NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — So who's funding the political campaigns that affect you and your family? That's the question raised by our latest NewsChannel 5 investigation.
That investigation discovered a number of questionable contributions that helped fuel Nashville District Attorney General Glenn Funk's re-election campaign last year.
Funk's campaign says those discrepancies were all innocent mistakes.
But the senior director for legislative affairs for the good-government group Common Cause said what we uncovered needs to be investigated.
"It's important for people, for voters to understand who is contributing to candidates, who is contributing to campaigns so that when voters go to the ballot box they can understand who is trying to influence their voices and their votes," Aaron Scherb said.
Our findings come from an investigation that would take us across the Midstate, knocking on doors and asking questions. Those questions were prompted by our scrutiny of financial disclosures for Funk's 2022 re-election campaign and by complaints from office insiders.
Funk raked in three times as much money to fund his campaign as his two challengers in the Democratic primary combined.
But buried in the contributions reported by Funk — the vast majority of which appear to be completely legitimate — we found some that left us scratching our heads.
For example, there were Nashville bail bondsman Bill Tomlinson's reported contributions totaling $3,000.
Funk also reported another $2,400 the same day from a Bill "Tomlonson" — with an "o" — using the bail bondsman's business address.
If contributed by the same person, the combined $5,400 would exceed the $3,200 maximum contribution allowed by state law.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates left messages at Tomlinson's home and office, but we never heard back.
Funk's campaign treasurer, James R. Tomkins said in an email, "Mr. Tomlinson donated $3,000.00 and his wife, Alicia Tomlinson, donated an additional $2,400.00. Any error in the reporting of these donations will be correct by an amended filing."
Tomlinson's wife, according to the bail bonding company website, is actually Elisha.
As for how the wrong name ended up on the report, Tomkins offered no explanation.
Then, in Franklin, NewsChannel 5 Investigates went to a house listed as the residence for a woman who reportedly made the maximum $3,200 contribution to Funk's campaign.
Our research indicated the woman had not lived at that address in years, which was confirmed by the current owners.
To see who was reported as contributing to the DA's 2022 campaign, search the spreadsheet below:
(Adjustments: "Y'" = refunds. Data downloaded 11/27/2022)
"I think she is a former resident," said a woman who answered the door.
We asked, "Years ago?"
"Years ago, probably," she responded.
Her husband added, "Long time ago."
So what happened here?
The DA's campaign did not give us an explanation.
Next, NewsChannel 5 Investigates went to a house on Ashland City Highway that was listed as the address for a company named Sturdybilt LLC that had reportedly contributed the maximum $3,200 to Funk.
In fact, we've checked the website for the Tennessee Secretary of State, and we didn't find any evidence that that company actually existed.
It turned out, no one was home.
But the house belongs to limousine company operator Tom Sturdivant.
At one point, Funk reported contributions totaling $3,200 from Sturdivant's Sedan on Demand Inc., a corporation that — according to the secretary of state's office — hasn't been active in years. The address listed on Funk's reports is actually a vacant lot.
(Funk's campaign later reportedly refunded all but $1,000 of the money to Sedan on Demand Inc. after state regulators told them that the corporation would need to register as a political action committee if the contribution was more than $1,000, state records show.)
In addition, there was that $3,200 in contributions from Sturdybilt LLC and $3,200 from World Class LLC, listed at a post office box used by Sturdivant.
Again, we checked the Tennessee Secretary of State's website, and we could not find any record that either had ever been incorporated in the state of Tennessee.
Finally, NewsChannel 5 Investigates reached Sturdivant by phone.
We told him, "There are no business licenses for Sturdybilt, there are no business licenses for World Class, there is no business license for Sedan on Demand."
Suddenly, he was done talking, suggesting that we contact his attorney, Bryan Lewis.
Lewis responded by email that he has "represented Mr. Sturdivant in the past as it relates to certain matters."
While noting "it is not uncommon for business owners to allow a corporation or LLC to lapse and be administratively dissolved due to an oversight," Lewis did not offer an explanation for the contributions from the LLCs that do not appear to have ever existed.
"Before I can commit further, I will have to receive authorization from Mr. Sturdivant," Lewis wrote.
We never heard from him again.
Funk's treasurer claimed that all of the money had been refunded to Sedan on Demand Inc., which is not consistent with the DA's reports, according to state campaign finance officials.
In the cases of the other LLCs, the treasurer said in each case that the campaign is "looking into this donation" and will take appropriate action.
Then, there was a $1,500 contribution from JWN Consultants LLC out of Louisville, Kentucky.
In fact, there is no corporation with that exact name either.
And when we tracked down Jefferson Neal, a man who's had a company at that address with a similar name, he claimed to not recall any such contribution.
Asked for how he might explain the report, Neal replied: "Our conversation is done.'"
Funk's treasurer would only acknowledge that the address was wrong.
"It appears that the address on our report was incorrect and that it should be a Nashville address," Tomkins said in his email.
He added, "Your assertion that Mr. Jeff Neal said that his company made no such contribution is simply untrue.
"On June 22, 2023, the campaign spoke to Mr. Neal who confirmed that he made no such statement to you and he reiterated that his company made the contribution in question."
Still, our investigation continued.
According to the financial disclosures, Glenn Funk's campaign got about $10,000 from marinas in the Smithville area, about an hour and a half outside of Nashville — which made us wonder why they would care about who is Nashville's district attorney.
There, at Sligo Resort & Marina, we met Harry Elder.
Funk's disclosures show that Elder maxed out at $3,200, as did his wife Deanna.
But when we asked if he had contributed to Funk's campaign, Elder appeared puzzled.
"Glenn Funk?" Elder said, pausing for a long period, eventually adding: "I don't know."
"You don't know?" we asked.
"Deanna, my wife takes care of all that."
We left a number hoping he and the others at the marina would get back to us with verification of the contributions.
But that never happened.
Curiously, Funk's campaign treasurer denied the entire conversation.
"You indicate that Mr. Elder told you that he had no knowledge of having made any contribution. That statement by you is false," Tomkins wrote. "Mr. Elder made a contribution to the campaign in January 2022 via ActBlue, an online donation program."
The treasurer continued, "Moreover, it is my understanding that you 'ambush interviewed' Mr. Elder at his business and that he did not wish to speak to you and simply told you that his wife handled such matters and that the donations were made and that they received thank you notes from General Funk.
"Like many others, the Elders clearly desired to contribute to General Funk’s campaign as they believe him to be an honest, hard-working, and diligent public servant whose sole focus is the safety, welfare, and best interests of the citizens of Davidson County."
NewsChannel 5 Investigates followed up with Tomkins to ask if any of the other contributions had come through ActBlue, a Democratic donation platform that has been criticized by Republicans for not doing enough to screen donors.
Tomkins never replied to that and other questions.
Common Cause's Scherb says what we encountered raises all sorts of potential questions about how Funk operated his campaign.
"Plenty of campaigns have due diligence processes in place to make sure that potentially illegal contributions don't slip through the cracks, so you can't just wipe your hands clean and look the other way and pretend that nothing is happening," Scherb said.
While it's possible that the discrepancies can be attributed to innocent clerical errors, the state officials who regulate campaigns are the only ones who might be able to settle that question.
Do you have information for our investigation? Email us: investigate@newschannel5.com
Previous stories: