House Republicans have moved to distance themselves from a political consulting firm at the center of a federal probe after lawmakers spent nearly $200,000 with the company.
Eight campaigns and two political action committees spent money with the company, Phoenix Solutions, including one of the top Republican House Caucus’ political action committees.
Days after the former Rep. Robin Smith last week resigned and entered a federal plea deal, House Republicans castigated the firm that induced the caucus to spend tens of thousands for campaign and mailing services.
“I have used several vendors through the years. I had no issues with the quality or timeliness of the work,” said Rep. Dan Howell, R-Cleveland. “It seemed professional and I had no cause to question the service at the time. It’s extremely upsetting that our caucus, my colleagues — myself included — were tricked and lied to. The caucus is a victim in this illegal scheme.”
Howell spent about $6,187 with Phoenix Solutions, part of at least $119,000 spent by eight individual lawmakers.
The Tennessee Legislative Campaign Committee, affiliated with the Republican caucus, spent around $44,500, according to The Tennessean’s analysis of campaign finance reports.
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Smith pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud for her involvement in pressing the House Speaker’s Office to approve Phoenix Solutions as a state vendor.
Her plea deal indicates she will cooperate with prosecutors in an ongoing investigation, which has identified former House Speaker Glen Casada and a former top aide, Cade Cothren, as Individuals 1 and 2 in Smith’s charging document. Neither Casada nor Cothren have been charged with a crime, nor have they returned requests for comment.
Smith pleaded guilty to joining Casada and Cothren in setting up the firm in 2019, shielding the identity of its operator under the name Matthew Phoenix, which investigators allege was an alias for Cothren.
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Smith worked to recruit colleagues to do business with the firm, even concocting a fake backstory for Matthew Phoenix to legitimize the business.
Cothren then allegedly cut kickbacks to the two lawmakers from Phoenix’s profits, according to court records.
Smith and Leadership Pioneers, a political action committee which lists her as its officer, spent $74,118 with Phoenix Solutions between Jan. 6, 2020 and Jan. 4, 2021.
Republican Caucus Chair Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby, said “everything was in order” when the caucus reviewed the firm, with someone from the party even calling a number associated with Phoenix and speaking to someone.
“When you have somebody who can look at you, sit at a table with you and straight dog-face lie like that? And they have all the documents,” Faison said. “We would love to be able to stop and make sure that never happens again. I promise you this, any vendor who wants to do business with us moving forward, as long as I’m the caucus chair, there will be greater scrutiny every times.”
House Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland, also called out the scheme saying he was “livid” and “extremely angry” that the caucus paid money to a company they were led to believe was legitimate.
Who spent money with Phoenix Solutions
- Leadership Pioneers spent around $34,679
- Tennessee Legislative Campaign Committee (affiliated with the House Republican Caucus) spent around $44,425
- Rep. Charlie Baum, R-Murfreesboro, spent around $9,164
- Rep. Kent Calfee, R-Kingston, spent around $22,789
- Rep. Mark Hall, R-Cleveland, spent around $1,677
- Rep. Patsy Hazlewood, R-Signal Mountain, spent around $7,303
- Rep. Esther Helton, R-East Ridge, spent around $10,671
- Rep. Dan Howell, R-Cleveland, spent around $6,187
- Rep. Paul Sherrell, R-Sparta, spent around $21,863
- Rep. Robin Smith, R-Hixson, spent around $39,439
Baum, Calfee, Hall and Helton didn’t return the The Tennessean’s request for comment. Hazlewood and Sherell declined to speak with The Tennessean when asked about their payments to Phoenix Solutions.
Adam Friedman and Melissa Brown are The Tennessean’s state government and politics reporter. Reach him by email at [email protected] and her by email at [email protected].
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