Rep. Gresham’s spouse wins grants
Husband lands $35,890 for farm
By Richard Locker
Friday, October 10, 2008
NASHVILLE — State Rep. Dolores Gresham’s husband has received $26,850 in state taxpayer-funded farm grants since 2006 and is approved for $9,040 more, making their farm the top Fayette County recipient of the grant program.
James Gresham was approved for cost-sharing grants totaling $35,890 to help pay for improvements on the cattle farm east of Somerville he owns with his wife. She sits on the House Agriculture Committee and in the legislature that funded the program.
Rep. Gresham, R-Somerville, spoke in favor of the Tennessee Agricultural Enhancement Program in the committee on Feb. 6, 2007, when Agriculture Commissioner Ken Givens reviewed its first year. She said the program “is obviously an investment in our future. It’s an economic development tool.”
She did not mention in that public meeting that her farm was a beneficiary.
She also voted in favor of the annual state budgets that funded the program in each of the last three years. There is no evidence in the legislative record that she voluntarily disclosed benefiting from the program at the time she cast her votes for the budget.
Although disclosure is mandatory in the state Senate when members may receive a personal benefit, no House rule requires similar disclosure by its members.
There is nothing illegal about the grant money flowing to the Greshams’ farm or for her votes for the funding. She is in a close race with Democrat Randy Camp for the state Senate seat of retiring Sen. John Wilder, which covers Fayette and seven other counties. The state Republican Party has attacked Camp for working in state jobs paid by taxpayers.
According to the Agriculture Department, James Gresham received six grants totaling $26,850 during the state’s last two fiscal years to help pay for a hay storage barn, a commodity storage shed and a cattle squeeze chute and scale.
The department has approved but not yet paid three more grants he applied for totaling $9,040. Receipts for the services, structures and equipment must be submitted before grants are paid.
In all, 43 Fayette County farmers have received, or been approved for, TAEP money. The second highest Fayette recipient is receiving $25,930.
Gov. Phil Bredesen proposed the grant program to help farmers pay for better practices and diversification.
Eligible farmers receive reimbursements up to 50 percent of the costs of livestock equipment and facilities, feed and grain storage, cattle genetics programs and diversifying operations. Maximum payments per grant range from $1,200 to $15,000 for different programs. Farmers may get multiple grants.
Dolores Gresham is not listed on the grants with her husband.
The lawmaker declined to discuss the matter; instead she issued a statement that said, in part: “Gresham Farms, like thousands of other farms in the state, participated in this cost-sharing program. They went through the same process as every other farmer in Tennessee. … According to the instructions of the Statement of Disclosure of Interest, these grants are not required to be disclosed.”
She has been in the House since 2003. TAEP was first funded by the legislature in 2005 at $5 million. Lawmakers in 2006 increased funding to $6 million. Last year when lawmakers raised cigarette taxes by 42 cents a pack, it earmarked $21 million of the proceeds to the program, for a total $26 million. In May, they cut TAEP to just the $21 million in cigarette tax proceeds.
Grant details
State Rep. Dolores Gresham’s husband, James Gresham, has received grant payments under the state-funded Agricultural Enhancement Program since the program began making grants in 2006.
Fiscal year 2006-07: $3,500 for hay storage barn; $850 for cattle squeeze chute and single animal scale
FY 2007-08: $15,000 for commodity storage shed; $3,500 for hay storage barn; $3,500 for livestock handling equipment; $500 for feeder cattle incentive.
FY 2008-09 (approved but not paid): $4,340 for hay storage barn; $3,500 for livestock equipment; $1,200 for cattle genetics.
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