Thread by @NashvilleResist

We were just talking about @VoteMarsha personal and political scandals. It's not like this is the first time she's failed to report salient information. #TNSen

tennessean.com/story/news/pol…

We know we've already talked about this a lot but it bears repeating. @VoteMarsha's campaign finance chair in '02 and '04 was Kline Preston.

thinkprogress.org/history-of-chr…

(Preston has been close to frmr Russian Senator Alex Torshin for years. Another close associate of Alex Torshin? Vladimir Putin.

Here's Preston with Torshin and @BillHaslam - son of @VoteMarsha's 2018 Senate campaign finance chair. Coincidence?

Here's Torshin with Putin.)

Anyway, while Preston was @VoteMarsha's Finance Chair, it seems the two of them failed to report over $400,000 in campaign contributions. The whole sordid episode came to light after the @FEC wrote THIRTY THREE letters to @VoteMarsha about these violations.

Other allegations included @VoteMarsha payoffs to her children, including almost $50,000 in 2004, when she had no primary or general opposition.

This isn't technically illegal, but it smacks of the kind of cronyism and corruption we've come to expect from @GOP.

Bob Leatherwood, a member of Blackburn's own party, called out her corruption when he ran against her in the @TNGOP primary back in 2008. (He also noted she took over $100,000 in luxury travel paid for by lobbyists.)

nashvillepost.com/politics/artic…

Of course Blackburn also saw to it that her daughter & son in law made $1 million from lobbying. But the two of them didn't talk about issues. Right?

(Just like she never met w/Alex Torshin while Preston, who later became her campaign manager, invited him to TN repeatedly.)

This year Blackburn's the subject of a suit from @TNCitizenAction, which alleges she's illegally coordinating with dark-money PACs.

https://twitter.com/tncitizenaction/status/1035564330572492800

newschannel9.com/news/election/…

But she'd never commit campaign finance violations for which she'd have to pay fines or make remittance, right?

In 2010 Blackburn was named one of the most corrupt members of Congress.

archive.knoxnews.com/news/state/gro…

❓Guess how many results there are for "campaign finance violations @PhilBredesen" and similar terms when searched online?

0️⃣ ZERO.

⚖ Want a government that's not corrupt again? Vote @PhilBredesen for #TNSen.

Bredesen.com/Donate

One more thing: We might note @VoteMarsha's SIL Paul Ketchel and daughter Mary Morgan Ketchel - Marsha's coconspirators of choice - have their fingers all over this newest scandal as well.

We'll be surprised if this is the last impropriety we see from this family affair.

Is it any surprise that in 2017 @VoteMarsha strongly defended a @GOP bill to gut the House Ethics Committee? #TNSen

thehill.com/homenews/house…