State Sen. Doug Jackson: Democratic Party should return Stokes contributions

The call comes on the heels of the Republican caucus announcing it would return Stokes' cash

Email | Print By Richard Lawson

10-12-2006 4:18 PM — State Sen. Doug Jackson of Dickson has asked the Tennessee Democratic Party's chairman to return $52,500 that Barry Stokes, chief executive officer and founder of bankrupt 1Point Solutions, has contributed to the party.

In a letter to Bob Tuke today, Jackson, a Democrat, wrote that he had urged Tuke to give back the money in a phone call two weeks ago. He noted that since that conversation, 1Point 's bankruptcy trustee has filed an accounting this week that appears to show that Stokes misappropriated 401(k) funds his company had been entrusted with administering. That filing shows Stokes used money for personal purposes as well as for operating the company and commingled client money in two bank accounts.

"The dollars in question represent the sweat, toil and savings of many hard working citizens," Jackson wrote. "It would be a travesty for the Democratic Party to keep such questionable contributions. Our party must represent the values of working people. If there is any chance that the contributions were wrongfully taken from the retirement funds of working families, the money must be returned through the court and not spent to fund political campaigns."

Since 2004, Stokes has written three checks to the Tennessee Democratic Party totaling $47,500 for use in state races, according to the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance. The last check was dated June 9. He also wrote a check for $5,000 to the party for use in Tennessee elections to federal office. Yesterday, the Tennessee Republican Caucus said it would return a $1,000 contribution Stokes had made from the 1Point Political Action Committee.

"This is a cheap Republican ploy," Tuke said in a telephone interview this afternoon. "Doug bit. I'm not going to bite."

Tuke said 1Point is a drop in the bucket compared to the millions the Republicans have taken from Bristol-based King Pharmaceuticals, a company that got in trouble over how it priced drugs for Medicaid. Last year, the company paid a $124 million settlement with the federal government for giving price breaks to pharmacy benefit management companies that it was not giving to the U.S. government.

Tuke said there is no reason to prejudge the Stokes situation. "Until the facts shake out more, we aren't going to rush off and do anything."

Tuke added that he has already talked to an attorney for one of the companies suing Stokes and 1Point about whether it might be possible to refund some of the contributions if a link is drawn between the money and the 401(k) accounts.

Jackson, however, said the Democratic Party shouldn't wait for the court to figure out the mess. "When someone steals a person's retirement that they've worked a lifetime to build, that's as serious a crime as I've ever seen," Jackson said in a telephone interview. "The Democratic Party should take the high road."