NASHVILLE (AP) - Longtime state Sen. Randy McNally plans to run for Senate speaker after this year's elections.
The 72-year-old Oak Ridge Republican on Thursday announced his bid to succeed Speaker Ron Ramsey, who is retiring this year.
McNally was a key insider in FBI's Rocky Top investigation that found bingo operators were using state charters of legitimate Tennessee charities to run gambling operations in the late 1980s.
The agency asked McNally to wear a recording device at Legislative Plaza, and he captured evidence of offers to pay cash for votes, including a $10,000 offer from a lobbyist who was also the state's former chief bingo regulator.
McNally was also chairman of a special committee set up to propose open government improvements following the FBI's Tennessee Waltz bribery sting in 2005.