GOP candidate says expunged records used against him

McCall joins in call for THP investigation

Email | Print By Clint Brewer

A.J. McCall

A Republican State House candidate who said his expunged DUI records are being used against him in his campaign to unseat a longtime Democratic incumbent is joining leaders from both parties in calling for an outside investigation into allegations of unauthorized background checks performed by a Tennessee Highway Patrolman.

However, a THP spokesperson said a list of those whose backgrounds were allegedly probed by Lt. Ronnie Shirley would not be made public anytime soon but instead turned over to the district attorney once an internal investigation is complete.

GOP Lebanon businessman A.J. McCall is challenging State Rep. Stratton Bone for the 46th District House seat, a race observers on both sides of the political aisle say is likely to be close.

McCall told NashvillePost.com that it was copies of his driving history – including records of two DUI arrests from the early 1990s and records of some speeding tickets – that were left in an envelope in the locked legislative offices of State House Minority Leader Jason Mumpower and State Rep. Glen Casada several weeks ago.

Mumpower and Democratic House Majority Leader Gary Odom have both called for an investigation from an outside agency into allegations that Shirley performed some 300 background checks outside the normal investigative process at THP. Mumpower has also said the names of any citizens whose backgrounds were checked should be released.

The THP has confirmed it has launched an internal investigation of Shirley concerning the alleged background checks.

Mumpower referred to the envelope with the arrest records left in his office when he publicly called for the independent probe this week.

Yet, McCall said the records of his arrests, though expunged, have been used against him repeatedly in the last year in political activity. McCall said numerous automated “robo” calls and at least one negative “push” poll conducted in the 46th District have brought up the two DUI charges to voters.

McCall, as well as a spokesperson for his campaign, said the campaign had no information about who conducted the push poll or performed the robo calls or what entity commissioned them. McCall did say he has hired an attorney to research the status of the two DUI arrests and that they had been expunged from his record.

“I have no way of knowing how this was done,” McCall said. “It is a problem and I do think it needs to be investigated.”

McCall added that copies of the arrest records were also sent to his wife at their home, along with what he called a “negative mail piece” targeting State Rep. Tim Dubois. Dubois was hit with allegations from the Tennessee Democratic Party in a flier that underage drinkers were drinking alcohol at a party at his home.

“I made big mistakes back then,” McCall said of the over 15-year-old charges. “I feel bad about what I did, but it is in the past. I’ve joined a good church, and I do not have a problem. I have not tried to hide it, but I don’t feel state resources and state systems should be used to intimidate me or my wife.”

Mumpower said initially he did not pay too much attention to the anonymous envelope left in both his office and Casada’s with McCall’s records. The THP situation, though, made him reconsider it.

“At first, I just thought it was the usual political games,” Mumpower said Tuesday. “When the story came out about the THP, we began to take it more seriously. The dominoes seem to continue to fall. This is looking more and more like someone illegally accessed these records.”

THP officials said today they would not be releasing the names of the people whose backgrounds were allegedly checked by Shirley using the Integrated Criminal Justice Web Portal maintained by the Administration Office of the Courts.

“Pursuant to Rule 16 of the Tennessee Rules of Criminal Procedure, the names are not being release at this time but will be turned over to the District Attorney when the investigation is completed,” THP spokesman Mike Browning told NashvillePost.com in an e-mail response to an open records request for the list.

Mumpower conceded there was no direct link established between the issues at the THP and the political activity in the 46th District House race. He said the THP should release the list of anyone whose backgrounds were checked improperly.

“It is disappointing to me. It is not a statute but a rule. Perhaps we could look at the quick ability to amend the rule. I think the citizens who have been violated through an illegal background search deserve to know what happened to them,” Mumpower added.

A representative with Bone’s campaign could not be immediately reached for comment.