KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A robocall obtained by the Tennessee Holler is raising questions about what happened inside the Tennessee Capitol on March 30 and made false allegations about the events there. The Nashville-based online news site posted a recording of it to its Twitter account over the weekend.
"Hi, this is Donna calling from Enlight Tennessee," an automated voice said. "On April 6, the Tennessee General Assembly voted on a resolution to expel radical liberal state Reps. Gloria Johnson, Justin Pearson and Justin Jones from the General Assembly."
It went on to call them "radical activists posing as elected officials" who "let an angry mob of Antifa members from all over the country and a handful of Tennesseans come to [the statehouse]."
Johnson, Pearson and Jones are all elected members of the Tennessee House of Representatives who together represent more than 100,000 people.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol, whose troopers were inside the Capitol that day, told WBIR there were no angry mobs and no reports filed in reference to demonstration activity that day.
The call also said, "Tennessee Capitol Police reportedly confiscated everything from pipe bombs to brass knuckles."
THP said, "nothing outside of ordinary items was confiscated," just pepper spray and a few pocket knives.
Enlight Tennessee's website said the organization's mission "is to preserve the Conservative economic principles which make Tennessee the greatest state in the country to live, work, and raise a family."
Records from the Federal Election Commission show it's a political action committee (PAC) based in Knoxville that started two years ago. The paperwork does not reflect any donations to individual candidates, but it does show it paid roughly $2,800 for a "Keep Knox Red" survey and another $2,500 to Spry Strategies in 2021.
There were no disbursements from Enlight Tennessee in 2022, according to FEC documents. The PAC reported $980 in cash on hand at the end of the year.
The "contact us" section on Enlight Tennessee's website takes you to Spry Strategies, a Knoxville-based consulting firm.
OpenSecrets.org shows the firm received more than $235,000 in payments during the 2022 election cycle, mainly for Republican candidates.
10News sent a text message to the number listed on Spry Strategies' Instagram but had not heard back as of 5:45 p.m. on Monday.