Two Democrat appointees on the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance may have found a way to let ex-state Sen. Jerry Cooper keep $80,000 of the $95,000 he stole from his campaign contributors a few years ago.

Today, according to news reports, they caused the TREF to ask the state attorney general if state law permits the TREF to fine Cooper $120,000 for his crime, or if the fine is limited by state law to 15 percent of the “amount in controversy.”

While the TREF can not and should not levy a fine that it is not legally empowered to levy, Tennessee Republicans note with interest that Democrats seem less concerned with punishing Sen. Cooper for his theft than they are with protecting his pocketbook.

“Instead of trying to find ways to help a thieving Democrat keep his ill-gotten money, Democrats on the Registry of Election Finance should be calling for reform to close the ‘Cooper Loophole’,” said Bill Hobbs, communications director for the Tennessee Republican Party. “Instead, we’re just seeing more of the same peculiar kind of arrogance we’ve been seeing lately from Tennessee Democrats in power. Perhaps Gov. Bredesen was right when he said recently that people are seeing more instances of corruption among Tennessee Democrats lately because Democrats been in power for a long time.”

Robin Smith, chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party, said, “The people of Tennessee should stand for no more from arrogant Democrats who seem to want their own to escape serious punishment for serious offenses. Sen. Cooper stole money and yet other Democrats are asking that he essentially go unpunished.

“Will we next see a Democrat state legislator evading arrest after a drunken car crash, then being arrogant enough to continue to serve?,” Smith said. “Or will we see a Democrat governor thumb his nose at local building restrictions while spending almost $11 million of tax money on the Governor’s Mansion after telling us it would be funded mostly with private donations?”

### TNGOP.org
December 12, 2007

Contact:
Bill Hobbs
Communications Director
Tennessee Republican Party
2424 21st Avenue, Suite 200
Nashville, TN 37212
billhobbs@tngop.org