Oh and the photocopies of expunged traffic records showing up under office doors in a locked legislative building? That’s just someone being nosy.

Governor Bredesen = Governor Spitzer?

We have some free advice for Tennessee’s Democrat Governor, and any other elected officials who might find themselves in a similar situation (and we’ll put in big letters for the slower witted):

ANYTIME YOU HAVE A MEMBER OF LAW ENFORCEMENT ABUSING HIS POSITION FOR SEEMINGLY POLITICAL PURPOSES – EITHER ON ORDERS OR ON HIS OWN – YOU HAVE A MAJOR PROBLEM. THE PROPER RESPONSE TO THIS SITUATION IS LETTING AN INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION RUN ITS COURSE WITH ZERO INTERFERENCE FROM ANY POLITICAL PLAYERS. THE PUBLIC DEMANDS TRANSPARENCY IN A SITUATION LIKE THIS. DOWN PLAYING AN INCIDENT LIKE THIS, SAY BY CALLING IT “JUST NOSY”, IS A FOOLISH AND POORLY ADVISED STRATEGY.

Tennessee Blogger Bill Hobbs might think so, calling the whole mess Troopergate (Where have we heard that before?)

From the Tennessean:

Gov. Phil Bredesen seemed to downplay Tennessee Highway Patrol Lt. Ronnie Shirley’s actions, characterizing him as a “nosy” officer rather than someone out to misuse the information obtained on private individuals through the unauthorized checks.

Shirley is the politically connected officer who fixed a speeding ticket in 2004 for Bredesen’s top aide at the time, Deputy Gov. Dave Cooley. The officer escaped discipline when top patrol officials concocted a fake punishment to throw off the news media and the public, a deception later reported by The Tennessean.

In the current case, a country music star, two journalists and several employees of the Department of Safety were among those whose information was reviewed by Shirley, officials said. The department would not say how many of those were unauthorized checks.

The department gave few specifics about why Shirley was doing the checks, or how many other state employees may have been run, only that no state elected officials were on the list — a sentiment echoed by the governor.

There was no way to independently verify that claim last night because officials refused to make the list public.

Read the Rest…