calls to the office of a “threatening nature” the previous day. Things then went sideways, and board members asked the trooper to escort him out. 

“I think (the) verdict set a precedent that people that are public servants and volunteers that do public work cannot be ridiculed and charged in cases by people that think the work we do is not correct or is not valuable,” Dennis said.

Dennis added that she found out later he called her Miss Piggy and a dumb blond. She said on the stand “Just like Dolly Parton, I’m not dumb, and I’m not blond.”

One short?

The Tennessee Journal reported that longtime Democratic Rep. G.A. Hardaway of Memphis failed to turn in enough signatures on his petition to qualify for re-election.

Apparently, Hardaway was one short of the required 25.

A lawmaker for 20 years, Hardaway was the only person to turn in a petition for the seat, according to the report, raising the question: What happens if nobody qualifies?

More than likely, the Shelby County Commission would appoint someone, that is, if anyone wants the job.

Known for detailed questions, lengthy presentations and long comments, Hardaway could not be reached for comment. 

Surely he knows he should have gotten a lot more than 25 people to sign on. But please don’t call me Shirley.

Grow your own

Sen. (Dr.) Adam Lowe is pushing a constitutional amendment establishing the right to food, including the right to save and exchange seeds and grow, raise, harvest, produce and acquire and consume food of your own choosing for nourishment, sustenance, bodily health and well-being.

Considering we all celebrated “Taco Tuesday” at the Cordell Hell Legislative Building this week, Senate Joint Resolution 610 is a fitting tribute.

Asked about the measure, the Calhoun Republican said it’s necessary because of a 1942 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Wickard v. Filburn that went against a farmer who wanted to grow more wheat than the federal government allowed to feed his livestock and, possibly, his family. The federal law in that case stemmed from efforts to control prices during the Great Depression.

“If the Constitution serves any purpose, it’s to enshrine basic human rights. The ability to grow one’s food and eat’s pretty essential to life,” Lowe said.

Asked whether people are allowed to raise their own food already, Lowe said “absolutely” but added that the bill is necessary to make sure that right can’t be taken away.

Since this is an amendment to the Constitution, it’ll have to go through the next General Assembly and then to voters on the following gubernatorial ballot, which means it will be four years, if it passes, before people are scratching their heads at ballot boxes statewide.

“I take the seed from Colombia and Mexico / I just plant it up a holler down Copperhead Road” *

* Steve Earle, “Copperhead Road”