Probe Of Humble Campaign Continued Despite Information Provided That Resolved “Issues”

Despite Providing Information That Resolves Issues That Sparked Probe of Humble Campaign By Registry Of Election Finance, Probe is Continued Through October With Scope Narrowed.

Image Credit: tn.gov via Tennessee Stands – Rumble / article photos provided by Steve Abramowicz

The Tennessee Conservative [By Kelly M. Jackson] –

This past week Tennessee’s Registry of Election Finance voted to continue the probe into whether there was any inappropriate coordination between Gary Humble, a candidate for state Senate in 2022, and Tennessee Stands, a 501 (c)4 which is helmed by Humble. 

Tennessee state law forbids any coordination between organizations and candidates for public office, and additionally requires that any spending that uses a name or image of a candidate be disclosed within 60 days of an election. 

Back in August of last year, Humble narrowly lost the primary election for Tennessee State Senate district 23, which encompasses most of Williamson County, to 16-year incumbent, Jack Johnson by a matter of just 787 votes with a total of 24,153 votes cast. 

In a recent GOP meeting, the Executive Director of Tennessee Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance Bill Young was asked why there was an audit being done for specifically Mr. Humble’s campaign, and not the incumbent Jack Johnson.

Young said, “There are two types of audits that the registry board can do – by statute or by ethics commission.  By statute, we’re required to do a certain number of candidate audits (I think it’s 4% – 4 or 5% for lobbyists as well) – we have to draw those every year.  There’s a process where we have the Attorney General come over and witness the drawing to make sure it’s done fairly.  In addition to that, the registry board has the power to order an audit. In the one you mentioned, they have ordered an audit.  In fact, it’s going to be up for review this week….”

Young said he doesn’t make the decisions and he has no opportunity to vote on which are chosen and which are not. He provided further clarification saying, 

“What I understand the concern was, it’s not saying anything was done inappropriate, it’s just a concern is that there’s an organization Tennessee Stands that I believe Mr. Humble is associated with.  The question that was raised with the registry board is whether any kind of contributions were given by that organization to his campaign…that would have required them to be reported…were there coordination between the two that would have required reporting… and there may not be…The audit is intended to make sure someone complies with the law.   What happens is that the registry board will have people bring things to their attention whether formally or informally and they can make a decision whether to conduct an audit.”  

When the registry voted to move forward with the audit, it was done based on information provided by one of its members, Mr. Tom Lawless, who pointed to a QR code on a single mailer sent out by the campaign, that was tied to a podcast on the Tennessee Stands website, which in the state of Tennessee is not illegal because it is not what would be considered an endorsement. Mr. Humble explained that the podcast was a good example of his values and his body of work for those who were interested in learning more about him. 

Also mentioned during the first meeting when they called for the audit, was what Lawless considered “suspicious” timing of events hosted by Humble’s campaign and Tennessee Stands. Based on that alone, Mr. Lawless was able to convince the rest of the registry that there needed to be a full scale audit of Mr. Humble’s campaign, and ordered a broad swath of campaign related documents be turned over for the registry’s auditor to examine. 

Because the majority of the investigation is predicated on one single mailer sent out by the campaign, Humble through his attorney Mr. Larry Crain, rejected the request for such an extensive examination of all campaign documents, and in this past week’s hearing agreed to provide everything related to the mailer in question. Mr. Humble has already provided all the financial statements that proved the mailer was provided by his campaign alone, and not by Tennessee Stands.  The Registry narrowed the scope to documents from January through September of 2022. Mr. Humble and Mr. Crain agreed to submit the documents. 

The matter was tabled until the meeting in October. Humble gave a statement to the press, he said “I can’t say that I’m happy with the decision that was made as a whole, but I will say I am thankful, seemingly, that they’ve narrowed down the scope…I don’t like to count my chickens before they hatch — we’ll see what they put in writing versus what was stated on the record.”

Watch the hearing below:

Trouble viewing the video above, watch directly on Tennessee Stand’s Rumble channel HERE.

About the Author: Kelly Jackson is a recent escapee from corporate America, and a California refugee to Tennessee. Christ follower, Wife and Mom of three amazing teenagers. She has a BA in Comm from Point Loma Nazarene University, and has a background in law enforcement and human resources. Since the summer of 2020, she has spent any and all free time in the trenches with local grassroots orgs, including Mom’s for Liberty Williamson County and Tennessee Stands as a core member.  Outspoken advocate for parents rights, medical freedom, and individual liberty. Kelly can be reached at kelly@tennesseeconservativenews.com.