August 23, 2008

Bredesen Administration's Operative Inside THP Targeted Reporter Who Exposed Bredesen/THP Scandals

Were the unauthorized criminal background checks run by Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper Lt. Ronnie Shirley, merely some random acts of nosiness - or something more sinister? Gov. Bredesen claims Shirley's snooping was not political, but consider this: Among the people targeted by Lt. Shirley - who was given a sham punishment two years ago after fixing a ticket for Deputy Gov. Dave Cooley, the architect of the Bredesen administration's scheme to give promotions to troopers in exchange for their generous campaign donations - was Tennessean reporter Brad Schrade

Schrade is the reporter who two years ago helped expose the various political scandals involving the Bredesen administration and the THP.

Lt. Shirley is a politically-connected trooper with deep ties to the Bredesen administration and the Tennessee Democratic machine and he was digging for dirt on a reporter who was digging for dirt on the administration. That's nothing but political.

The questions that need answered now is this: Who put Lt. Shirley up to it? Bredesen? Cooley? The leadership of the THP? Who?

In light of the revelation that the Bredesen administration's number one Democrat operative and go-to fixer inside the THP was digging for dirt on Schrade, Tennessean Editor Mark Silverman said he questioned "whether this was truly the actions of one rogue officer or whether it was condoned by his supervisors."

"For a state police agency or one of its agents to investigate a reporter who has produced legitimate and critically important coverage of the agency smacks of the intimidation and retribution you would expect to find in a totalitarian state," Silverman said.

The governor's refusal to support an independent investigation of this growing scandal is looking more and more like a cover-up.