| The Rhea County Newspaper |
| "Rhea County's REAL Information Source" |
The Herald-News consistently prints the name of State Representative Jim Cobb in just
about every newspaper edition they print. And yes, you guessed it, it is all good stuff. Never
anything bad. Maybe there is nothing bad to print. Who knows.
Hey, I believe that Jim Cobb is a pretty good guy and he fits right in with the other “good old
boys” quite nicely. He has that “look” about him and with his gray hair all he needs is a
beard and a burlap sack along with a trusty stick and he could pass himself off as Moses.
It appears that Rep. Cobb (Rhea County & N. Hamilton County) has been accused of using
official stationary to ask for money donations seeking up to $1,000 to his campaign.
Now you must be asking, is it legal for a state representative to use official state stationary
to solicit campaign funds?
Well, personally I don’t know. But if you break it down you could ask these questions. Can a
sheriff or any other elected official use his official county issued car/truck for political
purposes? Can the sheriff or any other elected official use county gasoline to travel all over
the county conducting fund raisers? Can a sheriff or any other elected official actually have
their public employees actually deliver mail to every mail box inside the city limits and avoid
paying postage? If so, is that not a federal postal crime under USC Title 39?
If it is not a crime, then why do we all buy postage stamps?
So to find the answer as to Cobb’s fund raising techniques may require just simply doing
like everyone else which is, simply believe his explanation and go on about your business.
After all, it is only tax dollars, right? Or is it…According to Cobb, it isn't tax dollars involved.
Rep. Cobb‘s explanation is quite simple. "It is not state stationery," the freshman lawmaker
said. "It is paid for by Jim Cobb, because I took my letterhead and copied it on my copier. So
none of that is state legislative stationery. That's the way I do all my stuff. Anything that I
send out goes through my copy machine at home. It's not paid for by the taxpayer.", said
State Rep. Jim Cobb.
Now you can add into the equation all the eternal mindless chatter of “Nothing ever goes
wrong with elections in Tennessee” state election officials who said, “even if a legislator did
use taxpayer resources for campaign solicitations, it apparently would fall into the gray
area”, and POOF... Instant explanation.
Believe it or not because obviously there is not a single thing you can do about it, is there?
Now someone, please e-mail me and explain to me just what sort of B.S. is that? Surely to
goodness these people do not think of us Tennessee folks as complete idiots. We all
should be insulted.
It seems that all I’m doing is standing on a crest of a big hill waving a big flag, hollering all
this stuff and wondering the whole time why everyone is shootin’ at me. Geeeez Us.
As if that isn‘t enough, we have the State Election Coordinator Brook Thompson, the
Tennessee Ethics Commission Executive Director Bruce Androphy (I almost typed Bruce
Almighty) and Tennessee Registry of Election Director Drew Rawlins each saying that
“statutes outlining their respective agencies’ duties do not address such issues”.
Who in the heck are these dudes with all these fancy high dollar titles who are telling us that
they really do not know if what Cobb did was illegal or not, but even if it was illegal it is in
the “gray area”.
Hey, next time you get a speeding ticket be sure and tell the judge that “sure I was speeding
however, I was not meaning to speed with any sort of malice or intent. I did have every
intention of not breaking the law whenever may have broken the law my 3 stooge buddies
up in Nashville said it’s okay”.
Yep, I dare YOU to tell that to the judge. I want to be there to click the digital picture of the 10
days in jail expression you‘ll have etched on your face.
In any event, the whole thing may or may not be nothing. In fact, as I said earlier, I was in the
middle of typing a story about how the Herald-News once again got busted except this time
it is so obvious the chickens have refused to reply to e-mails as well as phone calls.
Personally, I hate a cheater and I think this situation with Jim Cobb should be investigated
by someone NOT in authority and find out the truth, then use that information to expose
him, IF he (Cobb) did any thing wrong. If nothing was done wrong, or it was some sort of
dumb accident and Cobb isn’t the Mr. Perfect he wants us to believe he is, then by all
means, let’s all load up and run down and eat free hot dogs at his campaign events.
Click here to see the actual letter that Rep. Jim Cobb mailed. I looked at it and it sure looks
like authentic state capital lawmakers stationary to me. Then again, a counterfeit $20 bill
would look real to me.
We report, you be the judge…
about every newspaper edition they print. And yes, you guessed it, it is all good stuff. Never
anything bad. Maybe there is nothing bad to print. Who knows.
Hey, I believe that Jim Cobb is a pretty good guy and he fits right in with the other “good old
boys” quite nicely. He has that “look” about him and with his gray hair all he needs is a
beard and a burlap sack along with a trusty stick and he could pass himself off as Moses.
It appears that Rep. Cobb (Rhea County & N. Hamilton County) has been accused of using
official stationary to ask for money donations seeking up to $1,000 to his campaign.
Now you must be asking, is it legal for a state representative to use official state stationary
to solicit campaign funds?
Well, personally I don’t know. But if you break it down you could ask these questions. Can a
sheriff or any other elected official use his official county issued car/truck for political
purposes? Can the sheriff or any other elected official use county gasoline to travel all over
the county conducting fund raisers? Can a sheriff or any other elected official actually have
their public employees actually deliver mail to every mail box inside the city limits and avoid
paying postage? If so, is that not a federal postal crime under USC Title 39?
If it is not a crime, then why do we all buy postage stamps?
So to find the answer as to Cobb’s fund raising techniques may require just simply doing
like everyone else which is, simply believe his explanation and go on about your business.
After all, it is only tax dollars, right? Or is it…According to Cobb, it isn't tax dollars involved.
Rep. Cobb‘s explanation is quite simple. "It is not state stationery," the freshman lawmaker
said. "It is paid for by Jim Cobb, because I took my letterhead and copied it on my copier. So
none of that is state legislative stationery. That's the way I do all my stuff. Anything that I
send out goes through my copy machine at home. It's not paid for by the taxpayer.", said
State Rep. Jim Cobb.
Now you can add into the equation all the eternal mindless chatter of “Nothing ever goes
wrong with elections in Tennessee” state election officials who said, “even if a legislator did
use taxpayer resources for campaign solicitations, it apparently would fall into the gray
area”, and POOF... Instant explanation.
Believe it or not because obviously there is not a single thing you can do about it, is there?
Now someone, please e-mail me and explain to me just what sort of B.S. is that? Surely to
goodness these people do not think of us Tennessee folks as complete idiots. We all
should be insulted.
It seems that all I’m doing is standing on a crest of a big hill waving a big flag, hollering all
this stuff and wondering the whole time why everyone is shootin’ at me. Geeeez Us.
As if that isn‘t enough, we have the State Election Coordinator Brook Thompson, the
Tennessee Ethics Commission Executive Director Bruce Androphy (I almost typed Bruce
Almighty) and Tennessee Registry of Election Director Drew Rawlins each saying that
“statutes outlining their respective agencies’ duties do not address such issues”.
Who in the heck are these dudes with all these fancy high dollar titles who are telling us that
they really do not know if what Cobb did was illegal or not, but even if it was illegal it is in
the “gray area”.
Hey, next time you get a speeding ticket be sure and tell the judge that “sure I was speeding
however, I was not meaning to speed with any sort of malice or intent. I did have every
intention of not breaking the law whenever may have broken the law my 3 stooge buddies
up in Nashville said it’s okay”.
Yep, I dare YOU to tell that to the judge. I want to be there to click the digital picture of the 10
days in jail expression you‘ll have etched on your face.
In any event, the whole thing may or may not be nothing. In fact, as I said earlier, I was in the
middle of typing a story about how the Herald-News once again got busted except this time
it is so obvious the chickens have refused to reply to e-mails as well as phone calls.
Personally, I hate a cheater and I think this situation with Jim Cobb should be investigated
by someone NOT in authority and find out the truth, then use that information to expose
him, IF he (Cobb) did any thing wrong. If nothing was done wrong, or it was some sort of
dumb accident and Cobb isn’t the Mr. Perfect he wants us to believe he is, then by all
means, let’s all load up and run down and eat free hot dogs at his campaign events.
Click here to see the actual letter that Rep. Jim Cobb mailed. I looked at it and it sure looks
like authentic state capital lawmakers stationary to me. Then again, a counterfeit $20 bill
would look real to me.
We report, you be the judge…
| State Rep. Jim Cobb claims that taxpayer money was not used to pay for his fundraising letter Crakston Cryler, editor |
