Lobbyists involved in sting may have violated state laws
Charles Love of Chattanooga and Timothy Willis of Memphis were registered as lobbyists in 2004, Drew Rawlins, director of the state Registry of Election Finance, said Wednesday. Both men have made political donations to legislators.
Willis was a “cooperating witness” who allegedly paid a bribe to former state Sen. John Ford of Memphis during the sting operation dubbed the “Tennessee Waltz.”
Love also registered as a lobbyist this year, listing “Charles Love and Associates” as a client. He also tried to register last week with E-Cycle Management Services Inc. as a client, just a day before federal agents began making arrests in the sting. E-Cycle was a fake company set up by the FBI as part of the sting.
Rawlins said Love’s form listing E-Cycle as a client was faxed last Wednesday, but he sent the form back to Love because it was invalid. Rawlins said he has heard nothing from Love since.
Love’s attempted registration for E-Cycle was invalid because it was not signed by a representative of the client company, Rawlins said.
Also Wednesday, state Rep. Chris Newton, R-Cleveland, one of the four arrested legislators, said he was withdrawing legislation pushed by E-Cycle because an unregistered lobbyist was involved.
Arrested along with Ford and Newton were Democratic Sens. Kathryn Bowers and Ward Crutchfield, and former state Sen. Roscoe Dixon, a Democrat.
Love, a lobbyist from Chattanooga, and Barry Myers, a Memphis resident, are charged with being “bagmen” for the payoffs.
Love and Willis may have broken state laws in several ways, said Rawlins, whose agency is responsible for enforcing both campaign finance and lobbying laws. Rawlins plans to present information on possible violations to the Registry of Election Finance board at its next meeting June 8 and let the board decide whether to pursue charges.
Neither Love nor Willis registered as a lobbyist for E-Cycle and could therefore face charges for failure to register as lobbyists. Indictments returned against legislators and testimony in Ford’s court hearings make it appear they both tried to influence legislation, even through payment of bribes.
“The question would be whether they were paid by E-Cycle. I don’t have any proof of that,” Rawlins said. “And, I guess, you could argue that if E-Cycle wasn’t a real company, then they didn’t have to register.”
Also, Willis failed to file a required “lobbyist activities report” for 2004, while Love filed the report last year when he was registered for two different clients but declared on his form that he had given no political contributions to legislators. Campaign finance records show he made donations to Reps. Joe Armstrong, D-Knoxville; Larry Miller, D-Memphis; and Barbara Cooper, D-Memphis, in 2004.
Love also was making donations this year, which would not have to be disclosed until later.
In addition, Love’s donations to Armstrong totaled $1,100. He donated $600 on Oct. 14 as an individual and then gave another $500 on Oct. 22 that was reported by Armstrong as received from “Charles Love and Associates PAC.” Love never registered as a political action committee.
Armstrong said he plans to refund at least $100 of the Love donations and may return the entire $1,100.
Armstrong said he has known Love, a Hamilton County School Board member and former director of the Urban League in Chattanooga, for about 20 years and had received contributions from him several times in the past.