Mayors of Murfreesboro, Smyrna face audit, investigation request by state Rep. Stevens
The Murfreesboro and Smyrna mayors soon will face Tennessee officials about a campaign finance audit and investigation request from state Rep. Robert Stevens, R-Smyrna.
The Tennessee Registry of Election Finance will review the audit and investigation request during a 9:30 a.m. March 26 meeting at the Tennessee Tower in downtown Nashville, confirmed Bill Young, the executive director for the Registry.
Stevens is a second-year Republican state lawmaker from Smyrna and a former 12-year member of the Rutherford County Commission.
He wrote the Registry a Jan. 25 letter pertaining to a $7,500 donation from Murfreesboro Mayor Shane McFarland on Nov. 23, 2022, to Tennesseans For Greater Accountability, a Political Action Committee. The PAC then "on the exact same day" donated $7,500 to the campaign account of Smyrna Mayor Mary Esther Reed.
"The Registry's own rules and factors for consideration support the conclusion that this $7,500 transfer was in fact a contribution from Mayor McFarland to Mayor Reed, using the PAC as a conduit to circumvent the individual contribution limit of $1,600," Stevens wrote in his letter to the Registry.
Stevens, who's also an attorney, sent the letter prior to Smyrna voters considering a referendum March 5 supported by Mayor Reed on whether to eliminate a town General Sessions Court.
His sister, Judge Brittany Stevens, presides over the court after winning her eight-year term August 2022 when he won the GOP primary for his state lawmaker seat.
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Mayors Reed, McFarland respond to Stevens' letter
Reed responded to the letter from Stevens to the Registry with the following statement emailed to The Daily News Journal:
"In 2022 I received a check from a political action committee that was legal and under the maximum contribution level. I believe this attack by state Rep. Robert Stevens has nothing to do with his concern over a PAC contribution to my campaign and everything to do with the controversy surrounding the March 5th Smyrna Referendum of the town’s voters to repeal the criminal general sessions jurisdiction of our court."
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"The real reason, I suspect, this PAC contribution from two years ago concerns him now is because the representative’s sister is the judge who would not be guaranteed another term beyond 2030 if the Smyrna voters pass the referendum," Reed said. "I believe that Rep. Stevens is using his position as a state representative in an attempt to weaponize state agencies because of a personal vendetta and political posturing for the monetary benefit of his immediate family member. I am exploring my options with the proper Tennessee authorities regarding his actions and behaviors."
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McFarland through a text message to The Daily News Journal also contends his contribution to the PAC in question at the request of a friend was legal.
"It looks like I'm being drug into the Smyrna Court referendum argument by Rep. Stevens in an effort to make Mayor Reed look bad," McFarland said.
"It's incumbent on elected officials to admit if we make mistakes, and I have made my fair share. I have always been upfront with anything I have ever done, and if I made or make a mistake, it will never be intentional, and I will own it and fix that mistake. This example is no different."
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McFarland concluded his text message to The Daily News Journal by thanking six of seven members of Rutherford County's all-Republican delegation in the Tennessee General Assembly "who fight for Murfreesboro and Rutherford County every day."
McFarland's listed state lawmakers he thanked excluded Stevens. Those listed included five from Murfreesboro: state Reps. Bryan Terry, Tim Rudd and Charlie Baum, and state Sens. Dawn White and Shane Reeves. The other lawmaker the Murfreesboro mayor thanked is state Rep. Mike Sparks of Smyrna.
Stevens previously sought audit, investigation of former Mayor Bill Ketron
Rep. Stevens has brought issues previously to the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance. He made a request July 2019 for the Registry to audit the campaign finance records of former Rutherford County Mayor Bill Ketron, who previously served as a state senator and operated a PAC.
The registry agreed to audit Ketron's three campaign finance accounts before disciplining the former mayor through $135,000 in civil penalties after the audits showed 474 violations of the law.
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The recent letter to the Registry from Stevens mentions a state law about "using a conduit or intermediary" to make a campaign contribution in violation of a Tennessee state statute.
"At the time of the PAC's $7,500 contribution to Mayor Reed on Nov. 23, 2022, the transfer from the PAC to her campaign account would not have been possible without Mayor McFarland's identical $7,500 contribution to the PAC, as the PAC would have had less than $800 available in its bank account," the letter from Stevens said.
"The percentage of available funds given the PAC to Mary Esther Reed for Mayor on Nov. 23, 2022, was therefore greater than 90% of its available cash on hand."
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McFarland contributed to federal GOP accounts
The letter from Stevens also noted that the PAC that was registered with the state Dec. 17, 2017, had only made direct contributions to candidates November 2022. The PAC contributed $2,000 each to three of Reed's fellow Smyrna Town Council members Nov. 22, 2022, the day before giving her $7,500.
The letter also said that McFarland had no prior history of donating money to the PAC before his $7,500 contribution.
"In fact, McFarland had no prior history of making contributions to any Political Action Committee registered with the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance," Stevens said in his letter.
McFarland, however, did contribute $500 in 2014 to a Tennessee Republican Party Federal Election Account and $100 to WinRed in 2020, the Stevens' letter noted.
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Stevens criticizes McFarland's campaign donation amounts
McFarland's donations to candidates for state offices is $4,650, including $500 through one of the mayor's companies, and no single contribution exceeded $1,000, based on Tennessee Registry of Election Finance records, according to the letter from Stevens.
The Murfreesboro mayor's lifetime donations to candidates and PACs for federal offices is $4,142 with no single contribution exceeding $1,000, according to Federal Election Commission records, the letter added.
"Therefore, McFarland's $7,500 contribution to Tennesseans For Greater Accountability was both the first and only time that McFarland had donated to a Tennessee state registered PAC and was also far and away the single largest political donation of his entire life," Stevens wrote in his letter to the Registry.
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The letter also accuses McFarland of violating campaign finance law through seven transactions:
Five individual contributions, reported by McFarland in 2022 on June 16 and June 20, to the Murfreesboro mayor of $2,500 each, which exceeds the legally permissible maximum amount by $900.
Two individual contributions, reported by McFarland in 2022 on June 16 and June 21, to the Murfreesboro mayor of $2,000 each, which exceeds the legally permissible maximum amount by $400.
"I am once again asking the Registry, on its own initiative, to conduct a full and thorough audit and investigation of the campaign finance accounts of Mayor Esther Reed, Tennesseans For Greater Accountability and Shane McFarland," Stevens said in his letter.
"As a public official myself, I believe that transparency in campaign finances is essential for the public to be able to make informed decisions. I also believe we should conduct ourselves with honesty, integrity and accountability to ensure that our constituents receive the good government that they expect and deserve from us. It is in this spirit that I am asking the Registry to investigate these matters."
Reach reporter Scott Broden with news tips or questions by emailing him at sbroden@dnj.com. To support his work with The Daily News Journal, sign up for a digital subscription.
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This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: Mayors of Murfreesboro, Smyrna face audit and investigation request
