Two years ago my life was quite different. Compared to today it is dramatically different. Back then, I was serving my ninth year in the Tennessee legislature and my third as a State Senator. I chaired of one of the Senate’s most powerful committees, was a husband and father and held a bright political future. All that came crashing down as a result of a series of unfortunate circumstances, brought on by many poor decisions that began with me.
The political life I coveted began unraveling when a guy, Joel Watts, attempted to extort $10,000 from me saying that he was the boyfriend of McKensie Morrison and he had a disk with pictures of McKensie and me. McKensie was one of my interns, the one I was having an extramarital affair with. Watts threatened to turn the disk over to the press if I didn’t give “them” money. There were no pictures of Morrison and I and I knew it – just a handful of pictures of McKensie she had asked me to take of her. One of many regrettable decisions I made.
Within hours of their initial demands, I contacted the state’s top law enforcement agency and agreed to wear a wire in a sting operation to obtain information from Watts and Morrison. It was an intense thirty-three hours of text messages, phone calls and recorded conversations. It ended with the exchange of the disk and marked money from the TBI, with Watts being thrown to the ground by a dozen TBI Agents, guns pointed at this head, and arrested in the finale.
TBI agents had been watching Morrison all day, too. At the time of Watts’ arrest, she was smoking a cigarette behind the legislative cafeteria, cell-phone in hand, waiting to hear from him. That call never came, and it was her last day as an intern.
I drove to my home in Germantown later that afternoon, fully realizing what had transpired; the danger I had been in and the damage I had caused. The next day, Good Friday of 2009, I sat down with my wife and told her everything. The story would not become public until three and a half months later when Watts’ was brought before the judge for a preliminary hearing on July 20. Neither Watts nor Morrison expected me to show up and testify; it wasn’t the first time they had underestimated my actions nor would it be the last.
Joel Watts was indicted by a grand jury in the winter of 2010 and charged with Extortion, a Class D felony under Tennessee law. Yesterday, he pled guilty to “Facilitation of Extortion”, a Class E felony. He received a sentence of one-year probation. I did not attend the hearing; I trusted the Assistant District Attorney to handle the matter as he and his office best saw fit. Yet the story doesn’t end there.
- In a statement read before the court, Joel Watts admitted acting under the direction of McKensie Morrison. I had no idea the statement would be included in the court record. In my heart, I had known this was the case from the moment I received the first text message from Watts on the morning of April 8, 2009.
- Watts and Morrison are apparently still together. I’ve been told he is living in a structure behind her house, getting his electricity from an extension cord. If true, I find that both odd and sad. I hope he can successfully move on with his life.
- It is my understanding from others intimately connected to the case, that Morrison and Watts indicated they did not act alone. Was there someone within or connected to the state legislature that was financially encouraging and strategically helping Morrison and Watts develop their plan? That is difficult for me to wrap my mind around. I certainly hope not and if true, I would prefer not to know.
People ask me lots of questions about the issue, one of the most common being, “Do you believe you were set up?” Even my former spouse feels she knows the answer to this question. We talked about it as recently as last weekend. Until now I have only discussed the issue with close friends and family. In one sense it does not matter because the outcome is still the same. However, in McKensie Morrison’s first interview after the Watts’ arrest, she denied having any knowledge of the extortion attempt; contradicting Watts’ initial statement to investigators after the arrest and the statement read in court. http://www.wsmv.com/video/20243095/index.html
There are only a few who have seen the series of text messages and heard the phone calls; TBI investigators, attorney’s in the DA’s office and of course, Watts, Morrison and me.
Will McKensie Morrison be charged and indicted? I don’t know. That is a decision the District Attorney will have to make. Where is she now? From what I understand, she is Mary Kay sales representative and resides in Middle Tennessee.
Since December 2009, I’ve been writing a book of this story. I was waiting until the conclusion to the Watts case to complete the manuscript. But the story still isn’t finished yet.
I’ll follow up with more details on the book in a later post – but is has a lot to do with forgiveness; received and denied.
I feel for you and am glad you have processed thus far. There is a 10:1 testosterone (the lust hormone in both men and women) imbalance between human sexes, that we as a species have co-evolved to serve a purpose; and women have been known to exploit that imbalance. I had the experience in my late teens of seeing the impact of my father’s infidelity on my mother, and I think that kept me from repeating that in my own life; and I bet your experience will prevent you from repeating it. Good luck to you from here on out.
P.S.: I feel that extortionist should have done several years. The penalty should be higher, but you legislators waste too much prison space on Prohibition offenses.
There is always more to every story. I am glad that you are sharing your mistakes but more importantly embracing the forgiveness and mercy we receive from God and others. It is a great lesson for us all. We are all sinners but most of us don’t have to walk in your shoes and put them on public display. I am proud to know you and look forward to your story of redemption, transformation, and forgiveness. Keep writing!
Say….
Wasn’t it incredibly hypocritical of you to yammer on endlessly about the so-called sanctity of marriage while you were having sexual intercourse with a woman who wasn’t your wife?
Did you have no shame then?
Have you any now?
Dear pierrejc9,
Did I have any shame over my sin? Absolutely. More than you can imagine or I can probably convey in this reply – but nonetheless, I’ll give it a shot.
The better question might be, at what point and time did I start feeling shame and when did I get rid of it?
From time to time I get emails that – should I say – that have a certain tone wanting to characterize me as a hypocrite because I was living an adulterous lifestyle while criticizing others for their own lifestyle choices, albeit different from mine. Was I a hypocrite at the time? Yes I was, but probably for a different reason than you think.
I had a tremendous amount of shame over my sexual sin and the poor decisions I had made. But before we go any further, let’s define sexual sin. It can include adultery, fornication (sex with someone other than your spouse), homosexuality and a host of other things that we won’t go into here. I think we can all understand what the Bible so clearly says about sexual misconduct. God tells us that sex outside of marriage is wrong. Period. Unfortunately, there are no hyphens, quotation marks or other exceptions. Now at least we have a starting point to define the type of sin we’re talking about.
The shame I felt had overwhelmed me. That’s one of the reasons when I received the extortion note from Joel Watts that I wasted little time in trying to figure out how to get out of the mess that I had created and why I called the TBI so quickly. Shame had taken a tremendous toll on my heart and I wanted nothing more than to rid myself of the weight I was carrying around.
Did I feel shame for continuing to espouse values that I knew were true and biblical? The short answer is no. Absolutely not.
After my sin was exposed, the most important point I wanted to make was that just because I fell way short of God’s standard, it should never be used as an excuse for others to do the same. God’s standard for sin and His request for us to obey His commandments are timeless. What was wrong 10,000 or 2,000 years ago is just as wrong today. It has nothing to do with what me or anyone else does. We can never justify living a lifestyle that is disobedient to God.
Although it took a while, I no longer have to drag the burden of shame on my back. Once I sincerely repented and ask God for his compete and total forgiveness, the guilty and shame was completely taken away – as if had never even existed. Does that mean that feelings of shame never find a way to sneak up on me from time to time? Unfortunately, they do. And when that happens I know that it is Satan trying his best to convince me that I can never be forgiven – that I’m not good enough. That is a lie because Satan is the best liar in the world.
I wish I had been a better husband and more faithful to my wife and the vows I made to God. I let her down in a big way.
Yet if anyone is carrying around a similar type of shame, all they have to do is stop what they are doing, repent of their sins and sincerely ask God for forgiveness. Thankfully, none of us will be judged by our fellow man.
Adultery is wrong even when I found myself trapped in its grasp. Homosexuality is wrong for those who have chosen that lifestyle. And even though we may once again face temptation, God will always give us a way out. I hope my response has answered your question in whole or in part.
Blessings,
Paul