One Tennessee Politician Holds His Tongue on Gibson

This week, the CEO of Gibson Guitar will meet with representatives of the Justice Department to discuss recent raids of factories in Nashville and Memphis. A long list of Tennessee’s elected officials has come to Gibson’s side, but not its two senators.

Republican Congressman Marsha Blackburn and Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey were some of the first to call the seizure of imported hardwood an overreach and an example of overregulation. Even Democrat Jim Cooper says Gibson shouldn’t be held accountable under a century-old environmental law that he says was written too broadly.

Senator Lamar Alexander, however, isn’t commenting directly.

“Gibson is a good citizen of Nashville. It’s not appropriate for a U.S. Senator to get involved in a federal investigation by a U.S. Attorney. It’s against our Senate ethics rules. But it is appropriate for me to look at the Lacey Act.”

Alexander previously co-sponsored revisions to the Lacey Act. He says he’s willing to look at changes, but only as the law applies to future cases.