The Chattanooga Times Free Press has run the following story, reprinted here with permission:
- Lawmaker may return donation by Love
By Ian Berry Staff Writer
A state representative who is considering running for a vacant Tennessee
Senate seat said Wednesday she wasn’t sure if she would return a $150
campaign donation from Chattanoogan Charles Love.
Rep. Barbara Cooper, D-Memphis, said she wasn’t aware that Mr. Love had
made a contribution to her campaign until after federal authorities made
arrests in Operation Tennessee Waltz on May 26. She said she didn’t know the
intent of Mr. Love, a Hamilton County Board of Education member indicted in
the sting.
“I never talked to him,” Rep. Cooper said.
She said she would have to speak with House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh,
D-Covington, and others about the matter.
Several legislators not charged in the federal sting received legal
campaign donations from people associated with E-Cycle Management, the
company operating as a front for the FBI sting. Drew Rawlins, executive
director of the state Registry of Election Finance, said there is no state
regulation requiring return of the money.
Daniel Lowenstein, a UCLA law professor specializing in election law, said
there likely is no requirement that the donations be returned, though they
often are in such circumstances.
“My impression is that the recipients of contributions almost invariably
return them when scandalous intimations arise,” he stated in an e-mail.
State Rep. Ulysses Armstrong, D-Memphis, received a $1,000 campaign
contribution from an FBI informant and said earlier this week he has
contacted authorities about returning it. The state Democratic caucus said
it will return its $200 donation, and the Republican caucus said it will
donate to charity the $1,000 it received.
Other legislators who received contributions, including Rep. Joe
Armstrong, D-Knoxville, Rep. Larry Miller, D-Memphis, and Sen. Jeff Miller,
R-Cleveland, could not be reached for comment.
Rep. Cooper said she didn’t know why Mr. Love would have given her
campaign a $150 check, but she speculated it stemmed from her position on
the House Education Committee.
“I don’t think they were trying to snag someone with $150,” she said.
She also said she had picked up the paperwork necessary to qualify for the
special election to fill the seat of indicted former state Sen. John Ford,
who resigned two days after the scandal broke.
Candidates must get 25 signatures from registered voters to qualify for
the Aug. 5 primary and Sept. 15 general election. The qualifying deadline is
June 23. E-mail Ian Berry at [email protected]