TNDP Obtained Smith Letter

Tom Humphrey had an update on the story involving TNGOP Chairwoman Robin Smith's "private" letter to the Governor being released to the media. It appears that the open records request was originally placed by the TNDP out of "curiosity" according to Gray Sasser.

Now, in all likelihood, someone at the Governor's office mentioned the letter to someone at the TNDP...probably something like, "can you believe she is using the fact that she had black friends when she was a kid as to why she should stay on the commission? Hahahahaha."

But really, if Robin Smith wanted it to remain private, she should've requested a phone call with him to let him know in person. This wasn't a private email, this was a piece of correspondence from one official to another in relations to her position on the Human Rights Commission...from what I understand, Robin Smith and Phil Bredesen don't have much of a personal relationship to speak of.

William H. Hobbs is predictably apoplectic, but you'd think someone who spends his time making video mashups of Barack Obama's wife would understand that boredom in that job leads to some random thing, including open records requests.