Tennessee governor repays trip after ethics panel finds a group shouldn't have covered it

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The Tennessee Ethics Commission released the opinion Tuesday, ruling that the payment violated a state law banning officials like the governor from accepting gifts directly or indirectly from a lobbyist or a lobbyist's employer. His office argued that the two groups are separate, independent and have “legal and operational differences.” However, the Ethics Commission determined that the two groups are “closely related and intertwined organizations.” The panel noted that the ADF Action lobbyist is also employed by the Alliance Defending Freedom and that the lobbyist attended the summit at which Lee spoke. If officials were to deem the group's payment for the governor's travel acceptable, it would “provide a gaping hole” in the ethics law on gifts that would let groups that lobby the state to use a related company “ to lavish gifts upon Tennessee officials and rendering the prohibition on indirect gifts meaningless," the opinion states. "I hope this advisory opinion will stop lobbyist groups from offering these illegal and unethical trips to influence the Lee Administration.” Among its priorities in Tennessee, Alliance Defending Freedom supported a bill approved by lawmakers and Lee this year that requires parental consent for a variety of different actions in schools, including nonemergency medical and mental health care.