Tennessee State Legislators Arrested

Tennessee local interest Nashville's Channel 5 is reporting ' Federal Agents Arrest Four Legislators '. Agents arrested Sen. Ward Crutchfield, (D) Chattanooga; Sen. John Ford, (D) Memphis; Sen. Kathryn Bowers, (D) Memphis; Rep. Chris Newton, (R) Cleveland. There may be additional arrests. Federal agents on Capitol Hill said they were waiting for someone else. One legislator, Frank Buck, (D) Dowelltown, said he was surprised to see fellow lawmakers being led out in handcuffs. There will a news conference at the U.S. attorney’s office in Memphis detailing the charges against the legislators at 11 a.m. NewsChannel 5 will have more on this developing news as it becomes available. Judith Tackett of the Nashville City Paper Online reports that is was prompted by the Hobbs Act, involving sale of surplus State equipment. Update: More information at Bill Hobbs, and from Tenn. Rep. Stacey Campfield. It's growing! More: Operation Tennessee Waltz... they danced with the devil, now it's time to pay the piper! Still more, links shamelessly stolen from Bill Hobbs: Indictments in PDF format, and the bill that resulted from these activities are available through the Nashville Channel 5 site. Tagged as http://technorati.com/tag/Nashville, http://technorati.com/tag/Tennessee