Another corrupt Tennessee legislator, another federal prison sentence. From Chattanooga Times Free Press:
Former state Rep. Robin Smith, center, arrives at the Fred D. Thompson Federal Courthouse in Nashville with attorney Ben Rose, left. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
This story was originally published by the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
Former state Rep. Robin Smith, R-Hixson, was sentenced Friday to eight months in federal prison for her role in a corruption conspiracy described as a scheme to steal from Tennessee and its citizens through the General Assembly’s taxpayer-funded constituent mail program.
Smith, 62, “failed the trust of the public” and has “been a failure,” she said during her sentencing hearing in Nashville federal court.
“My mom and dad raised me to be much better than this,” Smith said. “I ask for the forgiveness of the public.”
Smith pleaded guilty in March 2022 to one count of honest services wire fraud, a charge regularly used in corruption prosecutions, and agreed to “full, complete and truthful” cooperation with the federal government.
She was fined $7,500 and will be on supervised release for one year after incarceration. Smith cried while addressing the court Friday morning, frequently referencing her Christianity and the debt she said she owes to her family, friends, God and the public.
“There isn’t a day that goes by where that reality doesn’t confront me in a real way,” she said.
Smith, ex-Speaker Glen Casada, R-Franklin, and his one-time chief of staff, Cade Cothren, all played a part in a scheme to illegally profit off the General Assembly’s taxpayer-funded constituent mail program from October 2019 to early January 2021.
As part of Smith’s plea deal, she testified against Casada and Cothren during their May federal trial. It was the right thing to do, and she was simultaneously hoping for leniency in her sentence, she said at the time.
A Nashville jury ultimately found Casada guilty of 17 counts and Cothren guilty of all 19 counts of bribery, conspiracy, fraud, money laundering and theft, according to federal court records.
Both men were sentenced in September.
Casada is expected to serve 36 months in federal prison, one year of probation and pay a $30,000 fine, court records show. Cothren was sentenced to 30 months in prison, one year of probation and a $25,000 fine.
Casada, Cothren and Smith allegedly all helped to create a fake company called Phoenix Solutions, which designed and sent mailers to constituents on behalf of politicians through the use of taxpayer funds.
The group intended to do the work they were hired to do, Smith testified, but they also intended to profit.
The group received nearly $52,000 from the state in payments related to the postage and printing allowance over the course of 2020, according to a trial brief, which stated that Cothren paid Casada and Smith more than $35,000 in bribes and kickbacks during that time.
The scheme allegedly went on into early January 2021.
FBI agents raided Smith’s home that same month.
District Judge Eli J. Richardson said at sentencing that Smith was more involved than Casada in really propping up Phoenix Solutions, pressuring public officials and “spinning a web of fabrications.”
“We have these public officials,” he said. “We elect them to do the right thing.”
And then, in this case, they turn around, lie and deceive, according to Richardson.
“It’s pretty callous stuff, and it’s not a great look,” he said.
Smith led the Hamilton County Republican Party from 1998 until 2002 and was unanimously elected to lead the state GOP in 2007.
She was elected in 2018 to represent state House District 26, which includes parts of central Chattanooga and extends north along Chickamauga Lake, encompassing, among other communities, Hixson, Lakesite, Middle Valley and Sale Creek.
Smith resigned from her seat in March 2022 amid her plea deal.
Her life has been defined by doing good things for others besides this one “stain on her life,” her attorney William David Bridgers said.
She’s dedicated time to nonprofits and the public, has a strong presence within her religious community and cares for her sick mother, he said.
Their crimes began after Cothren resigned in 2019. He allegedly sent sexually explicit and racist text messages and admitted to using cocaine in a legislative office on one occasion, according to reporting by the Associated Press. Casada, who allegedly received some of those messages and sent his own lewd remarks, resigned shortly after.
Smith was part of this scheme to help both men rehabilitate their lives after their “really bad scandal” rather than to scam legislators, Bridgers said.
She knew her actions were morally wrong but didn’t know she committed a crime until the FBI came knocking at her door, he said. She quickly began cooperating with the federal government once she realized the gravity of her actions.
“She had sinned against her God,” Bridgers said. “She had sinned against her family. She had sinned against her government.”
Richardson, apparently in response to Bridger’s arguments, said Smith wouldn’t have taken 25% of the profits if she only wanted to help Casada and Cothren.
“The one way I don’t help out other people is by taking a cut of what they have,” Richardson said.
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