THP head Pitts quits; more changes likely

Governor has 'concerns' about patrol's leadership

By BRAD SCHRADE
Staff Writer, Tennessean.com
December 7, 2005

With the forced resignation early yesterday of the head of the state Highway Patrol amid allegations he broke the law, the question that followed was obvious: Will anyone else's head roll at the scandal-ridden police agency as it searches for a way to restore its credibility with the public?

As darkness and chill set across the south Nashville campus of the THP headquarters last night, it was clear that Safety Commissioner Fred Phillips, who accepted Col. Lynn Pitts' resignation earlier in the day, knew the spotlight has now turned on him.

While TBI agents continued their work at the THP's Foster Avenue complex, investigating criminal histories of 48 troopers, Gov. Phil Bredesen summoned Phillips to his executive suite at the Capitol yesterday afternoon.

What exactly the governor told his beleaguered Cabinet member was not clear — but earlier in the day, when asked by reporters about his confidence in the safety commissioner, Bredesen gave a tepid response.

"I've got concerns about it," Bredesen said. "I'm not even addressing that issue until I see what comes out of this TBI thing. I think Fred Phillips is an honorable man."

But Bredesen said the former Washington County sheriff, whom he hand-picked in 2003 to head the Safety Department, may not be up to the job of leading it out of turmoil.

"Fred Phillips was obviously my selection for commissioner, and I think he has been a little overwhelmed by a department which has a got a long history and a lot of momentum behind doing things in a lot of ways … that didn't start here, but it's going to end here."

Still, the two men emerged from the one-on-one meeting and shook hands. Phillips clearly understands the stakes, both for him personally and for the 855-officer statewide police agency he oversees, have risen in the past week.

"I did not offer a resignation. He did not ask for a resignation," Phillips said yesterday afternoon.

"And he offered support for my administration," which Phillips said will be looking to reorganize both the THP and its parent agency, the Safety Department.

Bredesen is contemplating changes of his own.

"I think there are going to be a number of changes in the Department of Safety over the days and weeks ahead," the governor said. Some will happen rapidly, he said. A broader overhaul of the department is targeted for early next year, Bredesen said.

Pitts, 60, who also was appointed to his THP post by Bredesen in early 2003, did not return two phone messages left for him at his Antioch home yesterday seeking comment. His resignation letter dated yesterday said simply that he was stepping down immediately for "personal reasons."

"Thank you for the opportunity to serve in this capacity for the past three years," the three-sentence letter read.

Questions raised about the THP have come to a head in the past week, leading Bredesen to call in the TBI.

The bureau is investigating 48 troopers who had criminal charges appear on their records following background checks of the entire agency. A preliminary report on those findings is expected tomorrow.

The Tennessean also reported last month that two-thirds of troopers promoted under Bredesen had given money to the governor's campaign, or had family members or patrons who did.

Both Pitts and Phillips' families donated to Bredesen's campaign, and Phillips ran the Washington County campaign for the governor in the last election.

The newspaper also reported earlier in the year that troopers sometimes gave rides to legislators and took up meal tickets at a state legislative retreat, and that the department also had given out small badges and trooper ID cards to a laundry list of political donors, celebrities and friends of the powerful.

Meanwhile, Phillips said yesterday he had asked the TBI to probe Pitts' recent effort to purchase a fishing boat that had been confiscated by the Highway Patrol's plainclothes unit. Phillips said that in purchasing property the THP had seized, it's likely that Pitts violated the law.

Separately, lawmakers are opening their own probe into the troubled department.

The Senate Transportation Committee, which has oversight of the Highway Patrol, is meeting Tuesday. It will hear from state Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz about a range of problems at Safety, including political patronage, said chairman Mark Norris, R-Collierville.

Among changes lawmakers may attempt to impose is a prohibition on troopers donating to political campaigns, Norris said.

They may also seek to require troopers to be certified by the state Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, which regulates police officers in local agencies across the state. Phillips said he wants that, too, recalling that the patrol was removed from such oversight decades ago.

For now, Lt. Col. Larry Rucker is the top uniformed officer in the patrol. Rucker was an Eaststate lieutenant in the patrol before Bredesen became governor. He was promoted to captain over the Internal Affairs division less than two months after Bredesen took office.

Rucker has played a role in the latest controversy to strike the THP. In 2001, one of his subordinates was Trooper Jerry Dean Watson in Jefferson County. Watson forged a judge's name to fix a ticket, pleaded guilty to the felony forgery charge, quit his job — and was rehired as a trooper a year later.

Rucker was among the THP officers who wrote letters of support for Watson in an effort to get the record of his conviction expunged.

Rucker was also the THP official a judge wrote to notify the department that Watson's record had been expunged in 2002. The trooper was reinstated as a trooper just months later.

"I didn't help him get it off his record," Rucker said yesterday in response to a reporter's question. "Let me say this, it's under TBI investigation, so I'm not going to comment."

Like his former boss Pitts, Rucker was actively involved in fundraising for Bredesen during the 2002 campaign. He gave $5,000 to Bredesen's campaign fund, according to campaign finance records, and his career with the patrol was elevated when the governor took office. Rucker declined to comment Monday about his fundraising activity.

The Tennessean asked on Dec. 1 to inspect Rucker's personnel file. A spokeswoman said the agency was busy fulfilling requests for the TBI, and the file had not been made public as of yesterday.

Phillips said he would begin searching for a replacement for Pitts. He would not say yesterday whether Rucker would be a candidate or discuss the names of any other possible candidates.

The governor also said he would seek out a person who would help "professionalize" the agency.

Phillips said that search would coincide with a "reorganization" of the Highway Patrol and the Department of Safety.

"I will strongly recommend that we take steps to put this agency under the purview of the POST Commission for its hiring practices and disciplinary practices to be reviewed, at least, by an independent board," Phillips said.

Phillips and Pitts were believed to have a strained relationship.. The Tennessean last month reported that Pitts had sent a memo last year proposing promotions directly to Deputy Gov. Dave Cooley, bypassing Phillips in the chain of command.

The commissioner yesterday also said he was "blindsided" by Pitts on a couple of occasions, particularly by a memo written in October by the colonel. It was addressed to commissioned officers and suggested the colonel wanted any officers with charges on their records to get them expunged — a message Phillips described yesterday as "totally unacceptable."

"The thing of it is, as of 7 o'clock this morning, Col. Pitts is no longer a member of the Tennessee Highway Patrol," Phillips said.

"I don't intend to try to pick any bones from his flesh. He's gone. He's facing an investigation by the TBI, and in time, that will shake out and we'll have an end result."