Anonymous tweets. A peed-on chair. Control of the caucus campaign committee: The latest House GOP scuffle – The Tennessean

A group of Republican lawmakers are squabbling over who ran an anonymous Twitter account, creating intraparty beef that became a matter of business at Thursday’s House GOP Caucus meeting.

The Twitter account in question largely attacked Republican state House members and staff, branding itself as a source of building gossip for legislative insiders.

The discussion came months after those scorned by the account launched an amateur investigation to identify which Republican lawmakers were behind it — and after one of their suspects found himself with a urine-soaked office chair.

Rep. Andy Holt, R-Dresden, who was among those disparaged this spring by the anonymous Twitter account @chbmole, a reference to the legislature’s Cordell Hull Building, told The Tennessean he planned to bring up the matter at the Thursday evening meeting.

After the meeting, House Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland, declined to say what was discussed during the hour and a half long closed-door meeting.

Both Holt and Lamberth earlier said that Rep. Rick Tillis, R-Lewisburg, admitted to them that he had limited involvement with the account, which has since been deleted.

Tillis, who serves in leadership as the House Republican whip, declined to comment on the matter until he has a chance to speak with other caucus members.

“I plan on addressing this issue at (Thursday’s) caucus meeting,” he said in a statement ahead of the caucus gathering. “However, I want to make sure my colleagues have a chance to hear from me directly first.”

Lamberth encouraged members to talk to Tillis directly if they had any concerns.

“If anyone has a question about this situation, their first call needs to be to Rep. Tillis to give him an opportunity to properly explain what involvement he had with this account or anything else,” Lamberth said.

Holt says he will attempt to force caucus conversation on anonymous account

Holt, whom @chbmole referred to as a “mental child” who had been given “power” after Holt was appointed chairman of the House finance subcommittee, said he and other members planned to force a conversation about Tillis’ involvement with the account after the caucus elects its new chairman at its meeting Thursday.

After the caucus chair election, the rest of the meeting was closed to media.

If no other members do so first, Holt, who has primarily been driving a campaign to unseat Tillis as whip, said he would make a motion to force Tillis to answer questions about his participation in the account.

Holt said he would like to see Tillis removed from his caucus leadership position, pointing to Rep. Mark Hall, R-Cleveland, who has on multiple occasions in recent months informed other caucus members he was interested in taking over from Tillis as whip.

Hall on Tuesday confirmed his interest, referring to himself as a “candidate for majority whip,” even though there is currently no opening for the position until next fall.

Amid veiled tweets by Holt and Republican staffers this spring concerning who was behind @chbmole, a chair in Tillis’ legislative office was urinated on, according to one lawmaker familiar with the matter.

Tillis currently has say in caucus campaign vendor accounts

Unseating Tillis would mean revoking his position as coordinator of the Republican Caucus Campaign Committee, a job that plays a role in determining which campaign vendors the House GOP uses in supporting members’ reelection races.

It also allows Tillis to have a hand in determining whether the caucus would use vendors like Michael Lotfi and Shawn Hatmaker — former legislative employees hired by former House Speaker Glan Casada ahead of this past session, who also operate political consulting and marketing firms on the side. Neither are still employed after Casada’s resignation as speaker.

Holt is among Lotfi’s clients. Lotfi frequently interacted with the account, tweeting at @chbmole in May that he loved “a good pissing contest.”

Reached Thursday, Lotfi denied urinating in Tillis’ chair. He said at the time of his tweet about the “pissing contest,” he was unaware Tillis’ chair had been peed on.

Holt said he believed that other members were also behind the account, but did not have evidence of their involvement. Holt also suspected that other members have been involved with other anonymous Twitter accounts, and said he would like caucus members to discuss signing an agreement to use their name on any social media outlets. 

“I’ve been that guy in times past who has said things about other members, but I have never ever shied away from the fact of who it was that was stating those opinions,” Holt said.

Account targeted Holt, Cothren, Lotfi, Hatmaker

The account focused many of its attacks on Casada’s former chief of staff Cade Cothren, who resigned in May amid a scandal over sexually explicit and racist text messages.

In tweets, @chbmole frequently referred to Cothren as “Mr. 200k,” a reference to the 32-year-old’s $199,000 salary, challenged his qualifications for the job and described him as gay man who “won’t accept it publicly.”

Cothren does not identify as gay.

The account jokingly referred to Cothren, Lotfi and Hatmaker as a “Fascist Funboy Faction,” while also calling activist Justin Jones a “disease” and a “misguided moron.”

Jones frequently protested at the statehouse until being charged in February with assault for slinging a cup of iced tea at Casada during a rally against the Capitol bust of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest.

Reach Natalie Allison at nallison@tennessean.com. Follow her on Twitter at @natalie_allison.

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Published 8:57 PM EDT Aug 22, 2019

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