(Dennis Cavin and the Stolen Valor Act)
Extract of "Things I wish I knew before running for office. A true story of small-town-dirty-politics. A real experience of running a city council campaign in Gallatin Tennessee" written by Michelle Landry Jouvence during the 2020 Gallatin Alderman At Large Campaign.
Definition of Blackmail: extortion or coercion by often written threats especially of public exposure, physical harm, or criminal prosecution. The act of forcing someone to do or pay something by threatening to reveal a secret.
Definition of Coercion: use of express or implied threats of violence or reprisal (as discharge from employment), or other intimidating behavior that puts a person in immediate fear of the consequences in order to compel that person to act against his or her will.
Pascal is a military veteran. Pascal is an airline pilot. Pascal was threatened because he used the word veteran in campaign material to describe himself. A rumor was spread around that Pascal was breaking the Stolen Valor Act. The Stolen Valor Act accusation was part of the insider network. Dennis Cavin lives in Fairvue. He is a retired military Lieutenant General. He is the president of the Fairvue HOA. He is well respected and admired in Gallatin. Clearly, Pascal’s military status was a huge threat to “them”. “They” pulled out the big guns to go after Pascal’s military status.
The stolen valor act FB post that was spread around started with Rick Murphy, a local business owner, and former chamber of commerce director. Mr. Murphy gave Mayor Paige Brown her first job with the chamber of commerce. (Rick’s wife Linda Murphy also did a good job spreading the stolen valor act rumor around). But it didn’t really start with Rick. It started with Dennis Cavin. On October 6, during Pascal’s campaign, Pascal got an intimidating email from Lt. General, Dennis Cavin.
Little did General Cavin know, we were in possession of a recording of Shawn Fennell and Jimmy Overton having a conversation in a public place. They did not know that they were being heard, much less being broadcast and recorded. Shawn Fennell is telling Jimmy Overton that Dennis Cavin had called him, concerned that he and Hayes aren’t going to get re-elected because of the way a certain rezoning item was going, and how it would be a “black eye” either way they voted on it. (BTW, this recording is proof of these two councilmen breaking the sunshine law, right there on the recording).
There it is, folks. The real reason for Dennis Cavin’s email to Pascal. He wants to MAKE SURE that Shawn gets re-elected.
When Pascal got the threatening email from Dennis Cavin, we knew why and were able to see it for what it was. A pathetic attempt at bullying and black mail. This guy is a faker. He faked indignation and sent a fake threat that he was having US Army lawyers look into an allegation of a fake case of Stolen Valor. See below for the email thread from Oct. 6 – Oct 16 between Lt. General Cavin and Pascal.
Why does Dennis Cavin want Shawn Fennell and Craig Hayes to be on Gallatin City Council? Is he one of the ones pulling the strings? Isn’t it always follow the money? Follow the connections, and follow the money.
After the final email when General Cavin states that his attorneys agree that Pascal is not breaking the Stolen Valor Act; Lo and Behold, that same day, October 16, what appears on FB? A long post written by Rick Murphy, with an image of Pascal’s ad. He was accusing Pascal of misleading people, asks that he change his campaign materials, and he mentions the Stolen Valor Act. Hmm… Wonder where that came from? This was spread around on social media. The ones I know of, that I saw on FB are all connected somehow to the City of Gallatin and the Chamber of Commerce.
After seeing the FB post, Pascal went to Rick Murphy’s Edward Jones office to speak to him. They spoke about money and investments for a while. Rick Murphy did not mention the stolen valor act, he did not mention anything about the campaign. He did not ask Pascal to change his campaign material. He did not ask Pascal his position on the issues that he said in his post he was interested in. He did not ask Pascal why he opted out of the forum. Not a word about any of it. Pascal then confronted him about his FB post, at which time Mr. Murphy backed tracked and tried to make it sound like he wasn’t saying anything negative. These people are phonies, they will be sweet to your face and stab you in the back.
This FB post was spread around by many people. We had our lawyer send a cease-and-desist letter to Dennis Cavin when we saw that the “stolen valor” lie was being perpetuated. Here is a copy of the cease-and-desist letter. These people were insinuating that Pascal was committing a crime, breaking the stolen valor act by falsely claiming to be a US Military Veteran. Yet, they knew he had served in the French Army because of Pascal’s campaign material. His introductory video on his website, which was promoted on all his campaign material, talks about his serving in the French Army for eight years. These people think they are smart, but they don’t know just how dumb they are. It is clear and obvious that they are not seeking truth. They only care about getting elected, and they are used to getting their way by bullying people.
