Monday, February 18, 2008

February 18, 2008 Fmr. State Sen. Jerry Cooper's $120,000 Fine Could Have Been $230,000

Tennessee Attorney General Robert Cooper has opined that former Sen. Jerry Cooper, who transferred $95,000 of campaign funds to his personal accounts, can be fined for each of the 23 separate campaign checks that he wrote to himself.

The attorney general's opinion was requested by the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance (TREF) after Jerry Cooper appealed the imposition of a $120,000 fine for his many conversions of campaign cash to personal cash. [AG Robert Cooper is not kin to former Sen. Jerry Cooper.]

Ironically, the state attorney general is saying that a much higher penalty could have been assessed by TREF against Cooper. If TREF fined Cooper for EACH of the 23 transactions at the maximum amount allowed, the total fine could have been as much as $230,000!

After reading the AG's opinion, Cooper is probably thinking that a $120,000 fine sounds really, really fair!

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