Casada donors remaining mum on support of his leadership

Amazon. AT&T. Comcast. A group representing independent pharmacies.

Those organizations are among the top donors to embattled House Speaker Glen Casada, who has waded through two weeks of turmoil as an increasing number of lawmakers ask him to resign from his position of power in the Tennessee legislature.

During the past five years, Casada has collected $931,350 in political donations, primarily to his CAS-PAC political action committee, which works to elect Republicans to state House seats across Tennessee.

Of the top 20 donors to Casada and his political action committee in the last five years, none would comment on whether they still supported Casada as speaker or his spot representing House District 63.

An increasing number of Republican lawmakers have said they have concerns about Casada’s ability to continue leading the House, including Rep. Sam Whitson, R-franklin, and Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, R-franklin.

Casada is facing calls to step down as speaker amid a scandal involving racist and sexually explicit and misogynistic text messages sent by his now former chief of staff. Casada participated in some of those text exchanges.

In addition, the former aide, Cade Cothren, acknowledged using cocaine in a legislative office building.

Last week, Tennessee Democrats also called for the U.S. attorney to investigate whether lawmakers’ private conversations in legislative committee rooms were being listened to by Casada’s office. The Tennessean also reported the Williamson County Republican has a white noise machine system inside and outside his legislative office.

What donors are saying

Officials with Amazon — which gave $2,500 before the beginning of this legislative session — said the company would remain quiet on the issue.

Amazon is planning to bring an operations hub and 5,000 jobs to Nashville but also has been increasingly outspoken about a series of proposed bills in the legislature criticized by LGBTQ advocates.

“We do not have a statement on this one,” Amazon spokesperson Jodi Seth said.

AT&T — which gave $22,000 to Casada’s PAC in the past five years — said it would provide a statement after meeting with its Tennessee PAC members to see if it still supports Casada.

After more than a day, the company had not responded.

Comcast Communications — which gave $9,500 in the last five years — said they would to decline to comment for this story.

When The Tennessean called the Independent Pharmacy Political Action Committee of Tennessee, the man answering the phone wouldn’t identify himself.

The group mostly recently wrote Casada’s PAC a $6,500 check weeks before Casada announced his run for speaker.

Casada’s top donors

Casada has collected thousands from businesses and political action committees representing business professionals as he rose through the legislative ranks. Here is who has given the most: CAS-PAC ❚ Standard Club PAC: $28,000 ❚ AT&T: $22,000 ❚ Tennessee Realtors PAC: $18,000 ❚ WSWT PAC: $13,000 ❚ Advance PAC: $12,000 ❚ Tennessee Health Care Association: $10,500 ❚ Comcast Corp.: $9,500 ❚ Wholesalers PAC: $7,500 ❚ Independent Pharmacy PAC of Tennessee: $6,500 ❚ Gopac Election Fund: $5,000 Casada’s campaign account ❚ WSWT PAC: $11,000 ❚ Tennessee Hospitality $10,000

❚ Tennessee Bankers Association: $9,500 ❚ Tennessee Realtors PAC: $8,750 ❚ Tennessee Anesthesiologists PAC: $8,500

❚ Tennessee Employee Action Movement: $7,500 ❚ GM Company PAC: $6,500 ❚ AT&T: $4,000 ❚ Advance PAC: $2,500 ❚ Amazon: $2,500 Joel Ebert and and Natalie Allison contributed to this story. PAC: