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A former House staffer — pardoned for a federal corruption conviction — is asking to delay a hearing before the state’s campaign finance watchdog to testify about a political action committee he formed secretly in 2020 to affect the election.
The move is drawing opposition from at least one key member of the Registry of Election Finance.
An attorney for Cade Cothren, ex-chief of staff for former House Speaker Glen Casada, requested that a January hearing before the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance be postponed to allow more time to prepare. The Registry board voted in November 2025 to drop a subpoena against Cothren and, instead, order him to explain the formation of the Faith Family Freedom Fund, a PAC that worked to defeat a Casada nemesis, Republican Rep. Rick Tillis of Lewisburg, in 2020.
Cothren’s attorney, Cynthia Sherwood, notified the Registry that because of the holidays and changing legal issues related to the subpoena, she needs extra time to work on the case. In a Dec. 30 email, she also asked for a one-week continuance from Jan. 2 to turn in sworn documents.
Registry staff attorney Seth May told Sherwood that neither he nor Executive Director Bill Young have the authority to delay items on the board’s agenda and that the request would be scheduled for consideration when the board meets Jan. 22, according to email documents obtained by the Lookout.
May added a note of caution, saying, “Just for purposes of your preparation, it is my instinct that the Registry will not grant a continuance.”
Registry member Tom Lawless, a Nashville attorney who will chair the meeting, said there is “absolutely no reason why this matter cannot proceed at this time.”
“There has been sufficient time and energy put into this matter, and I cannot foresee how continuing it would necessarily benefit the public and provide the transparency that is so incumbent upon what we do in the Registry,” Lawless said.
In addition, asked which statutes Cothren allegedly violated, May told Sherwood that state law requires a political campaign committee to accurately certify the name and address of its political treasurer.
“The Registry’s concern is that the treasurer listed on the committee’s filing was not correct, and that in fact Mr. Cothren was acting as treasurer for the committee,” May wrote.
An immediate decision by the board could muddy Cothren’s potential political rebound after he resigned from his post amid a racist and sexist texting scandal that also led to Casada’s departure in 2019.
Since receiving a pardon from President Donald Trump late last year, Cothren has made overtures toward a state House bid for the District 71 seat held by Republican Rep. Kip Capley that takes in Lawrence, Hardin, Maury and Wayne counties. If Cothren refuses to pay any civil penalty levied against him by the Registry board, he would be ineligible to run for state office.
The state House qualifying deadline is March 10, which likely falls before the Registry board’s next regularly-scheduled meeting.
The Registry board subpoenaed Cothren in 2022 after a former girlfriend, Sydney Friedopfer, testified he asked her to form the political action committee, listing herself as treasurer, so he could run it secretly. She also said in telephone testimony that Cothren told her she didn’t need to worry about responding to questions from the Registry.
Cothren refused to comply with the board’s subpoena and never appeared before the Registry, invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. The Registry board sent the matter to the Attorney General’s office, which took it to Chancery Court to be enforced. It remained there until Cothren’s federal corruption case wrapped up with a presidential pardon following a conviction on multiple charges involving a bogus campaign vendor.
The Registry board also asked the Williamson County District Attorney’s Office to investigate the matter, and that was put on hold until Cothren’s federal case wrapped up.
The Faith Family Freedom Fund spent money donated in the 2020 campaign by a North Carolina restaurateur, whom the Registry was unable to locate, to pay for campaign ads attacking Tillis, a political enemy of Casada’s. Rep. Todd Warner of Lewisburg, who enlisted Cothren for political work, defeated Tillis that year, and two months later the FBI raided the offices and homes of Warner, Casada, Cothren and former Rep. Robin Smith of Hixson. Smith, whose sentence was changed to one year of probation house before was slated to check into federal prison on Monday, continues to seek a pardon after pleading guilty and cooperating with federal prosecutors in their case against Cothren and Casada.
The Registry board initially audited the Faith Family Freedom Fund PAC because of a complaint filed by Greg Hazelwood, the treasurer for Tillis, who claimed the political action committee illegally coordinated with Warner’s campaign. Auditors were stonewalled but finally found Friedopfer, who registered the PAC, in Utah.
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