‘Tennessee Waltz’ bribery sting top Tennessee story in 2005
Federal agents charged Rep. Chris Newton; Sens. Kathryn Bowers, Ward Crutchfield and John Ford; and former Sen. Roscoe Dixon with bribery and conspiracy in a sting dubbed “Tennessee Waltz.”
The federal undercover operation was chosen as the top news story of 2005 by the member newspaper editors and broadcasters of The Associated Press.
FBI agents set up a sham business called E-Cycle Management that offered cash bribes to lawmakers. Since the initial arrests, other officials have admitted to receiving money from the undercover agents and subsequent indictments against Shelby and Hamilton County officials have been announced.
The arrests gave the state Legislature a black eye and spurred lawmakers to take a critical look at ethical reforms needed to restore public confidence. Gov. Phil Bredesen has called a special session for early January to adopt tougher ethics legislation.
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2. Bredesen’s announcement last year to cut TennCare enrollees topped 2004’s list, but due to months of federal court decisions and appeals, disenrollment did not begin until August.
In the days leading up to and after the disenrollment date, protesters spent more than 70 days sleeping in the Capitol and holding rallies across the state.
In the end, 191,000 people lost TennCare coverage, much fewer than the initial estimation of 423,000. However, the state’s safety net has been heavily criticized as both inadequate and poorly advertised.
Most recently, TennCare’s director announced that because of the reforms, TennCare would soon be allowing 15,000 of the state’s sickest adults back onto the program.
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3. Prosecutors say Jennifer Hyatte compared herself and her husband George to Depression-era bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde in a diary she wrote in her jail cell.
The Hyattes staged a daring escape from the Roane County Courthouse west of Knoxville in August, but they were captured one day later. They now face murder charges for the shooting of one guard.
Jennifer’s relationship with George, which began while he was a prisoner in the facility where she worked as a nurse, brought nationwide attention to relationships between prisoners and facility employees.
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4. The return of Tennessee’s 278th Regimental Combat Unit from Iraq in October was for many Tennessee communities a joyous occasion full of laughter and embraces.
Small towns all over the state waited anxiously for their hometown men and women to arrive from Camp Shelby, a training base just south of Hattiesburg, Miss., eager to have them home in time for Thanksgiving.
However, the celebrations were bittersweet as 10 soldiers from the unit died during their yearlong deployment.
It was the largest single deployment of Tennessee National Guard soldiers since World War II with more than 3,200 Tennesseans.
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5. Federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission opened an investigation into U.S. Sen. Bill Frist’s order to sell all his stock in HCA Inc., the hospital company founded by his father and brother.
Frist, the Senate majority leader who is considering a run for the White House in 2008, said he ordered the sales to avoid the appearance of a conflict on interest.
Frist had placed his HCA stock in a Senate blind trust, but the rules allowed him to order the trustee to sell off the shares.
The sales were completed by July 1, near the stock’s 52-week peak and two weeks before share prices fell 9 percent.
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6. Following a series of investigative stories by The Tennessean newspaper in Nashville, top officials at the Highway Patrol and Safety Department stepped down and the governor vowed to clean up the state’s top traffic enforcement agency.
Bredesen said he planned to repair a long-standing culture of cronyism at the patrol, which has faced allegations of ticket fixing, political favoritism in promotions, and the revelation that dozens of troopers had criminal records.
Highway Patrol commander Col. Lynn Pitts was forced to resign after he purchased a boat that had been confiscated by the patrol. That was followed by the resignation of Safety Commissioner Fred Phillips and the retirement of Deputy Commissioner Tom Moore.
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7. In November, a Campbell County High School assistant principal was killed as he and two other administrators tried to wrestle a gun away from a 14-year-old student.
Lauded as heroes who kept others from getting hurt, assistant principal Ken Bruce died and Principal Gary Seale and Assistant Principal Jim Pierce were wounded.
Kenneth Bartley was charged in the shooting. A Jan. 31 hearing will be held to decide if he can be tried as an adult.
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8. After Hurricane Katrina pummeled the Gulf Coast, an estimated 20,000 displaced residents came to Memphis and other cities in Tennessee.
All over the state, Tennesseans pitched in to accommodate the evacuees who came here to stay, whether it was permanent or not. Shelters helped people connect with relatives, find housing, apply for funds, look for jobs and all the other necessities of life.
While specific numbers are nearly impossible to track down, many evacuees have said that Tennessee will now be their permanent home.
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9. Nissan announced in November that it will move its North American headquarters from Southern California to Tennessee. The move brings 1,300 jobs to the Nashville area and state economic experts predict that Nissan’s relocation could encourage more businesses to invest in the state.
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10. The Memphis political scene has been dominated by the Ford family since the 1970s, but several ethical problems for former state Sen. John Ford came to a culmination with the Tennessee Waltz indictment.
Ford, a Senate Democrat for more than 30 years, announced his resignation in May, only days after his nephew, Harold Ford Jr., announced his campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2006.
John Ford was the only lawmaker indicted for threatening to kill an undercover agent and reportedly told the FBI that “you are talking to the guy that makes the deals.”
List of the Top 10 stories in Tennessee in 2005
1. Lawmakers charged with bribery and corruption in “Tennessee Waltz” sting.
2. Thousands cut from TennCare.
3. Woman charged with fatal shooting of guard outside Roane County Courthouse while helping husband escape from jail.
4. The 278th Regimental Combat Team of the Tennessee National Guard returns home after losing 10 soldiers in Iraq.
5. Federal investigation into U.S. Sen. Bill Frist’s sale of stock in the hospital company founded by his family begins.
6. Safety Department commissioner and Tennessee Highway Patrol commander resign amid escalating allegations of mismanagement.
7. Fourteen-year-old boy charged with fatally shooting assistant principal and wounding two other as Campbell County High School.
8. Memphis takes in about 10,000 people fleeing Hurricane Katrina.
9. Nissan moves North American headquarters from California to suburban Nashville.
10. Memphis lawmaker John Ford resigns from state Senate amid ethics scandals.
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Other stories receiving a high number of votes:
— About 16,000 soldiers from Fort Campbell’s 101st Airborne deployed to Iraq for the second time.
— Legislature passes ethics reform package, promises more reform in 2006.
— UT’s football team starts season ranked No. 3; ends season 5-6 and misses bowl game for first time since 1988.
— Legislature sets tougher penalties for meth manufacturers and makes meth ingredients harder to get.
— General Motors announced plans to shut down a line at the Saturn plant in Spring Hill.