State officials dismissed campaign finance complaints Thursday against two mayors in Rutherford County and a political action committee.
Rep. Robert Stevens, R-Smyrna, filed the sworn complaint May 2024 with the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance against Murfreesboro Mayor Shane McFarland, Smyrna Mayor Mary Esther Reed and the PAC, Tennesseans for Great Accountability.
Stevens contends the mayors used the PAC illegally in November 2022 as a conduit to exceed campaign contribution limits of $1,600 per donor by McFarland giving $7,500 to the PAC and the PAC soon giving $7,500 to Reed.
The registry unanimously dismissed the complaint after registry member Henry Fincher suggested that $7,500 donation to and from the PAC is within acceptable limits of the law that he worked on crafting as a former Democratic state representative from Cookeville where he works as an attorney.
Stevens after the vote disagreed with Fincher’s interpretation of the law expressed during a meeting Thursday at Tennessee Tower near the state Capitol in Nashville.
“It’s disappointing an unelected committee just changed contribution limits as long as you give through a PAC,” said Stevens, who’s also an attorney with an office in Smyrna.
Robert Stevens
Government accountability: Murfreesboro Mayor Shane McFarland faces investigation by DA over campaign finances
State Rep. Robert Stevens, R-Smyrna, consults with Tennessee Registry of Election Finance general counsel Lauren Topping Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025, about documents involving his complaint against Murfreesboro Mayor Shane McFarland, Smyrna Mayor Mary Esther Reed and a political action committee.
Stevens: ‘The system is rigged’
The registry members also ignored the suggestion from Stevens that they require Mayor Reed to reimburse the PAC $5,900 to give back to Mayor McFarland to be within the $1,600 donation limit in 2022.
Stevens also contends the registry members should have made the PAC reveal a $1,700 expenditure for advertising to show what the message was supporting or opposing, “so we’ll never know what that was for,” Stevens said.
“Our system works when everyone plays by the same rules,” Stevens said. “When a select few get to skirt the rules, it leads people to believe the system is rigged.”
Prior to the decision, the registry’s Executive Director Bill Young told the committee that the state has seen a huge increase in sworn complaints recently, including eight on Thursday’s agenda, from people wanting transparency in campaign donations and expenditures.
Young suggested that transparency is important for campaign finance records that can cause concerns when not listing donors or exceeding contribution limits.
Money and politics: Rep. Stevens refiles sworn complaint after TN Registry of Election Finance rejects his initial unsworn complaint
PAC official: ‘This seems like a frivolous attack’
Mike Terry, a political action committee leader with Tennesseans for Greater Accountability, speaks Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025, to the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance about his PAC’s role in donating to the campaign of Smyrna Mayor Mary Esther Reed.
Tennesseans for Greater Accountability representative Mike Terry told the registry that he made the decisions November 2022 mentioned in the complaint on the campaign contribution of $7,500 to Reed, as well as $2,000 each to Smyrna Vice Mayor Marc Adkins and fellow Smyrna Town Council members H.G. Cole and Gerry Short.
“I wrote the checks,” Terry said.
Terry after the meeting confirmed that he has served as a campaign consultant for Mayor McFarland, Mayor Reed and the three Smyrna Town Council candidates named in the sworn complaint from Stevens.
“This seems like a frivolous attack,” Terry said.
Terry also told the registry that he consulted with Rutherford County elections administrator Alan Farley in advance about the legal and appropriate process for the PAC to donate to Mayor Reed and the three Smyrna council members named in the complaint.
Mayors get more time to respond: Campaign finance complaint hearing against Reed and McFarland postponed
Mayor McFarland corrects other campaign finance violations
The complaint also mentioned Mayor McFarland accepting seven donations for his reelection campaign in 2022 that exceeded the $1,600 limits.
The registry in July 2024 asked Rutherford County’s District Attorney General Jennings Jones to investigate the complaints about the Murfreesboro mayor.
McFarland worked to correct the violations by either reimbursing the exceeded limits to donors or reclassifying the donations as coming from within the $1,600 limits from separate contributions of a husband and a wife, registry officials learned from staff general counsel Lauren Topping.
Topping added that this is a common mistake made by campaigns.
Election results in 2022; Shane McFarland remains Murfreesboro mayor; Scales-Harris retains council seat
Reach reporter Scott Broden with news tips or questions by emailing him at sbroden@dnj.com. To support his work with The Daily News Journal, sign up for a digital subscription.
This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: State dismisses election finance complaints against 2 Rutherford mayors
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