Image Credit: Tennessee House of Representatives / Facebook & capitol.tn.gov
The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –
Former Republican State Representative Robin Smith is set to appear in court as a cooperating witness for the federal government in April.
Smith, who hails from Hixson and served Hamilton County during her time in office, resigned in March of 2022 following a federal indictment on federal wire fraud charges.
Over a year prior in January 2021, federal agents searched Smith’s home and office along with the offices of several other Republican lawmakers at the Tennessee statehouse.
The day after her resignation, Smith pleaded guilty to honest services wire fraud in connection with an illicit campaign vendor that was set up with the knowledge of former House Speaker Glen Casada, and run by his ex-chief of staff, Cade Cothren.
A one time leader of the state GOP, Smith was charged with taking kickbacks from phony vendor Phoenix Solutions.
As part of her plea agreement, Smith will give testimony against Casada and Cothren on April 22nd. The trial is expected to last anywhere from two to four weeks, depending on who you talk to.
Cothren is accused of setting up the bogus firm with a fictitious person — Matthew Phoenix — as its operator. Set up to get payments from a taxpayer-funded program that allowed lawmakers $3,000 annually for mailings to constituents, Cothren headed up the company while sharing profits with Casada and Smith.
According to indictments, the threesome collected over $50,000 in public monies.
Cothren chose to set up the firm in New Mexico, which allows anonymous filings. The use of an alias was deemed necessary as Cothren was forced to leave his post as chief of staff after a scandal that involved racist and sexist texts during Casada’s brief seven-month leadership of the House in 2019.
In addition, Smith used Phoenix for her personal political action committee and pushed for the company to be listed as one of the approved vendors for the House Republican Caucus ahead of the elections in 2020. That measure was approved despite disagreement among GOP Caucus members.
Smith’s criminal sentencing has been deferred several times in order for her to participate fully in the trials against her two former criminal partners. The new date is June 9th at 1pm in Nashville.
About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
