Crutchfield resigns Senate leadership posts
Crutchfield, D-Chattanooga, in a letter dated June 16 quit his posts as deputy speaker and secretary of the Finance Committee. In the letter, made public Monday by Senate Majority leader Ron Ramsey, Crutchfield said he is innocent and has no plans to leave the Senate seat he has held since returning to the Legislature in 1985.
“I will continue to represent the people of the 10th Senatorial District as their senator,” Crutchfield, 76, wrote in his letter to Senate Speaker John Wilder, D-Mason.
Crutchfield wrote the letter a day after he pleaded not guilty to federal bribery and extortion charges in connection with the FBI’s Tennessee Waltz sting. Crutchfield is accused of taking $12,000 from FBI agents pretending to work for a company called E-Cycle Management Inc.
Also arrested in the sting were former state Sen. John Ford, who was accused of accepting $55,000 in bribes, along with state Sen. Kathryn Bowers, D-Memphis; state Rep. Chris Newton, R-Benton; former state Sen. Roscoe Dixon, a Democrat from Memphis; and Charles Love and Barry Myers, accused of being “bagmen” for the payoffs.
The indictment quotes Crutchfield as thanking an E-Cycle representative for “being my friend” after a payoff was made to Love. While Love, a Chattanooga lobbyist, is accused of handling bribes for Crutchfield, the indictment charges the senator with personally accepting two envelopes containing $1,500 each.
All the accused have pleaded innocent except Newton, who will appear in court Wednesday.
Ramsey previously told Crutchfield, 76, that he automatically would lose the leadership posts under Senate rules unless he contested the actions in a hearing.
“I feel like nobody wanted a hearing, because the outcome would have been the same,” Ramsey said Monday.
In his letter, Crutchfield referred to his own previously stated belief that no immediate action was necessary on his case since the Legislature is not in session.
“I had noted the lack of any business to come before the Senate requiring my duties in a leadership role in the immediate future as a reason for me not to take any action at this time regarding my leadership positions,” Crutchfield said, citing an earlier letter he sent to Ramsey. “I have (pleaded) not guilty to the indictment filed against me and look forward to clearing my name in court at the appropriate time. I have done nothing wrong.”
“In the meantime, however,” Crutchfield wrote, “it appears my continued service in a leadership role, inactive as it is, causes concern for some of our colleagues and some of the public. Because of that, as well as my sincere wish to not have my trial be a distraction to the important matters before the Senate, I hereby resign my leadership roles.”
Wilder had named Crutchfield, a longtime friend, to the newly created deputy speaker post earlier this year after Crutchfield lost his position as Democratic leader in a caucus vote.
In his role as secretary on the Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee, Crutchfield helped the chairman and vice chairman schedule bills and was consulted on budgetary and related matters.
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Information from: Chattanooga Times Free Press, www.timesfreepress.com