Party officials decided to donate all the cash to charity after The Associated Press raised questions about their failure to gather the names of
the people who put the money in the buckets. Cobb told the Times-Gazette this morning he hadn’t been told yet about what was happening with the money. “I’m just waiting on someone to let me know,” said Cobb. “Somebody else is handling all that.” Saturday’s Jackson Day event was headlined by former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore and attended by more than 3,000 people, including elected officials, political operatives and other partisans. State Democratic Party Chairman Chip Forrester in his speech urged attendees to throw money into the buckets placed on every table to support Shelbyville Democrat Cobb’s efforts to be elected to the seat vacated by Cobb’s brother, Curt Cobb, who resigned to become clerk of the Bedford County chancery court. But Forrester forgot to remind people to fill out forms left next to the buckets asking for their names to go along with their contributions, said spokesman Keith Talley. “We had the paperwork on the tables, it’s just one of those mistakes,” Talley said. “We’re just going to donate it to a local charity.”
About $5,200 was collected in the buckets, though that figure includes checks that the party won’t have to return since they include donors’ names. Talley said he didn’t know the exact amount of cash collected.