Tennessee House speaker denies voucher vote-buying claims

Friday, July 19, 2019, Vol. 43, No. 29

NASHVILLE (AP) — Outgoing Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada is denying allegations of vote-buying attempts on an education voucher bill.

Casada posted Sunday on Facebook that any allegation against his office about a quid pro quo on that bill or others is unequivocally false.

Several allegations have surfaced from lawmakers in news reports that Casada tried to incentivize votes for the voucher bill, a key initiative of Republican Gov. Bill Lee.

In April, Casada refused to accept a 49-49 vote that would've spiked the bill. The vote wasn't declared official for nearly 40 minutes until a Republican flipped, passing the bill 50-48.

Casada is resigning as speaker Aug. 2 after scandals involving explicit text messages.

House Republicans will nominate a new speaker Wednesday. That replacement will be installed at an August special legislative session.