The law to expand the controversial TNInvestco program has another State Senator saying they will vote against the bill without amendments for more transparency and a revolving door provision on TNInvestco companies for members of the Bredesen administration.

The mounting head count in the Senate and continued push back in the House against the legislation comes as administration officials mustered an unusual press conference with Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce leaders to show support for the amendment.

A heavily criticized expansion to a state funded venture capital program is becoming a divisive issue in the Tennessee Republican Party, including the crowded GOP primary for the open 6th Congressional District seat.

The Bredesen administration – with some complicit Republican sponsors in the legislature – is trying to expand the scope of the Tennessee Small Business Investment Company Credit Act, also known as the TNInvestco program. A closer examination of the law, an amendment offered by Rep. Charles Sargent (R-Franklin) and the Bredesen administration’s process to award $120 million in tax credits under TNInvestco all suggest an agenda that is as much about doing government business with taxpayer dollars in secret as it is about creating jobs.

Tennessee Watchdog has learned that a key organization mandated by the law to aid in the selection process of venture capital firms under TNInvestco held deep misgivings last year about the lack of an “independent” board in the process used to choose the companies, including the allegation that the process had been “subjugated to political influence.”

Davidson County Chancellor Russell T. Perkins issued a ruling minutes ago that records for the controversial TNInvestco tax credit program can be sealed for a period of five years by Tennessee Economic & Community Development Commissioner Matt Kisber.

Here at Tennessee Watchdog, we believe bringing our readers primary documents from the public record is an important part of our job. Perhaps there is not a court case going on in Tennessee right now with more relevance to the future of government transparency than the suit to open the files on the TNInvestco program.

State attorneys argued in court today the law gives Economic & Community Development Commissioners Matt Kisber broad powers to seal public records in his department for up to five years if they are deemed “sensitive” and the State Attorney General’s office agrees. The assertion was made in first series of oral arguments in the open records case concerning the controversial TNInvestco program.

The state of Tennessee has filed dozens of documents under seal in Davidson County Chancery Court in its fight to keep records related to the controversial TNInvestco program closed to public scrutiny.