Tennessee Democrat expelled from state Senate over fraud conviction

[Kamaji]

Tennessee Democrat expelled from state Senate over fraud conviction

By Brie Stimson, Fox News
February 3, 2022

A Tennessee Democrat was expelled from the state Senate on Wednesday over her conviction on fraud charges.

State Sen. Katrina Robinson of Memphis was convicted of wire fraud last fall after being accused of stealing $600,000 from a health care school she ran to pay for her wedding and other personal expenses before she was in office.

On Wednesday, state senators voted 27-5 for her expulsion after a recommendation from the Ethics Committee, FOX 13 of Memphis reported.

Senate Speaker Randy McNally said in a statement Wednesday, “While the expulsion of a Senator for the first time in history was not something any of us wished to see, it was a necessary action. The integrity of the Senate is of paramount importance.”

Robinson called the expulsion a “procedural lynching” and claimed the process was “racist” and “misogynistic” and talked about scandals that have plagued other state senators who have not been expelled.

“They determined she violated a criminal statute,” Republican state Sen. John Stevens said of her conviction. “How can we demand that citizens respect the integrity and reputation of the Senate if we disrespect them by ignoring their determinations?”

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Source:  https://nypost.com/2022/02/03/tennessee-democrat-katrina-robinson-expelled-from-state-senate-over-fraud-conviction/

[Right_in_Virginia]

Tennessee Senator Katrina Robinson Says She Feels Beat Up After Expulsion
Newsweek, Feb 2, 2022

Democratic Tennessee state Senator Katrina Robinson said she feels beat up due to her expulsion from the Tennessee Senate on Wednesday in the first instance since at least the Civil War of the Legislature expelling a lawmaker.

The GOP-led Senate passed a motion in a 27-5 vote to expel Robinson, according to Nashville's WTVF. In connection to her conviction on federal charges, a Senate ethics committee had previously recommended Robinson's expulsion, which the senator called a "procedural lynching" in a speech on the Senate floor posted to her Facebook page.

​​Robinson had been convicted of wire fraud involving federal grant money at a school for health care school workers she ran in Memphis before being elected to the state Senate, the Associated Press reported. Robinson and other Democrats said that her expulsion was premature, pointing to the fact that many of the initial charges against Robinson were dropped and that she has not received sentencing in connection to two remaining counts.

"Today the country got a front row seat to the saddening reality that racism pervades every level of our society," Robinson said in a statement to Newsweek. "Even as a sitting state senator, I was denied equal rights among my peers."

She said the proceedings were an attack on "black leadership, black women, and the black vote."


More:  https://www.newsweek.com/tennessee-senator-katrina-robinson-says-she-feels-beat-after-expulsion-1675571

[Kamaji]

Tennessee Senator Katrina Robinson Says She Feels Beat Up After Expulsion
Newsweek, Feb 2, 2022

Democratic Tennessee state Senator Katrina Robinson said she feels beat up due to her expulsion from the Tennessee Senate on Wednesday in the first instance since at least the Civil War of the Legislature expelling a lawmaker.

The GOP-led Senate passed a motion in a 27-5 vote to expel Robinson, according to Nashville's WTVF. In connection to her conviction on federal charges, a Senate ethics committee had previously recommended Robinson's expulsion, which the senator called a "procedural lynching" in a speech on the Senate floor posted to her Facebook page.

​​Robinson had been convicted of wire fraud involving federal grant money at a school for health care school workers she ran in Memphis before being elected to the state Senate, the Associated Press reported. Robinson and other Democrats said that her expulsion was premature, pointing to the fact that many of the initial charges against Robinson were dropped and that she has not received sentencing in connection to two remaining counts.

"Today the country got a front row seat to the saddening reality that racism pervades every level of our society," Robinson said in a statement to Newsweek. "Even as a sitting state senator, I was denied equal rights among my peers."

She said the proceedings were an attack on "black leadership, black women, and the black vote."


More:  https://www.newsweek.com/tennessee-senator-katrina-robinson-says-she-feels-beat-after-expulsion-1675571