Byron Looper - Tax Assessor

Tax Assessor

In 1992, Looper returned to Tennessee and became a Republican. He lost a race for the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1994, when he ran against incumbent legislator Jere Hargrove.

In 1996, he legally changed his middle name from Anthony to "(Low Tax)" and ran successfully for the post of Putnam County tax assessor, defeating a 14-year incumbent after a campaign in which he did not make public appearances or participate in debates, instead relying heavily on negative campaign ads.

As tax assessor, Looper used his office's equipment to send numerous press releases to Tennessee news media, making positive claims about himself and alleging various shortcomings on the part of other local officials. At the same time he seldom showed up for work and there were many reports of irregularities in property tax assessments. In March 1998, following an investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Looper was indicted on 14 counts of official misconduct, theft of services and official oppression for theft, misuse of county property and misuse of county employees. He claimed the charges were politically motivated due to Democratic control of Putnam County politics and the Tennessee General Assembly. The Cookeville Herald-Citizen newspaper regularly reported the Republican Tax Assessor's bizarre antics and public verbal assaults of Putnam County elected officials. The Tennessee Republican Party soon claimed no connection with Looper, though campaign contributions and lists of paid political consultants proved otherwise.

Looper also faced legal problems from a former girlfriend who sued him for $1.2 million, saying that she got pregnant and bore a child after he forced her to engage in sexual activity and that he had used his official position to steal her house. Earlier he had run campaign ads in which he falsely represented the same girlfriend as his wife.

On October 30, 1998, after Looper had been arrested and jailed for the murder of Tommy Burks, the Putnam County attorney and ten citizens filed petitions to oust him from the office of tax assessor. In the ouster petitions it was alleged that: (1) Looper had arbitrarily increased the tax assessment on the property of a person who would not contribute to Looper's political campaign fund; (2) Looper had failed to enter assessments on certain parcels of property, thus leaving them unassessed; (3) Looper had removed a parcel from the tax roll with the intent of preventing the property owner for serving as a county public official or running for public office; (4) Looper had failed to deliver property tax rolls to the county trustee as required by law; (5) Looper erroneously classified certain property as falling under the state's Agricultural, Forest, and Open Space Land Act in order to obtain a benefit under that law; and (6) Looper used county employee time, county money, and other county resources for his own personal and political purposes. The ouster suit led, on January 26, 1999, to Looper's being officially removed from the public office of property assessor. After Looper's removal from office and conviction for murder, prosecutors decided not to pursue the criminal indictments filed in March 1998.