This is an important time for Tennessee progressives to decide how to deal to the old line corrupt democratic structure in the state. In the past, dems have been stuck with an old structure that left them divided on appropriate strategy for reform. Now the ball has been kicked directly into the gut of the Tennessee Democratic party.
Picked up from a Redstate.org post by MachoNachos
"The news that hit Nashville like bombshell this morning. Apparently in response to accusations of corruption in public officials, federal and state law enforcement agencies (FBI and TBI) set up a dummy corporation that posed itself as en electronics company seeking favorable conditions for doing business in Tennessee. The company then apparently waited to see who would take the bait, and at least five, and possibly as many as seven current Tennessee lawmakers have been arrested and indicted by the FBI. The Nashville Tennessean is doing their best to keep abreast of this wild, out-of-the-blue story. The Memphis Commercial appeal stunningly has no roundup yet, but I would expect the Commercial Appeal to have more information going forward, as three of the five are from the Memphis area.
The five lawmakers currently confirmed to be under indictment are
--Sen. John Ford, D-Memphis,
--Sen. Ward Crutchfield, D-Chattanooga,
--Sen. Kathryn Bowers, D-Memphis,
--Rep. Chris Newton, R-Cleveland,
--former Senator Boscoe Dixon, D-Memphis.
The charges listed on the indictment are bribery and extortion."
You can read the rest of the post here if you don't have another source for information in Tennessee
http://redstate.org/story/2005/5/26/152045/376
Beginnings of this story here in a Kos Diary from May 26th
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/5/26/233230/366
Howard Dean, wherever you are, you need to get on this NOW!