Hobbit
Senior Member
I heard about this story a few months ago while travelling between home and college (much of the trip is spent in Tennessee), but neglected to report it. Now, I've recieved a bit more information during my Christmas break, when I visited my grandparents who live near Memphis (and, as such, get Memphis TV channels).
Basically, it goes like this. The FBI suspected that some members of the Tennessee state congress were taking bribes in exchange for making the legal environment 'friendly' to a few businesses. As such, they set up a fake company by the name of E-Cycle Management Inc. (electronic companies require few 'hardware' facilities and are easy to fake). The whole thing was dubbed "Operation Tennessee Waltz." Sure enough, a few officials showed up and implied that a few greenbacks might smoothe operations and make a few costly regulations go away. In the end, five politicians and a few of their subordinates were caught, 3 state senators, 1 former state senator, and 1 state representative.
You can find all the details here .
Now, corrupt politicians aren't necissarily big news outside of their districts. However, it gets better. When I first heard this story, a lot of news commentators and opinion columnists labeled this as a Republican set-up meant to target Democrats and gain power in the state congress. This was said, of course, because only one Republican, the state representative, was caught in the operation. The rest were Democrats. Other news sources talked a lot about the Republican guy but never even mentioned the political affiliations of the others. This was further propogated by the fact that one of the senators, John Ford, comes from one of the most influential (and corrupt) political families in the entire state. On the other hand, a local talk guy on the radio was quick to point out that the FBI simply "dangled the hook to see who would bite," and that the sting was party-neutral.
Now, this is actually pretty interesting, but it gets even BETTER.
In the recent local elections, new officials were elected to replace the arrested officials, and John Ford's sister was elected to replace him by a mere 15 votes. Her opponent challenged the election, and so far, 5 (I think) dead people have been found to have loved her so much, that they rose from the grave just to vote for her, meaning that a full investigation must be conducted before she can take office, assuming, of course, that she doesn't end up sharing a cell with her brother.
The whole thing's just crazy, so I thought I'd share it.
Basically, it goes like this. The FBI suspected that some members of the Tennessee state congress were taking bribes in exchange for making the legal environment 'friendly' to a few businesses. As such, they set up a fake company by the name of E-Cycle Management Inc. (electronic companies require few 'hardware' facilities and are easy to fake). The whole thing was dubbed "Operation Tennessee Waltz." Sure enough, a few officials showed up and implied that a few greenbacks might smoothe operations and make a few costly regulations go away. In the end, five politicians and a few of their subordinates were caught, 3 state senators, 1 former state senator, and 1 state representative.
You can find all the details here .
Now, corrupt politicians aren't necissarily big news outside of their districts. However, it gets better. When I first heard this story, a lot of news commentators and opinion columnists labeled this as a Republican set-up meant to target Democrats and gain power in the state congress. This was said, of course, because only one Republican, the state representative, was caught in the operation. The rest were Democrats. Other news sources talked a lot about the Republican guy but never even mentioned the political affiliations of the others. This was further propogated by the fact that one of the senators, John Ford, comes from one of the most influential (and corrupt) political families in the entire state. On the other hand, a local talk guy on the radio was quick to point out that the FBI simply "dangled the hook to see who would bite," and that the sting was party-neutral.
Now, this is actually pretty interesting, but it gets even BETTER.
In the recent local elections, new officials were elected to replace the arrested officials, and John Ford's sister was elected to replace him by a mere 15 votes. Her opponent challenged the election, and so far, 5 (I think) dead people have been found to have loved her so much, that they rose from the grave just to vote for her, meaning that a full investigation must be conducted before she can take office, assuming, of course, that she doesn't end up sharing a cell with her brother.
The whole thing's just crazy, so I thought I'd share it.
She should get jail time for participating fraud, if the charges are true.
