Senators may seek ban on troopers' campaign donations

By TRENT SEIBERT, Staff Writer
Tennessean.com
December 13, 2005


A Senate panel today said it would consider legislation banning the state’s elected officials from accepting campaign contributions from Tennessee Highway Patrol officers, a practice also banned by several other states’ police agencies.

The committee also discussed legislation that would return the THP’s troopers to the oversight of the state Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, a which oversees the ethical and professional conduct of most of the other law enforcement agencies in Tennessee. The legislature removed the THP from POST’s oversight in 1983, a senator said.

The Senate Transportation Committee, led by Sen. Mark Norris, R-Collierville, quizzed Gerald Nicely, the state’s transportation commissioner and the man who Gov. Phil Bredesen tapped last week to fix the Department of Safety, which includes the troubled Highway Patrol.

The two top officials in the Department of Safety were forced out last week, along with the THP’s commander, and Bredesen turned to Nicely to put a new management team in place. He has 60 days to do the job, Bredesen said.

The Senate hearings come after Bredesen made public a TBI report that identified 41 THP officers and non-commissioned employees as having criminal and traffic charges on their records. The governor on Thursday declared the agency rampant with cronyism as he announced a widening probe by the TBI.

The hearings also come after reports in The Tennessean that two-thirds of Tennessee Highway Patrol officers tapped for promotion under Bredesen gave money to his campaign or had family or political patrons who did.

The hearing also addressed the political nature of getting promoted in the THP.

“What it’s come down to is politics,” said committee member Sen. Mae Beavers, R-Mt Juliet. Both Republican and Democratic senators on the committee called for a fix.

Nicely said that a New York-based consulting firm, Kroll Inc.., which was called in to help restructure energy giant Enron, will start assessing the Safety Department on Thursday.

Nicely said it’s likely management changes will come soon. “I’ve just been there for two days, and I’m not into specific changes yet, but I will be soon,” Nicely said.