Speaker Sexton Avoids Questions On Cothren Claims

Former Casada chief of staff didn’t accuse Sexton of illegal activity.

Photo: Cade Cothren, ex-chief of staff to former House Speaker Glen Casada, gets into a car outside Nashville’s federal courthouse on August 23 after being arraigned on federal charges. Photo Credit: John Partipilo

By Sam Stockard [Tennessee Lookout -CC BY-NC-ND 4.0] –

House Speaker Cameron Sexton is declining to respond to assertions that Cade Cothren was a “confidante” and helped him in his 2019 speakership bid, claims the embattled former chief of staff made in a federal court filing.

Asked about Cothren’s proclamations this week, Sexton would only say, “that’s him.” In other words, that’s what he says.

“I’m not gonna talk about him. He’s facing an indictment count and federal prosecution. We’ve been very clear that we’ve helped from day one with the federal (investigation), the FBI, that’s been working with the Department of Justice.”

Sexton, who could be called as a government witness after testifying to a grand jury last year, points out the investigation is ongoing. He based that on a report in the Tennessee Journal about a recent court hearing in which Cothren’s attorney said it is still trying to obtain evidence dealing with the House speaker’s office policy on campaign vendors.

Pressed Wednesday on whether Cothren’s claims are untrue, Sexton basically repeated himself, saying, “I’m not gonna address any of that speculation. It has nothing to do with the case at all.”

Which begs the question: If it’s unrelated to the case, why not answer?

Cothren, who was ousted as chief of staff to former Speaker Glen Casada amid a racist and sexist texting scandal in 2019, filed a request in federal court last week to subpoena records from Verizon Communications and Confide Inc. an encrypted messaging service. He says the records will show numerous communications between him and Sexton during 2019 and 2020 when he claims to have been a confidante of the Crossville Republican and whipped votes from lawmakers who still trusted him despite his dismissal.

Sexton won the speaker’s race, while ultimately Cothren fell from grace.

Before that, however, Phoenix Solutions, an upstart New Mexico-based company Cothren is believed to have run, made nearly $52,000 on constituent mailer work for House Republicans and a total of $200,000 on other lawmakers and the House Republican Caucus.

Caucus leaders, including Rep. Johnny Garrett, a Goodlettsville attorney, said they didn’t know who was running Phoenix Solutions. Former Republican Rep. Robin Smith pleaded guilty last year to directing House business to Phoenix Solutions and taking kickbacks in the scheme while covering up the fact Cothren was running Phoenix Solutions.

Under this scenario, Smith knew more than the top four or five people in House Republican leadership. A lot of folks would say that kind of talk isn’t worth diddly-squat.

If they’re as fiscally prudent as they claim to be when talking about the state budget it’s hard to believe they would write a check for tens of thousands of dollars to a vendor without knowing who ran it.

Cothren’s salary as chief of staff for Casada hit the $200,000 mark before his dismissal, when he suddenly found himself without a source of income. It’s a hard habit to break.

Thus, the creation of Phoenix Solutions, Dixieland Strategies and the Family Freedom Fund, all of which used the same Chattanooga postal code, 383, and identical mode of operation. They’re linked to Cothren through testimony, complaints and federal filings.

Since his indictment late last summer — along with Casada — on federal bribery and kickback charges, Cothren has been saying “the truth” will come out. His request for Verizon and Confide records appears to be the first dribble of that claim.

A spokesman for Sexton didn’t respond to Tennessee Lookout questions last week, but Sexton told a reporter with The Tennessean “any accusations suggesting that I had any part in this criminal behavior are categorically false.” 

Cothren, though, only says in the filing he was tight with Sexton, not that the speaker committed any crime. 

The Oct. 3 trial awaits to see whether Cothren will take Sexton all the way to the rack.

About the Author: Sam Stockard is a veteran Tennessee reporter and editor, having written for the Daily News Journal in Murfreesboro, where he served as lead editor when the paper won an award for being the state’s best Sunday newspaper two years in a row. He has led the Capitol Hill bureau for The Daily Memphian. His awards include Best Single Editorial from the Tennessee Press Association. Follow Stockard on Twitter @StockardSam