Yearly Archives: 2011

I’ve been asked countless times over the past 16-months “Are you crazy? Why are you writing a book about the affair and extortion attempt? Don’t you want to forget everything that happened and hope everyone else forgets it too?” But writers write, and I need to tell the parts of the story that the media didn’t capture, or chose to leave out. Sure, there is the tawdry public story that everyone thinks they know – the story of an affair between a state senator and a staffer with the spice of extortion thrown in. The public details answered the “what”, but not the “why.” In fact, the story is much larger than even me. […]

Two years ago my life was quite different. Compared to today it is dramatically different. Back then, I was serving my ninth year in the Tennessee legislature and my third as a State Senator. I chaired of one of the Senate’s most powerful committees, was a husband and father and held a bright political future. All that came crashing down as a result of a series of unfortunate circumstances, brought on by many poor decisions that began with me. The political life I coveted began unraveling when a guy, Joel Watts, attempted to extort $10,000 from me saying that he was the boyfriend of McKensie Morrison and he had a disk with pictures of McKensie and me. McKensie was one of my interns, the one I was having an extramarital affair with. Watts threatened to turn the disk over to the press if I didn’t give “them” money. There were no pictures of Morrison and I and I knew it – just a handful of pictures of McKensie she had asked me to take of her. One of many regrettable decisions I made. […]

Small towns in the south are wonderful places to live and grow up in. When someone asks where I from, my response of “Savannah,” is usually followed by, “Oh, you’re from Savannah, Georgia?” “No, Savannah, Tennessee.” I reply. My Mom calls it the “Garden Spot of the Universe,” not to be confused with the narrative non-fiction movie and book, “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” that brought fame to the wonderful city of Savannah, Georgia. […]

January 3, 2011, the first “work-day” of the New Year – kind of like the first day of school but with three layers of clothes on. Beginning in the wee hours of the morning, millions of Americans began their daily trek so they can arrive at the grindstone before putting their nose to it. There are a few aspects of the office environment I miss but the morning commute doesn’t rise to the top of the list. For those who make it on behalf of the rest of us- thank you – for whatever it is you do. […]