December 7, 2007

Cooper Resigns - Fourth Corrupt Democrat to Leave State Senate in Disgrace in Past Two Years

It's official - state Sen. Jerry Cooper, the Morrison Democrat who in recent years became a poster child for the Tennessee Democratic Party's tolerance of a culture of corruption in its legislative caucus, has resigned from the legislature Thursday under a cloud of scandal. The Tennessee Republican Party will issue a statement Friday on its website regarding Cooper's resignation and the chance for change this gives to the people in the seven counties of the 14th state Senate District. Frankly, we had the statement ready Thursday but could not get confirmation that Cooper had actually tendered his resignation.

Cooper still faces a $120,000 fine from the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance for stealing nearly $95,000 from his campaign contributors over a two-year period and putting it in his personal bank account. Cooper is scheduled to appeal that fine and ask the TREF to reduce it at a hearing Wednesday (Dec. 12) in Nashville.

There's really no need for the TREF to reduce the fine. For one, Cooper stole nearly $95,000. The fine has to be at least that much or he makes a profit. And it needs to be above that amount in order to present a significant deterrence to other corrupt legislators stealing from their campaign accounts.

Besides, now that he has retired from the legislature Cooper has a new source of income from which to pay it. As Knoxville News Sentinel columnist Greg Johnson says in his Saturday column:

Cooper can pay that penalty from the more than $20,000 per year in retirement pay he is slated to collect.

Also left unsettled: What Cooper does with the more than $200,000 still in his campaign account. Thanks to a loophole in state law, Cooper could not be fined more than $10,000 if he transferred all of it to his personal account via a single check. The TREF may want to consider requiring Cooper to transfer his campaign cash to charity before it agrees to any reduction in his fine (which, in any case, should not be reduced below the amount he stole).

Update: The Tennessee Democratic Party's website message to voters today, one day after Cooper resigns: Happy Thanksgiving.

TDP chairman Gray Sasser writes, "As Tennessee Democrats, we feel as though we have a unique message and a unique slate of officeholders and candidates yesterday, today, and tomorrow."

Indeed, Cooper was unique among corrupt Democrats in the state Senate. The other three Democrats who resigned the state Senate in disgrace in the past two years weren't thieves - they just took bribes!