In the genteel world of political fundraising, nothing says “old-school networking” quite like a golf tournament. A little sunshine, a lot of mulligans, and enough silent auction items to make a country club blush. But what happens when the point of contact for one of Trustee Justin Biggs opponents lavish golf fundraiser isn’t anyone on that campaign’s payroll… but is the Chief Deputy of Trustee Biggs Opponent, who is term limited in the current Knox County property records custodian office.
That’s exactly the arrangement that surfaced this week in Knox County politics, and it raises eyebrows so high they could double as sand traps.
The official invitations, the registration link, the sponsorship packets, and even the “contact us” line for the Golf Tournament all route straight to the Chief Deputy in Trustee Biggs opponents current governmental office.
Yes, you read that right. The same Chief Deputy who draws a taxpayer-funded salary to serve as Knox County Property Records Custodian is now the public face—and logistical quarterback—for a separate political fundraiser benefiting his employer in a completely different race.
On paper it looks like a favor. In practice it smells like an end-run around campaign finance rules, the Knox County ethics rules, and basic transparency.
Here’s why this matters:
1. Time and Resources
Chief Deputies don’t work 9-to-5 and then clock out to volunteer on nights and weekends. Their calendars, email accounts, phones, are tied to the office they were hired to serve. When that deputy spends hours lining up tee times, chasing corporate sponsors, and answering donor questions for his current employer to benefit the seat hopping officeholder to oppose the current Knox County Trustee, those hours are either stolen from the public or quietly “made up” on the taxpayer dime. Either way, it’s a subsidy the voters never voted for.
2. The Appearance of a Quid Pro Quo
Why would Knox County’s Property Records Custodian lend his top lieutenant to organize a golf tournament to benefit his seat hopping? Maybe simple loyalty. Maybe a better job swap potential. Maybe something more transactional. Either way, the optics are terrible. Donors writing checks to the golf outing are effectively routing money through a proxy who works for the property records custodian.
3. Fundraising Transparency
Federal and state election laws require campaigns to disclose who is raising money on their behalf. When the contact person is a government employee wearing two hats, that disclosure gets murky fast. Was the chief deputy acting in his official capacity? Personal capacity? Campaign capacity? The answer seems to be “whatever is convenient at the moment.” That’s not how clean campaigns are supposed to operate.
4. The Golf Tournament Itself
These events are already notorious for blurring lines between “social” and “solicitation.” When the guy answering the phone is the Chief Deputy from another office, it sends a clear message to big donors: “This isn’t just an event for Trustee Biggs opponent—it has the quiet blessing of the property records custodian operation.” That’s a powerful signal in a small political world where everyone plays the same courses and attends the same after-parties.
Look, politics has always run on relationships. Friends help friends. But there’s a difference between a volunteer stuffing envelopes on a Saturday and a sitting Chief Deputy becoming the official point of contact for a political challenger’s marquee fundraiser. One is grassroots. The other is using the machinery of government to grease the wheels for someone else’s race.
Voters deserve better. They deserve to know when their tax dollars (or at least the time they pay for) are being diverted to help a different candidate win a different office. They deserve campaigns that are willing to list their own staff, their own volunteers, and their own contact info instead of hiding behind a borrowed salaried deputy.
Until then, every time you see a political golf tournament pop up on your social media feed, ask yourself one simple question: Who’s really running this show—and who’s paying the green fees?
The back nine is calling. But this time, the real game isn’t being played on the course. It’s being played in the shadows of a property records custodian office and the political challengers campaign effort that have decided one Chief Deputy can serve two masters.
Fore.
In the meantime, feel free to send the link to this post to Knox County Internal Audit, here and to the Knox County Ethics Sub-Committee, here.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that last week former Government Affairs pal Hancen Sale hosted a few pals at a house party for an opponent of Trustee Biggs (NOT HAWKINS) and neither Sale nor the opponent of Biggs (NOT HAWKINS) realized that the invitation had Nashville in the background and NOT Knoxville. One can only assume that Sale and the opponent of Biggs (NOT HAWKINS) doesn’t know where a former Cas Walker Grocery Store property is from a club venue in Downtown Nashville. There is a difference.
