Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada has told a judge he can no longer afford to pay child support to his former wife, court filings show.
Franklin lawmakers paid $4,000 a month in alimony set in the couple’s final divorce decree in 2017.
His attorney, Sarah Perky, wrote in a motion filed in Williamson County Chancery Court that Casada was no longer able to make the payments.
“On or about May 15, Mr. Casada lost his employment with Merck, which was the primary source of his income, representing a material and significant change in circumstances,” the filing reads. “Due to his advanced age and the circumstances of his unemployment, it is highly unlikely that Mr. Casada will find comparable employment.”
Casada has been embroiled in controversy surrounding sexually explicit text messages and will step down from his role as speaker of the House of Representatives.
Casada was employed as a veterinary drug salesman for the big pharmaceutical company. According to his financial declarations of interest, he has worked for Merck since 2012.
But as the scandal unfolded, a Casada employee told The Tennessean lawmakers resigned from Merck to focus on his job as speaker. He previously said he wanted to work just one more year to “supplement his retirement”.
MARRIED WORK:House Speaker Glen Casada is resigning from his job at pharmaceutical company Merck
In June, Casada announced he would be stepping down on August 2 – his 60th birthday. Governor Bill Lee has called a special legislative session for August 23 to select a new House Speaker.
Casada has said he is not stepping down from his legislative seat but already has a contender for the District 63 seat in the House of Representatives. Independent candidate and Williamson County School Board member Brad Fiscus this week announced his intention to run.
DISTRICT 63 RACE:Williamson school board member Brad Fiscus challenges Casada in the 2020 state race
Casada’s resignation as speaker came after he received a no-confidence vote from the House Republican caucus in May, amid a scandal that mostly involved misogynistic text messages he exchanged with his former chief of staff, Cade Cothren, who resigned earlier this month. Cothren had also sent racist text messages and admitted to using cocaine in the Legislative Office building.
As an announcer, Casada earned a monthly salary of $6,079. The speaker has an annual salary of nearly $73,000.
Ordinary legislators have a base salary of $24,300 per year, not including their daily allowances.
The wife’s attorney disagrees
Attorney Rose Palermo — representing Casada’s former wife — argued in a court filing that the speaker’s legal team failed to follow “due process” for requesting a change or termination of child support payments.
Palermo also argued in the response that a copy of the petition was not served to his ex-wife in June. Instead, Palermo said she received a copy of the application on July 1. She then requested that the court reject the application in its entirety.
NewsChannel 5 first reported on Casada’s request to stop his child support payments.
Retired Circuit Judge Walter Kurtz will hear the case beginning July 11. All of the Williamson County court judges have resigned.
Natalie Allison and Joel Ebert contributed to this report.
You can reach Emily West at erwest@tennessean.com or 615-613-1380 and on Twitter at @emwest22.
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