The week in politics: TN politicos observe 'sham' Russian elections in occupied Ukraine
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A Russian government entity paid travel expenses for two Tennesseans to observe Russian elections in occupied areas of Ukraine earlier this month, during which President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia Party overwhelmingly prevailed.
Conservative commentator Steve Gill confirmed to The Tennessean that he traveled to Moscow and the occupied Donetsk region of Ukraine this month as an unpaid election observer, along with G. Kline Preston, a Nashville attorney who has represented U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles and now-U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn.
“I have been involved in American politics for over four decades … I was looking at this process, polling station to polling station trying to figure out, ‘how would I cheat?’ – not because I wanted to – but how would I cheat this system? I couldn’t find a way,” Gill said during an interview on the state-funded news outlet Russia Today during which he praised transparency of the Russian elections process.
“If we had had this in effect in the United States, Joe Biden would not be president,” Gill said.
Gill said he visited seven different election sites in the Donbas region, including Mariupol and Donetsk to observe as people cast their votes for local government officials and new representatives in Russia’s parliament, the Duma.
“The voting boxes are completely transparent. You slide your written ballot through a little slot – so you can’t stuff in more than one. You have to show your passport – your government-issued photo ID – you then sign in to vote,” Gill said during the Russia Today interview.
A video livestream feed of polling location activities streams back to an observation room in Moscow, which Gill also visited, where representatives from various political parties can observe.
“The election processes at the polls I visited were very similar to what you see in the United States, but more transparent and less likely to allow any form of cheating,” Gill told The Tennessean in an email.
According to Gill, flights and other travel expenses for the trip were paid for by an NGO called Public Chamber, though he upgraded to business class at his own expense.
The Public Chamber of the Russian Federation is an advisory body created by Putin in 2005 to analyze draft legislation, monitor government performance, and manage some government grants. Forty of the chamber’s 168 members are appointed by Putin. At its founding, critics from civil society groups suggested the body to be a sort of alternative parliament more closely controlled by the Kremlin, in the vane of Soviet-era People’s Control Committees, as it lacks independent resources and investigative powers to offer any real government accountability.
After the elections, Russian state media declared that Putin’s United Russia Party won more than 70 percent of the ballot in four occupied Ukrainian regions. Gill says the election results are not surprising to him.
“This part of Ukraine speaks Russian – they identify as Russian. And for the last nine years, they’ve been attacked and brutalized by the Ukrainians trying to force them to be Ukrainian when they identify as Russians,” Gill said during the RT interview, adding that at one site, he saw a group of Russian folk singers performing.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called the elections a “sham,” and “nothing more than a propaganda exercise.”
“Russia’s actions demonstrate its blatant disregard for UN Charter principles like respect for state sovereignty and territorial integrity, which underpin global security and stability,” Blinken said in a statement earlier this month.
Likewise, the European Commission has condemned the elections as “illegitimate.”
“We strongly reject this further futile attempt by Russia to legitimise or normalize its illegal military control and attempted annexation of parts of Ukrainian territories,” High Representative Josep Borrell Fontelles said in a statement.
A third American, Wyatt Reed, who writes for the Russian state-owned Sputnik News, was also on the trip, according to a news release from the European Platform for Democratic Elections. The group has denounced the Kremlin's practice of recruiting "politically biased international election observation" undertaken "by entering Ukrainian territories illegally," as an attempt at "providing a degree of international legitimacy to the otherwise illegitimate Russian elections in Ukrainian territories."
Revelations come as Congress continues to negotiate further aid to Ukraine in spending bills as a threat of government shutdown looms. Ogles is one of a cabal of right-wing conservatives seeking to reduce overall federal spending to pre-pandemic levels.
“No more funding for Zelenskyy,” Ogles wrote in a social media post last week.
“Biden is sending $325 MILLION more to Ukraine but is turning a blind eye to the humanitarian CRISIS at our southern border? @POTUS stop prioritizing everyone else above Americans,” Ogles wrote in another post.
Preston represented Ogles’ campaign last fall, and represented Blackburn when she was in the House and faced allegations of campaign finance violations, according to FEC disclosures. At the time, Preston told The Tennessean that he is close family friends with Blackburn. Preston has also represented Russian banker Alexander Torshin, who has drawn federal scrutiny about allegations of channeling Russian money to candidates in the 2016 presidential election, according to a Senate Intelligence Committee report.
Preston did not respond to an emailed request for comment from The Tennessean about the trip.
Ogles’ office did not respond to a request for comment on whether the congressman supports Russian annexation of occupied sovereign Ukrainian territories.
The progressive advocacy site Tennessee Holler first wrote about the trip by Gill and Preston.
Tennessee improves rape kit testing time
On the heels of a high-profile criminal case last year, Tennessee politicians vowed to push resources toward the state's evidence testing labs that were taking more than 34 weeks, on average, to process sex offense evidence.
The effort appears to have paid off.
In Tennesse's Jackson lab, the average turnaround time over the last year was 17.8 weeks for forensic sex offence evidence, a significant improvement over the 41.9 weeks reported between August 2021 and August 2022.
In the Nashville and Knoxville labs, where previous turnaround times were less egregious, testing times also improved.
Nashville's lab reported a sex offense testing time of 18.1 weeks, an improvement from 24 weeks in the previous year, and Knoxville reported an average of 22.9 weeks, compared to 36.8.
Tennessee outsourced the testing of 500 rape kits with a $1.5 million grant earlier this year after the public uproar over the kidnapping and murder of Eliza Fletcher, a Memphis woman. After Fletcher's murder, authorities discovered the suspect in the case was linked by DNA evidence to a 2021 sexual assault case.
The evidence in the sexual assault case languished for nine months before it was tested, yielding results just days before Fletcher was kidnapped and killed.
In 2022, TBI had requested funding for 50 new positions to staff its forensic labs, which the department said at the time was a "conservative" ask. Lawmakers ultimately granted only half of TBI's request, which left state leaders last fall scrambling to respond to the high-profile Fletcher case.
Gov. Bill Lee last September announced plans to hire 25 new forensic scientists, lab technicians, and administrative support personnel, first freeing up funds to get the ball rolling on a months-long hiring process before the funding could be included in this year's budget.
GOP leaders say they'll work with new Nashville Mayor
As Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell continues his first week in office, Republican state leaders are saying they're ready to turn the page on the state's relationship with its capital city.
Gov. Bill Lee told reporters Wednesday during a news conference in Nashville that he looks forward to working with Nashville's new mayor. Lee said that he spoke with O’Connell on election night and again since, and is working to schedule a more formal meeting.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, said he looks forward to bolstering the state’s relationship with Nashville — even though the city and state may not always see eye-to-eye.
"We've had conversations and we plan on having ongoing conversations and building the relationship," Sexton said. “That doesn't mean that we agree on everything, which we're not going to, but you determine the areas where you can work together, and you work together. And the things that you have disagreement, you try not to make it personal and you just disagree and move on."
"Having a Nashville and Memphis that are both performing well — which we haven't had both in the same stratosphere as far as economic activity — would put our state in a whole new GDP and economic output," Sexton added.
Ogles proposes abortion pill ban
U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Columbia, is proposing a nationwide ban on abortion pills. Ogles introduced his Ending Chemical Abortion Act of 2023 during a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol on Thursday morning alongside leadership of the anti-abortion group Students for Life Action. It would prohibit drug-induced abortions.
"It is nothing short of a tragedy that Biden and the careless FDA put lives at risk for the sake of their genocidal political agenda," Ogles said. "We're taking a stand against the irresponsibility of the Biden administration and working to protect women and girls across America."
Last month, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that access to the abortion pill mifepristone should be sharply curtailed. The court found that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had overstepped its authority by rolling back regulations around online ordering, mail delivery and pharmacy dispensing of the drug to increase accessibility.
The Justice Department has said it will appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Tennessee gets $3.8M in federal mental health funding
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Andrea Palm visited Nashville to meet with state leaders and announce $200 million in HHS grant funding for mental health and substance abuse services.
"Our country is facing an unprecedented behavioral health crisis impacting people of all ages," Palm said in a statement. "The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to supporting those who are struggling, their families, and everyone impacted by suicide. We have invested in 988, community- and school-based care, expanding our health workforce, and other critical supports. We will continue as long as needed."
Tennessee is expected to receive more than $3.8 million in federal funding to support mental health and addiction treatments. Funding is focused on increasing youth access to mental and behavioral health care.
Lee calls for federal transparency on border crisis
In a letter to President Joe Biden, Gov. Bill Lee joined 25 other Republican governors calling for the federal government to provide thorough data to states about illegal border crossings on the U.S.-Mexican border, including where migrants are being relocated to within the United States, asylum claim timeframes and qualification rates, and successful deportations.
"Your administration can no longer ignore simple facts that threaten our citizens' public safety and strain their public resources," the letter states, citing 5.8 million illegal crossings at the southern border since Biden took office, including by 244 people on the terrorist watchlist who were apprehended. "Our country cannot tolerate 100,000 deaths every year from a fentanyl crisis fueled by cartels pouring the fatal drug into our communities, nor can it tolerate the horrors of human trafficking and the lifelong scars it leaves on victims."
Catch up on the week
Legislative panel to explore rejecting Tennessee's share of federal education money
Faith board member got $4.7M in TDOT work for firm formed days before Lee inauguration
Kids sue Tennessee Department of Children's Services over lack of immigration help
Why Tennessee's system appointing lawyers for poor defendants is at 'breaking point'
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Got a question about state politics you would like us to tackle? Let us know. Email us at mabrown@tennessean.com, vjones@tennessean.com or statehouse@tennessean.com.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: TN politicos observe 'sham' Russian elections in occupied Ukraine
