Political consultant/wife of state GOP political director working to defeat incumbent conservative GOP legislators while working out of office in GOP HQs.
Posed as an official representative of the Tennessee Republican Party to reporter covering the delegate controversy.
RTP has learned that party officials Brent Leatherwood and Walker Ferrell were repeatedly warned about the appearance and ethics of contracting with Ferrell’s wife. That arrangement on its face was highly questionable, but exploded into the public view when it was learned she was also under contract to defeat several Republican officeholders. This unethical “backdoor” attempt to circumvent party by-laws was exposed in a letter delivered by over two dozen GOP legislators last week.
In a new development RTP has learned Taylor Ferrell, the wife of state party political director Walker Ferrell, has been working out of state party HQs, acting like an employee and enjoying the HQ’s facilities event to the point where she felt comfortable representing herself to the media as a spokesperson of sorts for the state party — all while being paid to defeat incumbent Republicans.
Multiple credible sources, including state executive committee members, have told RTP that Mrs. Ferrell is described as not an employee but as a “consultant,” ostensibly raising money for the state party among other duties. While there, she is said to be enjoying the HQ’s facilities while servicing her other clients – candidates who are running in primaries against Republican officeholders. She regularly makes and receives calls from and to those clients while sitting just steps away from where her husband is supposedly trying to help Republicans get re-elected.
The relationship is so cozy that Ms. Ferrell felt empowered to present herself to a respected national blogger as a “representative of the State GOP” earlier this month while attempting to defend Chairman Ryan Haynes and other state GOP staff against charges from the Trump and Cruz campaigns that they were stacking Tennessee’s RNC delegation with party cronies – an effort that drew embarrassing national attention.
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