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Vol. I · No. 1 Cleveland, Tenn. · Saturday, November 14, 2026 Price: Free

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Editor's Desk

Who Owns Governor Blackburn?

A TikTok billionaire, a payday lender and a private prison company walk into a bar. The bar is the governor's office. We'd laugh, but it isn't funny. Here's what each one wants, and what it means for Bradley County.

By A · November 9, 2026

Who Owns Governor Blackburn?

A voucher billionaire, a payday lender and a private prison company helped pay for Tennessee's next governor. Here's what each one wants.

Marsha Blackburn won the governor's race on Nov. 3.[1] She beat Democrat Jerri Green by about two points and will be Tennessee's first woman governor.[2]

She did not spend a dollar of her own money to get there.[3] She didn't need to.

Over her 20-plus years in office, more than $100 million has been raised or spent to help her, the Tennessee Lookout found. This year alone, her campaign raised about $9.5 million by July. Two PACs built to back her raised about $12 million more by August.[4] Those PACs, Team Tennessee and the Tennessee Freedom Fund, have no limits on how much one person or company can give.

The Free Press went through the filings. The biggest checks have one thing in common. Almost every major donor has business that depends on decisions a Tennessee governor makes.

That isn't illegal. Donors back people they expect to agree with them. But it tells you who will be knocking on the governor's door in January, and what they'll be asking for.

The voucher billionaire

The biggest money behind Blackburn traces back to one man. Jeff Yass is a Pennsylvania trading billionaire worth about $78 billion, per Forbes.[5] He is the main funder of Club for Growth, a Washington group that pushes tax cuts and private school vouchers.

In early 2026, Yass gave $1 million to Team Tennessee.[6] Then Club for Growth's voucher PAC, the School Freedom Fund, sent $4.81 million to the Tennessee Freedom Fund between May and July.[7] School Freedom Fund's money this cycle came entirely from Yass. The Tennessee Freedom Fund spent it on TV ads praising Blackburn and attacking her primary rival, U.S. Rep. John Rose.[8] Club for Growth later spent more than $3 million attacking independent David Hatley in the general election.

This goes way back. Yass gave Blackburn $1,000 in her first race for Congress in 2002.[9] Club for Growth has backed her in every race since.

What does he want? Vouchers. In 2024, rural Republicans killed Gov. Bill Lee's voucher plan.[10] That summer, School Freedom Fund spent more than $3 million in Republican primaries to oust lawmakers who stood in the way.[10] The voucher law passed narrowly the next year.[11]

Now the governor his money helped elect will run that program. She writes the budget that pays for it. She signs or vetoes any bill to grow it.

The TikTok problem

There's a twist. Yass's firm, Susquehanna, made an early bet on ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese parent company.[12] His personal stake has been reported at about 7%.[12]

Blackburn has spent years calling TikTok a national security threat. In 2024 she fought a TikTok office opening in Nashville.[13]

He backed her anyway. Neither one has explained why.

The $4.8 million detour

Tennessee law says you can't spend federal campaign money on a state race.[14] Blackburn had millions left in her U.S. Senate account. She couldn't spend it running for governor.

So on May 8, her Senate campaign gave $4.8 million to Club for Growth Action, the group's national super PAC.[15]

Weeks later, the Club's Tennessee PAC started spending on her.[8] By August it had spent $4.81 million. The two PACs share a Washington address and the same two officers.[16]

The records do show a wrinkle. The Tennessee PAC's money came from School Freedom Fund, not the super PAC Blackburn paid.[7] Its first $2 million arrived on May 7, the day before her check.[7] No public record shows her money was passed straight through.

Brendan Glavin of OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan money tracker, told the Lookout the connection was hard to ignore. Blackburn's campaign and Club for Growth did not answer the Lookout's questions.

Was it legal? Probably, under federal law. Senators can give leftover campaign money to PACs, and super PACs can spend unlimited money as long as they don't coordinate with the candidate. Under Tennessee law, it's an open question. No court or regulator has tested this kind of move. A Knoxville Republican activist, Gary Loe, filed a state complaint over her Senate spending. The state board dismissed it and said federal questions belong with the Federal Election Commission. No FEC complaint had been filed as of August.

Tennessee politicians have been punished for moving money the other way, from state to federal. Former state Sen. Brian Kelsey pleaded guilty over it, and Trump later pardoned him.[17][18] Blackburn's money went federal to state. Nobody has ruled on that.

The rest of the list

The payday lender. Advance Financial, a Nashville lender, gave $800,000 to the pro-Blackburn PACs. That made it her second-biggest backer. Its main product is the Flex Loan: up to $4,000 at 279.5% annual interest.[19] Flex loans were illegal in Tennessee until 2014, when the company lobbied lawmakers to create them.[19] Advance has sued more than 110,000 Tennessee borrowers since 2015, a Lookout and ProPublica investigation found. Any bill to cap those rates would land on the governor's desk. The state agency that regulates lenders is run by a governor's appointee.[20]

The private prison company. CoreCivic runs four Tennessee prisons and holds more than a third of the state's prisoners.[21] The state pays it about $240 million a year. It also fined the company $44.78 million from 2022 to 2025, mostly for understaffing.[22] CoreCivic and its former CEO, Damon Hininger, gave $100,000 to Team Tennessee.[23] Hininger and his wife also maxed out to her campaign.[24] In June, Hininger said he wants Blackburn's U.S. Senate seat. As governor, she picks her own replacement.[25]

The tobacco company. Reynolds American gave $100,000.[23] In 2025, Tennessee passed its first vape tax and a registry that limits which vapes can be sold.[26] Small vape shop owners called it a big tobacco bill. The governor's agencies enforce it.[26]

The betting app. Kalshi, a prediction market, gave $50,000 in September.[27] At the time it was suing Tennessee's sports betting regulator, which had ordered it to stop offering sports bets.[28]

The AI company. Anthropic gave $250,000 to the pro-Blackburn PACs in July.[29] It separately gave $20 million to a national group that ran ads praising her.[30] Anthropic supports AI regulation and opposed a federal push to block state AI laws, which Blackburn also fought.[31][32] As governor she'll shape Tennessee's AI and data center rules.

The Williamson County crowd. A string of wealthy donors, mostly from around Franklin and Brentwood, wrote six-figure checks. Spencer Patton, whose company is the largest FedEx Ground contractor in the country, gave $521,200 with his wife. We found no specific state business for most of these donors.

The mystery money. A dark-money group called Choose Freedom spent $6.5 million attacking Hatley.[33] Its donors don't have to be disclosed. We don't know who they are.

The old money

Before she ran for governor, her money followed her committee work in Congress.

Drug companies. Blackburn was an original cosponsor of a 2016 law that weakened the DEA's power to stop suspicious opioid shipments. A Washington Post and 60 Minutes investigation found a drug industry lobbyist wrote it.[34] PACs tied to opioid makers and distributors gave her more than $96,000 from 2012 on, the Tennessean reported. PolitiFact rated the claim that she weakened enforcement at the industry's request Mostly True. She later filed a bill to undo the changes. This happened while opioids were tearing through East Tennessee.

Phone and cable companies. She led the fight against federal net neutrality rules. She also pushed to let states block city-run internet like Chattanooga's EPB.[35] By about 2015, AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and the cable lobby had given her more than $218,000 combined.[35]

TVA. In October 2025, TVA board nominee Mitch Graves and five of his colleagues gave her governor's campaign $58,300 in eight days.[24] On Oct. 22 she introduced Graves at his Senate confirmation hearing.[36] He now chairs the TVA board.[37] TVA sets the power rates for every home in the Valley, including ours.

AIPAC. In her 2024 Senate race, AIPAC-linked donors were her single largest organizational source, at $303,547, per OpenSecrets. That money stops at her federal career. None turned up in the governor's race.

Why it matters here

This isn't just Nashville news. A lot of these decisions land in Bradley County.

  • Our schools. Every voucher dollar is set in the governor's budget. That budget also funds Bradley County and Cleveland City Schools.
  • Data centers. Bradley County residents have spent this year pushing back on a proposed data center.[38] State Rep. Behn has proposed a three-year pause on data center tax breaks.[39] A governor backed by AI money will decide whether that kind of bill becomes law.
  • Our power bills. TVA's board, now chaired by a Blackburn donor, sets wholesale rates for Cleveland Utilities and Volunteer Energy.[40][41]
  • Our wallets. Flex loans at 279.5% interest are sold to working families across the state. A rate cap would need her signature.

Payday lending was born right here. Cleveland native Allan Jones founded Check Into Cash and is often called the father of the payday loan industry.[42][43] He and other industry leaders lobbied Tennessee to legalize payday lending in 1997.[44] Today at least four companies advertise flex loans from Cleveland storefronts: Advance Financial on 25th Street NW, Check Into Cash on Keith Street and McGrady Drive, TitleMax on Keith Street, and Tennessee Title Loans on Keith Street NW.

What to watch

She takes office in January. These are the decisions that will show whether the money bought anything.

1. Who she appoints to her Senate seat. Hininger wants it. 2. Her first budget. How much goes to vouchers. 3. CoreCivic's contracts. Renewals and new money run through her Department of Correction.[21] 4. Any flex loan rate cap in the 2027 session. 5. AI and data center rules, including Behn's tax break pause. 6. Who she names to the Registry of Election Finance, the board that hears campaign finance complaints.[45]

The question for Gov.-elect Blackburn is simple. Will she post a public schedule of who she meets? Will she step back from decisions that involve her biggest donors? Those are fair questions for her transition team. Her campaign and Club for Growth did not answer the Lookout's questions about the $4.8 million.

Check the filings yourself. Federal reports are at fec.gov. State reports for Team Tennessee and the Tennessee Freedom Fund are on the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance website.

Sources: Tennessee Lookout, July 15, 2026 · Lookout, Mar. 25, 2026 · Lookout, Aug. 3, 2026 · Lookout, Aug. 4, 2026 · Lookout, Oct. 15, 2026 · ProPublica on flex loans · CoreCivic penalties · Hininger and the Senate seat · PolitiFact on the DEA law · Drop Site News on TVA · OpenWatchdog / OpenSecrets · FactCheck.org on Club for Growth

Notes

  1. Tennessee Secretary of State, Election Night Reporting, Governor, November 3, 2026 election, final unofficial results (95 of 95 counties): Marsha Blackburn (R) 957,136 votes, 45.52 percent; Jerri Green (D) 902,953 votes, 42.95 percent. https://elections.tn.gov/categories/governor/offices ↩
  2. Tennessee Lookout, "U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn ekes out Tennessee governor's seat," Nov. 3, 2026 (she becomes the first woman governor in Tennessee history). https://tennesseelookout.com/2026/11/03/u-s-sen-marsha-blackburn-ekes-out-tennessee-governors-seat/ ↩
  3. Tennessee Registry of Election Finance, report list for Marsha Blackburn's campaign for governor (six reports filed Feb. 18 through Oct. 27, 2026); every report shows loans received of $0.00 and an outstanding loan balance of $0.00, and none lists a contribution from the candidate. https://apps.tn.gov/tncamp/public/replist.htm?id=11725&owner=BLACKBURN,%20MARSHA%20 ↩
  4. Tennessee Registry of Election Finance, report lists for Team Tennessee (total receipts of $3.52 million on reports filed Jan. 27, 2025 through July 30, 2026) and the Tennessee Freedom Fund ($8.63 million on reports filed April 10 through July 30, 2026). The combined total includes $1,375,000 that Team Tennessee gave the Tennessee Freedom Fund on July 17, 2026. https://apps.tn.gov/tncamp/public/replist.htm?id=11334&owner=TEAM%20TENNESSEE https://apps.tn.gov/tncamp/public/replist.htm?id=12115&owner=TENNESSEE%20FREEDOM%20FUND ↩
  5. Forbes, Jeff Yass profile: real-time net worth of $77.8 billion as of Nov. 12, 2026. https://www.forbes.com/profile/jeff-yass/ ↩
  6. Tennessee Registry of Election Finance, Team Tennessee, 1st Quarter 2026 report (filed April 10, 2026): Jeff Yass, Bala Cynwyd, Pa., $1,000,000 on Feb. 17, 2026. https://apps.tn.gov/tncamp/search/pub/report_full.htm?reportId=124865 ↩
  7. Federal Election Commission, School Freedom Fund (C00794396) disbursements, 2025-2026, and Tennessee Registry of Election Finance, Tennessee Freedom Fund 2nd Quarter and Pre-Primary 2026 reports: School Freedom Fund gave the Tennessee Freedom Fund $2,000,000 on May 7, $1,000,000 on June 23 and $1,810,000 on July 7, 2026, a total of $4.81 million. https://www.fec.gov/data/disbursements/?data_type=processed&committee_id=C00794396&recipient_name=tennessee+freedom+fund&two_year_transaction_period=2026 https://apps.tn.gov/tncamp/search/pub/report_full.htm?reportId=126208 https://apps.tn.gov/tncamp/search/pub/report_full.htm?reportId=127315 ↩
  8. Tennessee Registry of Election Finance, Tennessee Freedom Fund, 2nd Quarter 2026 report (filed July 10, 2026), itemized expenditures: media placements with Del Cielo Media marked in support of Marsha Blackburn (the first, $298,258, on June 10, 2026) and in opposition to John Rose. https://apps.tn.gov/tncamp/search/pub/report_full.htm?reportId=126208 ↩
  9. Federal Election Commission, receipts of Marsha Blackburn for Congress, Inc. (C00376939), 2001-2002: Jeff Yass, Haverford, Pa., $1,000 on July 22, 2002. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/?data_type=processed&committee_id=C00376939&contributor_name=yass&two_year_transaction_period=2002 ↩
  10. Chalkbeat Tennessee, "Republican voters deliver wins, losses to Tennessee school voucher supporters," Aug. 2, 2024 (a coalition of Democrats and rural Republicans kept the 2024 voucher bill from a floor vote in either chamber; School Freedom Fund reported a $3.6 million investment in five legislative races). https://www.chalkbeat.org/tennessee/2024/08/02/republican-primary-voters-deliver-wins-losses-on-school-vouchers-2024/ ↩
  11. Tennessee General Assembly, HB 6004 / SB 6001, Education Freedom Act of 2025: passed the House 54-44 and the Senate 20-13; signed by the governor Feb. 12, 2025 as Public Chapter 7. https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNumber=HB6004&GA=114 ↩
  12. NBC News, "Who is Jeff Yass? The billionaire donor with investments in TikTok's parent company," March 12, 2024 (Susquehanna first invested in ByteDance in 2012 and owns a 15 percent stake; Yass's personal share is 7 percent). https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna142531 ↩
  13. Office of U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, "Blackburn Statement on TikTok Opening Nashville Office," March 2024. https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/2024/3/blackburn-statement-on-tiktok-opening-nashville-office ↩
  14. Tenn. Code Ann. Section 2-10-114(g)(1): transfers of funds from a candidate's campaign account for a federal election to that candidate's campaign for state or local office in Tennessee are prohibited (text via Justia). https://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/title-2/chapter-10/part-1/section-2-10-114/ ↩
  15. Federal Election Commission, disbursements of Marsha for Senate (C00376939), 2025-2026: $4,800,000 to Club for Growth Action on May 8, 2026. https://www.fec.gov/data/disbursements/?data_type=processed&committee_id=C00376939&recipient_name=club+for+growth&two_year_transaction_period=2026 ↩
  16. Federal Election Commission, Club for Growth Action (C00487470) committee record: 2001 L St NW, Ste 600, Washington, D.C.; treasurer Adam Rozansky. Tennessee Registry of Election Finance, PAC search entry for the Tennessee Freedom Fund: 2001 L Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, D.C.; treasurer Adam Rozansky; officer David McIntosh. https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00487470/ https://apps.tn.gov/tncamp/public/cpsearch.htm ↩
  17. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, "Tennessee State Senator Pleads Guilty to Campaign Finance Scheme," Nov. 22, 2022. https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/tennessee-state-senator-pleads-guilty-campaign-finance-scheme ↩
  18. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Pardon Attorney, Clemency Grants by President Donald J. Trump (2025-Present): pardon of Brian Kelsey, March 11, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/pardon/clemency-grants-president-donald-j-trump-2025-present ↩
  19. Tennessee Public Chapter No. 969 (2014), Senate Bill 1988, the Flexible Credit Act, passed April 15, 2014: interest of up to 24 percent a year plus a customary fee of up to 0.7 percent a day of the average daily principal balance, on balances of up to $4,000. https://publications.tnsosfiles.com/acts/108/pub/pc0969.pdf ↩
  20. Tennessee Department of Financial Institutions, Commissioner's Bio: Greg Gonzales, commissioner since 2005, reappointed by Governor Bill Lee. https://www.tn.gov/tdfi/about-us/commissioner-s-corner/tdfi-commissioners-bio.html ↩
  21. Tennessee Department of Correction, Annual Report, Fiscal Year 2026: four prisons managed by CoreCivic under contract (Hardeman County, South Central, Trousdale Turner and Whiteville) held 7,240 people on June 30, 2026, out of a TDOC felon population of 20,649. https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/correction/documents/reports/AnnualReport2026.pdf ↩
  22. Tennessee Lookout, "Tennessee lawmakers send message to private prisons," April 21, 2025 (the Department of Correction levied $44.78 million in liquidated damages against CoreCivic for contractual shortfalls, mainly related to low staffing). https://tennesseelookout.com/2025/04/21/tennessee-lawmakers-send-message-to-private-prisons/ ↩
  23. Tennessee Registry of Election Finance, Team Tennessee, Annual Year End Supplemental 2025 report (filed Feb. 2, 2026): CoreCivic, $50,000, and Damon Hininger, $50,000, both on Aug. 26, 2025; Tennessee Reynolds American Inc. PAC, $100,000 on Jan. 12, 2026. https://apps.tn.gov/tncamp/search/pub/report_full.htm?reportId=122895 ↩
  24. Tennessee Registry of Election Finance, Marsha Blackburn campaign, amended 2026 Early Year End Supplemental (2025) report (filed Feb. 18, 2026): Damon and Carrie Hininger, $5,300 each for the primary and for the general election on Aug. 6, 2025; West Cancer Center officials John Graves (listed as CEO), Kurt Tauer, Sylvia Richey, James Cagle and Candace Wilder, $10,600 each, and Jason Chandler, $5,300, from Oct. 7 to Oct. 14, 2025 ($58,300). https://apps.tn.gov/tncamp/search/pub/report_full.htm?reportId=124369 ↩
  25. Tenn. Code Ann. Section 2-16-101(a): if a U.S. Senate vacancy would leave the state without full representation while Congress is in session, the governor fills the vacancy by appointment until a successor is elected (text via Justia). https://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/title-2/chapter-16/section-2-16-101/ ↩
  26. Tennessee Public Chapter No. 324 (2025), Senate Bill 763: a tax on vapor products of 10 percent of the wholesale cost price, and a vapor product directory kept by the Department of Revenue starting Jan. 1, 2026. https://publications.tnsosfiles.com/acts/114/pub/pc0324.pdf ↩
  27. Tennessee Registry of Election Finance, Team Tennessee, 3rd Quarter 2026 report (filed Oct. 13, 2026): Kalshi, Inc., New York, $50,000 on Sept. 15, 2026. https://apps.tn.gov/tncamp/search/pub/report_full.htm?reportId=129105 ↩
  28. KalshiEX LLC v. Orgel, No. 3:26-cv-00034 (M.D. Tenn.), docket via CourtListener: complaint filed Jan. 9, 2026 against the Tennessee Sports Wagering Council, William Orgel, Mary Beth Thomas and Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti; on Feb. 19, 2026 the court granted a preliminary injunction against the state officials and dismissed the council itself from the case. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72131278/kalshiex-llc-v-orgel/ ↩
  29. Tennessee Registry of Election Finance, Tennessee Freedom Fund, Pre-Primary 2026 report (filed July 30, 2026): Anthropic, San Francisco, $250,000 on July 23, 2026. https://apps.tn.gov/tncamp/search/pub/report_full.htm?reportId=127315 ↩
  30. CNBC, "Anthropic gives $20 million to group pushing for AI regulations ahead of 2026 elections," Feb. 12, 2026 (the donation went to Public First Action, which launched ad buys backing Blackburn). https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/12/anthropic-gives-20-million-to-group-pushing-for-ai-regulations-.html ↩
  31. Reuters (via Yahoo Finance), "Anthropic CEO says proposed 10-year ban on state AI regulation 'too blunt' in NYT op-ed," June 5, 2025. https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/anthropic-ceo-says-proposed-10-112523197.html ↩
  32. U.S. Senate, Roll Call Vote, 119th Congress, 1st Session, Vote No. 363, July 1, 2025: Blackburn Amendment No. 2814, to strike the section relating to support for artificial intelligence, agreed to 99-1. https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1191/vote_119_1_00363.htm ↩
  33. Tennessee Registry of Election Finance, Choose Freedom PAC, 3rd Quarter and Pre-General 2026 reports: receipts of $4,244,081.50 (Sept. 18, 2026) and $2,340,458.85 (Oct. 13, 2026) from Choose Freedom Inc. of Beverly, Mass., and $6,584,290.35 in itemized expenditures marked in opposition to David E. Hatley. https://apps.tn.gov/tncamp/search/pub/report_full.htm?reportId=129451 https://apps.tn.gov/tncamp/search/pub/report_full.htm?reportId=130583 ↩
  34. CBS News, 60 Minutes, "Ex-DEA agent: Opioid crisis fueled by drug industry and Congress," October 2017 (an internal Justice Department email released to 60 Minutes and The Washington Post said former DEA official Linden Barber "wrote the Marino bill"; Barber had joined a law firm where he lobbied Congress). https://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-ex-dea-agent-opioid-crisis-fueled-by-drug-industry-and-congress/ ↩
  35. Vice, Sam Gustin, "Meet Marsha Blackburn, Big Telecom's Best Friend in Congress," July 16, 2014 (her House amendment to stop the FCC from preempting state limits on city broadband, with Chattanooga's EPB cited; giving reported by the Center for Responsive Politics: AT&T $66,750, Verizon $59,650, the National Cable and Telecommunications Association $56,000 and Comcast $36,000). https://www.vice.com/en/article/meet-marsha-blackburn-big-telecoms-best-friend-in-congress/ ↩
  36. U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, hearing on the nominations of Mitch Graves, Jeff Hagood, Randall Jones and Arthur Graham to the TVA Board of Directors, Oct. 22, 2025, transcript (Senator Blackburn introduces Mr. Graves and Mr. Hagood). https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/9/e/9e3ebea2-5bf6-4254-8d82-acbb9e178c28/5649B2EF58491253BBF2FEEC0C43CBA53661752BD6C9750E955F0E4D14EF3007.spw-10222025-nominations-of-graves-hagood-jones-graham.pdf ↩
  37. Tennessee Valley Authority, Board of Directors (lists Chair Mitch Graves, term expiring May 18, 2029). https://www.tva.com/about-tva/our-leadership/board-of-directors ↩
  38. Bradley County Commission, voting session, Oct. 5, 2026, video at 26:35 (a resident asks for a moratorium on data centers and power plants). https://youtu.be/0HWevTkdAtM?t=1595 ↩
  39. Tennessee Lookout, Sam Stockard, "Nashville lawmaker proposes pause on data center tax exemptions," Sept. 9, 2026 (Rep. Aftyn Behn said she will file legislation for the 2027 session to stop new exemptions for three years). https://tennesseelookout.com/2026/09/09/nashville-lawmaker-proposes-pause-on-data-center-tax-exemptions/ ↩
  40. Tennessee Valley Authority, "Understanding Your Power Bill": TVA provides electricity to 153 local power companies, and TVA's Board of Directors approves the wholesale rate each year. https://www.tva.com/about-tva/tva-rates ↩
  41. Cleveland Utilities, About: one of TVA's 153 electric distributors, Cleveland Utilities purchases power from TVA. https://www.clevelandutilities.com/about ↩
  42. Chattanooga Times Free Press, "The Lord of Loans: How Cleveland payday-loan pioneer Allan Jones was propelled to fame and fortune," Feb. 5, 2015 (born in Cleveland; founder of Check Into Cash in 1993). https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2015/feb/05/lord-loans-how-clevelands-payday-loan-pioneer-alla/ ↩
  43. The Intercept, "Confessions of a Payday Lender," June 23, 2016 (Jones took credit for inventing the modern payday lending industry and placed lobbyists on retainer). https://theintercept.com/2016/06/23/confessions-of-a-payday-lender-i-felt-like-a-modern-day-gangster/ ↩
  44. Harper's Magazine, Daniel Brook, "Usury Country," April 2009 (Tennessee legalized payday lending in 1997; Jones and his family gave more than $29,000 to state legislators in the run-up to the vote). https://harpers.org/archive/2009/04/usury-country/ ↩
  45. Tennessee Registry of Election Finance, About TREF: a six-member board; the governor appoints two of the members. https://www.tn.gov/tref/about-the-tennessee-registry-of-election-finance.html ↩

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