Brian Kelsey | |
---|---|
Member of the Tennessee Senate from the 31st district | |
In office December 1, 2009 –November 8, 2022 | |
Preceded by | Paul Stanley |
Succeeded by | Brent Taylor |
Member of the TennesseeHouseofRepresentatives from the 83rd district | |
In office January 2004 –December 1,2009 | |
Preceded by | Joe Kent |
Succeeded by | Mark White |
Personal details | |
Born | Memphis,Tennessee | December 22,1977
Political party | Republican |
Residence(s) | Memphis,Tennessee |
Alma mater | University of North Carolina Georgetown University |
Brian Kelsey (born December 22,1977) is an American politician and former member of the Tennessee State Senate. A member of the Republican party,he was elected to represent District 31,which encompassed the following parts of Shelby County:Cordova,East Memphis,and Germantown.
In November 2022,Kelsey pleaded guilty to violating two federal campaign finance laws in connection with his failed 2016 congressional campaign. [1]
Kelsey was born in 1977. He attended prekindergarten through high school on scholarship at private schools and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He earned his J.D. from Georgetown University.
From 2009 to 2018,he worked at The Kelsey Firm,PLLC. [2]
Brian Kelsey was first elected as a state representative to the 104th Tennessee General Assembly (2004–2006). He served on the House Children and Family Affairs Committee;the House Commerce Committee;the House Domestic Relations Subcommittee;and the House Utilities,Banking and Small Business Subcommittee. [3] Kelsey was the former chairman of the House Civil Practice Subcommittee.
Kelsey ran for the District 31 seat vacated after the resignation of former Senator Paul Stanley. In 2010,Kelsey won re-election for a full term as the Senator from the Thirty-First District.
In the 106th General Assembly,Kelsey served on the Senate Government Operations Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee.
In the 107th General Assembly,Kelsey was assigned to the Senate Finance,Ways,and Means Committee;the Senate Judiciary Committee;and he was named Secretary of the Senate Education Committee. Kelsey was also admitted to the Joint Committee on Fiscal Review,which consists of members from both chambers who oversee the Fiscal Review Office.
During the 110th General Assembly,Kelsey serves as the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. [4]
Kelsey is a member in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC),having attended meetings of the organization. [5]
Kelsey ran unopposed in 2014 for the District 31 seat.
Kelsey is the only legislator in Tennessee history to sponsor three successful amendments to the state constitution:the first prohibited a state income tax, [6] the second changed the selection of state appellate judges from popular vote to gubernatorial appointment, [7] and the third added a new section to the Tennessee Constitution to make it illegal for workplaces to require mandatory labor union membership for employees as a condition for employment. [8] He also sponsored the Governor's comprehensive tort reform act in 2011, [9] and passed a law to prohibit Obamacare Medicaid expansion [10] in Tennessee in 2014. In 2019,his conference committee report instituting an Education Savings Account program was signed into law [11] by Governor Bill Lee. In 2021,Kelsey was one of four Republican senators who voted against removing from the Tennessee constitution the article which allows involuntary servitude as punishment for people convicted of a crime. [12]
In March 2022,following his indictment by a federal grand jury in October 2021,Kelsey announced he would not be seeking re-election. [13]
On Monday,October 25,2021,the U.S. Department of Justice announced a five-count indictment by a federal grand jury against Kelsey in connection with his failed 2016 congressional campaign. Kelsey was indicted for violating multiple campaign finance laws,including soft money contributions in violation of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. The indictment states that money was funneled from a state committee to Kelsey's federal campaign,and illegal excess contributions were made to the federal campaign and concealed from the Federal Election Commission. [14] [15] Kelsey become one of the first politicians ever to be indicted for alleged soft money violations.
Kelsey initially pleaded not guilty until his co-defendant,Nashville social club owner Joshua Smith,pleaded guilty in October 2022. [16] On November 22,2022,Kelsey pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the Federal Election Commission as well as aiding and abetting the acceptance of excessive contributions on behalf of a federal campaign. [1] [17] On December 8,2022,Kelsey's law license was suspended by the Tennessee Supreme Court after a request from the court's Board of Professional Responsibility. [18]
The Tennessee Senate is the upper house of the U.S. state of Tennessee's state legislature,which is known formally as the Tennessee General Assembly.
The Tennessee General Assembly (TNGA) is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is a part-time bicameral legislature consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Speaker of the Senate carries the additional title and office of Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee. In addition to passing a budget for state government plus other legislation,the General Assembly appoints three state officers specified by the state constitution. It is also the initiating body in any process to amend the state's constitution.
Operation Boptrot,also referred to as Boptrot,was an investigation by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) into corruption among the Kentucky General Assembly,the Commonwealth's legislature. The operation was highly successful,with the investigation culminating in several indictments in 1992,leading to the conviction of more than a dozen legislators between 1992 and 1995. The investigation also led to reform legislation being passed in 1993.
Mark Deli Siljander is an American author and politician who served as a Republican U.S. Representative from the state of Michigan. He authored the book A Deadly Misunderstanding:A Congressman's Quest to Bridge the Muslim-Christian Divide.
Kathryn Inez Bowers was an American Democratic politician and member of the Tennessee General Assembly who left office after being implicated in the Tennessee Waltz corruption scandal.
Brian Augustine Joyce was an American politician who was a Massachusetts State Senator for the Democratic Party. He served for nine terms,representing the Norfolk,Bristol and Plymouth district,which includes Avon,Braintree Precincts 1A,1B,2A &2B,Canton,East Bridgewater Precinct 4,Easton Precincts 3-6,Milton,Randolph,Sharon Precincts 2 &3,Stoughton,and West Bridgewater.
The Alaska political corruption probe refers to a 2003 to 2010 widespread investigation by the Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice,the Federal Bureau of Investigation,and the Internal Revenue Service into political corruption of nine then-current or former Alaskan state lawmakers,as well as Republican US Representative Don Young and then-US Senator,Republican Ted Stevens. Sometimes referred to as "The Corrupt Bastards Club" or the "Operation Polar Pen",the investigation focused on the oil industry,fisheries and for-profit prison industries.
Ronald Steven Calderon is a former Democratic California State Senator from the 30th Senate District. Calderon is also known for receiving bribes from Michael Drobot.
Dianne Wilkerson is a former Democratic member of the Massachusetts Senate,representing the 2nd Suffolk District from 1993 to 2008 as the first African American female to serve in the chamber.
Darryl Brent Waltz Jr. is an American politician and businessman. He served in the Indiana Senate from 2005 to 2017,representing southern Marion County and northern Johnson County which comprise the 36th Senate District of Indiana following his defeat of Senate Finance Chairman Larry Borst in the May 2004 Republican primary election. His investment banking company,The Baron Group,Inc.,specializes in mergers,acquisitions,and capitalization of small to midsize private companies in the transportation and manufacturing industries. In 2016 Waltz announced he would not seek reelection in order to run for Indiana's 9th congressional district being vacated by Congressman Todd Young. Waltz was unsuccessful in this campaign and subsequently indicted for violating federal campaign finance law.
Kent Sorenson is a former Iowa state legislator who resigned after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice and other felonies related to campaign finances.
Gloria Johnson is an American politician and Democratic member of the Tennessee House of Representatives currently representing District 90,and formerly District 13,based in Knoxville. In April 2023,she and two other state representatives faced expulsion votes from the Tennessee General Assembly after taking to the floor of the State House unrecognized to protest gun violence. Johnson was the only one of the three legislators not to be expelled. Johnson was the Democratic Party nominee for the 2024 United States Senate election in Tennessee,losing in a landslide to incumbent Republican Marsha Blackburn.
Operation Lost Trust was the name of an FBI investigation into the South Carolina General Assembly from 1989 to 1999. By the end of the investigation,seventeen members of the South Carolina General Assembly were arrested for bribery,extortion,or drug use. Operation Lost Trust is often considered the greatest political scandal in the history of the state of South Carolina. It directly influenced the passing of South Carolina's Ethics Reform Act of 1991,and led to the restructuring of the state government in 1993. In its wake,the once-dominant South Carolina Democratic Party was weakened as a political party,and the Republican Party emerged as a viable political entity in the state.
Bill Powers is an American politician who has served in the 111th Tennessee General Assembly since being elected in April 2019 and represents the Tennessee Senate's 22nd district.
Robin Smith is an American politician who served as the Representative for Tennessee's 26th state house district,beginning in 2018. She is a member of the Republican Party. In March 2022,she resigned and pleaded guilty to honest services wire fraud.
Katrina Robinson is an American former politician who served in the Tennessee Senate from the 33rd district from 2019 to 2022 as a member of the Democratic Party. She was the first sitting member of the state senate to be indicted since Operation Tennessee Waltz and later became the first person to ever be expelled from the state senate.
Tom Leatherwood is an American politician serving in the Tennessee House of Representatives from Tennessee's 99th house district,since 2019. He is a member of the Republican Party. The 99th district includes the Northeast part of Shelby County,Tennessee,including the Town of Arlington,City of Lakeland,City of Millington,parts of North and East Bartlett,and unincorporated Northeast Shelby County.
The Tennessee Constitutional Amendment:1, commonly known as Amendment 1 or The Right-to-Work Amendment,is an approved legislatively referred constitutional amendment to the Constitution of Tennessee that appeared on November 8,2022. The amendment adds language to the constitution to prohibit workplaces from requiring mandatory labor union membership for employees as a condition for employment. The U.S. state of Tennessee has been a right-to-work state by statute since 1947. However,this referendum makes the law a right and amendment written into the state's constitution.
Brent Taylor (Memphis-R) is a Republican Tennessee State Senator representing District 31. He assumed office on November 8,2022 and his term ends on November 3,2026. He replaced Brian Kelsey who pled guilty to campaign finance charges and did not seek reelection.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)