| RuCo Ethics Committee forwards complaint to DA |
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By: MICHELLE WILLARD, Post Staff Writer
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Posted: Thursday, March 19, 2009 1:19 pm
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An ethics complaint filed against Commissioner Trey Gooch and County Attorney Jim Cope has been sent to the district attorney.
Ethics Committee Chairman and Commissioner John Rodgers said the committee vote Wednesday night to forward the complaint on to the district attorney’s office, because of alleged violations of Tennessee state law.
“We just felt uncomfortable deciding whether they violated the statute,” Rodgers said.
The committee did find neither Gooch or Cope violated the financial interest section of the county ethics code, but may have violated a section that prohibits illegal behavior.
“The committee elected to forward that aspect of the complaint to the district attorney for further review,” Rodgers said, adding the district attorney is better suited to gather and review evidence to decide whether a law may have been broken.
County resident Avent Lane filed paperwork with County Mayor Ernest Burgess last week alleging Gooch broke state law when he distributed a letter written by the county attorney to parties in opposition to Bible Park USA.
Lane alleged this was a violation of Tennessee state law dealing with the use of official information. The letter was written in regard to a clause in the Rutherford County zoning resolution that allows for surrounding landowners to protest proposed development with petitions.
Gooch then testified in the Shelton case he provided the county attorney’s letter and a sample petition to John L. Batey for use in opposition to the Bible Park.
When the Bible Park was before the county commission last May, surrounding landowners produced protest petitions that forced a two-thirds majority vote on a rezoning request. The vote subsequently fell two votes short for approval.
Even Judge Robert Corlew believed the county attorney was in the wrong, which he said in a ruling in favor of the Shelton family. The Sheltons sued the county challenging the commission’s denial of the park’s rezoning request.
Michelle Willard can be contacted at 615-869-0816 or mwillard@murfreesboropost.com. |
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