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Welcome to Capitol Hill
Fifty Years of Scandal in Tennessee Politics
by Joel Ebert and Erik Schelzig
Foreword by Bill Haslam
Veteran political reporters Joel Ebert and Erik Schelzig draw from interviews, archival documents, and never-before-seen federal investigative files to provide readers with a handy resource about the wrongdoings of our elected officials.
Cast of Characters
Introduction
Chapter One: From “Miracle Man” to “Pardon Me Ray”
Chapter Two: The Butcher Collapse
Chapter Three: Operation Rocky Top
Chapter Four: John Ford and the Tennessee Waltz
Chapter Five: Representative Pants Candy
Chapter Six: Casada’s Crash Landing
Chapter Seven: Trouble with Campaign Cash
Epilogue: The Same Old Song
Appendix: Tennessee Lawmakers Behaving Badly
Notes
Resources
Joel Ebert joined the University of Chicago's Institute of Politics in 2021 after nearly a decade of reporting on state legislatures and government, including for the Capital Journal in Pierre, South Dakota, the Charleston Daily Mail and the Charleston Gazette-Mail in West Virginia, and The Daily Line in Illinois. After joining the Tennessean in 2016, Ebert reported on serial sexual harassment allegations against then-Rep. Jeremy Durham that ultimately resulted in his ouster from the House, broke several developments in the scandal leading to Rep. Glen Casada becoming the first House speaker to fail to complete his full term in 126 years, and launched a political podcast, Grand Divisions. Ebert earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Erik Schelzig was named the editor of the Tennessee Journal in 2018 after twelve years as an Associated Press statehouse correspondent in Nashville, where he chronicled the state’s changeover from Democratic to Republican control. He previously worked for the wire service in West Virginia and Florida, where he covered governor’s races won by Joe Manchin and Jeb Bush. Schelzig started his career with the Center for Public Integrity’s International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and later spent a year in Germany covering the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks as a visiting reporter for the Washington Post and the news magazine Der Spiegel. Schelzig has a master’s degree in political science from George Washington University.
“Political scandal is as endemic to Tennessee as the Grand Ole Opry. In this rollicking account, Joel Ebert and Erik Schelzig unwind squalid tales of larceny in high places that will make you howl.”
—David Axelrod, former Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama
“Joel and Erik are my favorite kind of journalists. They ask tough questions of politicians and policymakers—people who don’t always want to answer such—and they remember the factual details. This book ought to be read by every citizen and the aspiring leaders who ask for their votes.”
—Keel Hunt, author of Coup: The Day the Democrats Ousted Their Governor, Put Republican Lamar Alexander in Office Early, and Stopped a Pardon Scandal
“Joel Ebert and Erik Schelzig are uniquely qualified to write authoritatively on many of the Tennessee political scandals in the book because they either reported on the events in real-time or subsequently covered the players involved in them. A riveting examination.”
—Adam C. Kleinheider, former journalist and Tennessee Senate communications director
While they weren’t the first to face public fervor, federal charges, or falls from grace, history instructs they won’t be the last. Tales of corruption and government officials in Tennessee are as old as the state itself.
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