August 18, 2008

The Intimidation Files

The Bredesen administration's favorite state trooper/political fixer, Lt. Ronnie Shirley, may have been digging for dirt on Republican lawmakers, suggests The Tennessean in a story that sheds new light on the investigation into why Lt. Shirley was doing unauthorized background checks on as many as 300 individuals.

What The Tennessean doesn't mention: The THP maintains the only record criminal records that have been expunged from the public record.

What is an expunged record? According to the Tennessee Code, an expungement is the destruction of public records of a criminal charge including the fact of the arrest. A defendant is eligible for expungement if they recieve pre-trial diversion or judicial Diversion, or the charges are dismissed. Also, a defendant is eligible if the charges were dismissed, a "no true bill" was rendered by a grand jury, a jury returned a not-guilty verdict, a conviction is reversed on appeal, or the person was detained by police but not charged.

Anyone who believes this scandal is much ado about nothing because the same records are available to the public via other means is incorrect, Expunged records are deemed by law to no longer exist and are not public record. A politically motivated illegal search of the database for expunged records in order to make them public is a scandal of major proportions and a gross abuse of power on the part of the person or people who sent Lt. Shirley to do it.

According to state law, improper release of expunged records in some circumstances is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by 11 months and 29 days in jail and a $2,500 fine.

Update: WSMV Channel 4 News reported on the 10 p.m. news Monday night that files of expunged records related to some Republican state legislative candidates mysteriously appeared on the desks of two top House Republicans a few months ago, despite the office doors being locked over night, in what appears to be an attempt to intimidate the candidates out of the race. I'll link it when it's live on the web. (Update: Here's the link. Watch the video version.)

The THP is currently investigating itself on this scandal. Until the Bredesen administration turns the investigation over to a completely independent outside agency with no ties to the administration or to any Tennessee political party - a federal probe, for example - the public should have zero confidence that the "investigation" isn't a sham, a delaying tactic or a cover-up.

As a first step, the administration should immediately release the names of the individuals targted by Lt. Shirley for unauthorized background checks. The makeup of that list would go a long way toward answering the question of whether the purpose was a politically partisan search for dirt (and, if so, who might have been behind it).

Update - Tuesday 8/19/08 : WSMV's story from Monday night isn't online yet, but the station's story from last Thursday contains info that increases the odds that Shirley was digging up political dirt on Republicans.