Shuler land swap controversy lingers
Thursday, August 20th, 2009
REGIONAL/NATIONAL–The Knoxville News Sentinel reported on Tuesday that the story about congressman Heath Shuler’s involvement in a small Tennessee land swap with the Tennessee Valley Authority isn’t dead.
From my earlier post on the subject:
The swap essentially provides water access at Watts Bar Resevoir to a [housing] development called The Cove at Blackberry Ridge, in exchange for an equal amount of shoreline elsewhere on the same lake and $15,000. Shuler is an investor in the Cove at Blackberry Ridge.
Shuler has ties to the development company, and sits on a committee that exercises oversight over the TVA. This suggests the possibility of conflict of interest, although no evidence of such has been presented. When I posted about it a year ago, it struck me as much ado about not-so-much, but the News Sentinel reported in its Tuesday that a sealed report on the matter has been forwarded to the house ethics committee.
The News Sentinel, by the way, has sued to have the report made public.
