Subject: McKensie Morrison

• Sen. Paul Stanley, Champion of Family Values, Caught in Sex-and-Blackmail Scandal

  Sen. Paul StanleyWell, it was only a matter of time, wasn't it? According to authorities, one of our own social conservative Republicans has been caught cheating on his wife, and he was doing it with a young legislative intern. At this juncture, we're going to resist the temptation to make a joke about family values. That's getting so old it's not funny anymore. Suffice it to say that like John Ensign, Mark Sanford and all the rest on the national stage lately, this one is really rich--with a l

  July 21, 2009

• Let Us Not Overlook Why Stanley Should Lose His Job

  One wonders why Paul Stanley is so busy insisting that he is the victim. At least, one wonders this until one considers the words of Jackson Baker:the saga of state Senator Paul Stanley and his 22-year-old former legislative intern, McKensie Morrison {emphasis mine]There are two issues here. One, the legal issue. It matters whether Stanley fucked Morrison and whether Morrison felt she had to agree to it in order to keep her internship because, if she felt compelled, Stanley's committed a Class C

  July 22, 2009

• Blackmail Text Message to Stanley: 'Good Morning, Sir, How Are You This Fine Day?'

  OK, the ink-stained wretches of the Capitol have finished scouring the transcript of the preliminary hearing for Sen. Paul Stanley's accused blackmailer, Joel Watts, and they've been rewarded with a delicious new detail. According to testimony, Watts sent this text message to the senator: "Good morning sir, how are you this fine day? McKensie and I have been talking, and I feel that I have a video and some pictures you might be interested in seeing. This is her boyfriend, that guy you met out

  July 22, 2009

• Stanley Seduced Young Intern, Her Jealous Boyfriend Says: 'All I Wanted Was an Apology'

  McKensie Morrison and Joel WattsSen. Paul Stanley's accused blackmailer has just made a few accusations of his own tonight on NewsChannel5. Joel Watts says Stanley used his position of authority to seduce his 22-year-old legislative intern, McKensie Morrison. Watts also contends it was Stanley who first suggested that he might buy sexually explicit pictures of Morrison from Watts. Also from Phil Williams' report: The smoking gun? A TBI agent swears in court records that Stanley admitted his sex

  July 22, 2009

• Sen. Stanley Confessed to Affair, According to TBI Affidavit

  McKensie MorrisonIn this sworn affidavit, TBI agent Doug Long says Sen. Paul Stanley confessed his affair with his legislative intern, McKensie Morrison, and admitted that he took pictures of her in his apartment. Also, according to the affidavit, Morrison's boyfriend, Joel Watts, told Stanley at one point in a text message that a reporter offered $7,500 for the pictures. More news from the affidavit: [N]umerous phone conversations between Stanley and Morrison were conducted and monitored. Ther

  July 22, 2009

• Attacking McKensie Morrison: It Was Only a Matter of Time

  It was just as predictable as moralizing "family values" legislators cheating on their wives. Now, conservatives are making excuses for Sen. Paul Stanley and attacking his legislative intern, McKensie Morrison, as the real villain in this little tale of treachery and deceit. Terry Frank, the East Tennessee talk radio host, says her extensive Internet research shows Morrison was married in Florida to a guy with a criminal record. How about that? Based on that little nugget, which may or may not

  July 23, 2009

• Phil Williams Denies He's the Mystery Reporter in Text Messages

  NewsChannel 5's Phil Williams is denying he's the mystery reporter who supposedly was bidding to buy sexually explicit pictures of McKensie Morrison from her jealous boyfriend. In a text message read aloud during Joel Watts' preliminary hearing on extortion charges this week, Watts tells Sen. Paul Stanley he's been offered $7,500 for the pictures. The message: "News 5 independent reporter currently at 7500 do the math now report at." Pith just spoke to Williams, who is whipping every other re

  July 23, 2009

• Crack Cocaine and a Hammer Attack: McKensie Morrison's Sordid Past

  Morrison's mug shot​The Orlando Sentinel digs up the dirt on McKensie Morrison: In the months after she graduated from Spruce Creek High School in 2005, McKensie Morrison was charged with cocaine possession, got married, lived without electricity and watched her husband beat a 75-year-old man with a hammer. Today, Morrison's life beyond Central Florida has her front-and-center in a political sex scandal in Tennessee and involved in another criminal investigation. Update: More from Dayt

  July 28, 2009

• McKensie Morrison: Fragile Flower or Femme Fatale?

  McKensie as a happy high school student​While we're waiting for Paul Stanley's resignation, we're scratching our heads over the latest revelations about McKensie Morrison. Here's a high school student body president, Latin club officer, and National Honor Society member who, in only a matter of months, is doing crack , living like a homeless person in central Florida, and watching her young husband attack a 75-year-old man with a hammer. Then with her husband doing prison time, she moves

  July 28, 2009

• Stanley Promising to Break Silence Soon

  ​Paul Stanley is promising via text message (he loves to text) that he'll say something soon about this little mess he's found himself in. He's been waiting, he says, on his wife to return home from a business trip. We're sure his wife is anxious to participate in his decision-making process. (Heh.) Speculation at the Capitol is that he's stalling, hoping the news about McKensie Morrison's low-rent past somehow will change the dynamic of this scandal. Maybe she slipped him a mickey, who knows?

  July 28, 2009

• On TV, Stanley Says There's 'Probably Enough Evidence' to Indict His Mistress

  "I needed to stop the insaneness of this issue." The TBI says she's not under investigation but, in an interview with WMC-TV, Stanley seems to hope the authorities will indict his former mistress, McKensie Morrison, in the blackmail scheme. Can you say vindictive, senator? "There's a possibility that could be the case. I have left that up to the authorities. Obviously, that is not my decision to make. I think if you look at evidence, specifically text messages ... you will see there's prob

  July 28, 2009

• A sex scandal exposes Sen. Paul Stanley's less-than-Godly ways

  July 30, 2009

• Reforms on the Way After Sex Scandal: Finding a Higher Class of Interns

  How did this straight-A student ever make it into the intern program?​Now that the deplorable smirky little twit Paul Stanley has departed in ignominy, lawmakers are talking about the need to make changes so this kind of scandal never happens again. What about enacting tough new ethics rules to punish the many lecherous creeps (aka representatives and senators) who are on 24/7 prowl for strange sex around the Capitol? Oh no, here's a better idea: Let's recruit a better class of interns! A

  July 30, 2009

• Morning Roundup: Wamp Gives Campaign Cash to Secret Christian Society

  ​Zach Wamp gives $10,000 in congressional campaign cash to the Family and $27,000 to his wife for fund-raising duties. Wait until Rachel Maddow hears about this! ... No matter what Paul Stanley might hope, McKensie Morrison still isn't under investigation, the TBI says. ... Chip Forrester reports on Barack Obama's trip to Bristol. ... The president meets with the Bristol Herald Courier's editorial board. Another THP supervisor is named as a suspect in the misuse of funds. ... The state's

  July 30, 2009

• McKensie Morrison Speaks Out: 'I Am Not a Wild Woman on a Hunt for Men'

  ​McKensie Morrison has made her first public statements since news broke of her affair with Sen. Paul Stanley. She tells Channel 4's Cara Kumari that she's speaking out to rebut Stanley's claims that she was working in cahoots with her boyfriend to blackmail him. She said Stanley's a lying piece of scum who made her pick up his dry cleaning and clean his apartment, but she's praying for him. We're paraphrasing there. Here are some actual quotes: "I am not a bad person. I am not an extorti

  July 31, 2009

• Fred Thompson Leads This Week's Kook Power Rankings

  Hendersonville's Debra Maggart: "C'mon, little school girls, keep those legs crossed."​Former senator/failed presidential candidate Fred Thompson has emerged from exile, recasting himself as a full-on whackjob to win this week's Kook Power Rankings:1. Fred Thompson: It's the latest rage in right-wing conspiracies. A federal measure designed to help elderly people write living wills is being recast as a government drive to kill old people!  And Thompson, who surely knows better, is among t

  August 3, 2009

• Who's Screwed Harder in Sex Scandals? Ramsey or Wamp?

  The glassy eyed Bobbie Patray: our next governor?​In this steamy summer of political sex scandal, we offer this question for debate, Pith Nation: Who has been screwed harder in the governor's race? Ron Ramsey or Zach Wamp? That's a tough one, isn't it? On the one hand, Ramsey definitely damaged his candidacy with missteps after the public learned of Paul Stanley's little mess. First, he said nothing. Then, after it became apparent that was a stupid idea, he told reporters he forced the s

  August 5, 2009

• Hillbilly Logic: Legislators blame the interns for Stanley sex scandal

  August 6, 2009

• Memories: A Look Back at 2009's Most Widely Read Pith Posts

  ​As Pith counts down the hours to the guitar dropping on Lower Broad, we pause for a moment to wring out the old. Revisit some of the year's most controversial topics--and some choice rancor--as we recap the 10 most popular posts that appeared on Pith in 2009: 10. WSMV Names Bob Sellers New Co-Anchor for Dan Miller's Former Slot While the city continues to grieve the hugely popular newsman, the question is finally answered: Who'll fill the empty chair next to Demetria? 9. The Lingering Ques

  December 31, 2009

• Legislative Interns Beware: Lecherous Creeps on the Prowl

  ​Now that Paul Stanley, Tennessee's most famous "family-values" hypocrite, has departed the state Senate in ignominy, is it safe for legislative interns to return to the Capitol this session? What with all the publicity and shame brought by Stanley's escapades, tough new ethics rules have been enacted to punish the many lecherous creeps (a.k.a. state lawmakers) who prey on young interns, right? Wrong. Here's what legislative leaders are doing instead. According to Channel 4's story, they are

  January 8, 2010