NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- An exclusive NewsChannel 5 investigation caught state lawmakers double-dipping, charging two accounts for the very same trips.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates did what no one from the state of Tennessee had done -- some old-fashioned accounting.
What we discovered was a misuse of your tax dollars that's been happening for years.
One of those cases involved Murfreesboro Sen. Bill Ketron. As the head of the legislature's Fiscal Review Committee, Ketron is supposed to watch out for how the state spends your money.
So imagine our surprise when we discovered evidence that Ketron himself appeared to be cheating taxpayers.
"I was horrified when I received your email," the Murfreesboro Republican said.
Our investigation focused on trips taken by state lawmakers, comparing the claims for reimbursement submitted to the state to reports showing how they spent money from their campaign accounts.
Last year, Ketron jetted off to Anchorage, Alaska for a meeting of the Council of State Governments.
Records show his campaign paid the $1,300 hotel bill, then the state reimbursed Ketron personally for the very same room.
His campaign paid the $673 airfare, then the state paid Ketron the exact same amount.
His campaign also paid for food, while Ketron pocketed his daily expense allowance of $1,316 from the state.
The Senate Republican Caucus leader blamed it on what he calls a "miscommunication."
"My legislative assistant was filling out the form for reimbursement from the state and my treasurer was just making the payments coming from my credit card statement," he explained, saying that neither was communicating with the other.
And it wasn't just one trip.
There were also trips to Washington, to Phoenix, to Salt Lake City and New Orleans, Kansas City and Dallas, going back six years.
On every trip, we discovered, Ketron's campaign picked up the tab -- and the reimbursements went to the senator's personal account.
He claimed he never noticed.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked, "Did it ever occur to you over all these years that you were making money off of all these trips?"
"No, no," Ketron answered. "As a small business owner and legislator, it's probably my fault for not being more diligent keeping my eye on that ball."
After NewsChannel 5 began asking questions, Ketron sat down and wrote a big check.
"I had two options," he said. "I could have paid my campaign account back with what I wrote a check for yesterday or I could have paid the state back. And I chose to pay the state back because taxpayers come first."
The amount? $17,553.
Then, there's state Rep. Ryan Haynes.
After Haynes announced his campaign to become chairman of the state Republican Party in late March, an anonymous letter began circulating accusing the Knoxville lawmaker of double-dipping on at least three trips, going back four years.
"The instant I found about it in early March I went to the state and said 'Hey, I've got to pay this back, This was an error,'" he claimed.
Haynes wrote the state a check for more than $4,700, but it was dated in April -- after his big announcement.
His explanation?
"Once again, the instant that I found out there was an accounting error I took steps to address that."
NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked, "But why did it take you two or three years to figure that out?"
"Once again," Haynes said, "the instant I found out I went to the state to address those problems."
On a much smaller scale, NewsChannel 5 also found one hotel charge that Memphis Rep. Antonio Parkinson had billed to both his campaign and the state. The Democratic lawmaker, calling it an oversight, immediately reimbursed his campaign.
"When you brought that to my attention, that was my education on it," Parkinson said.
Ketron said that "the lesson is that I should pay better attention to my own housekeeping and make sure that this never occurs again."
Given that Ketron also serves as the vice chair of the Senate Ethics Committee, NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked if his $17,000 mistake violates Senate ethics rules.
"I don't think so at this point," he responded. "It was just an oversight on my part. Like I said, I stepped up and wrote the check immediately back to the state to reimburse state taxpayers."
Ketron added that he has taken steps to make sure that this will never happen again.
