NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The I-Team has discovered that some state lawmakers may not be abiding by a law meant to affect all Tennessee residents.

Video: I-Team Spots Smokers Inside State Building

Everyone, including the thousands of state workers in Nashville, have to walk outside to specified areas if they should want to smoke.

State law prohibits smoking inside state buildings, but for those who want to skirt the law and know the right people, there's a room upstairs for them.

"It's hypocritical. It's a double standard, and there's no way to justify it," said Drew Johnson of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research.

According to an I-Team report, those who want to get around the smoking ban inside Legislative Plaza need to know state Rep. Joe McCord, R-Maryville, and if they're really connected, they will be invited back to a room set up for smoking.

McCord would not speak with the I-Team's Jeremy Finley on the record.

About two years ago, the state Legislature passed a law that banned smoking in any state buildings.

The effects of smoking hit home for lawmakers when state Sen. Roy Herron, D-Dresden, announced that his sister had died of lung cancer.

McCord was among the lawmakers that cast a "yes" vote to the legislation, which passed with an overwhelming majority.

But this week, when the Channel 4 I-Team sat outside McCord's office in front of everybody smoking outside, there was someone smoking inside while McCord was in the room.

A source also told the I-Team that inside Legislative Plaza, an entire conference room designed for official business had become a room to skirt the smoking law and not get caught.

"This is the third day that we've be in here, and just standing in here, you can smell that someone's been smoking," the I-Team’s Jeremy Finley reported.

Over the course of several days during business hours, the I-Team checked out McCord's conference rooms.

In one, there was an air purification system, a sandbag to seal the space the below the door and a homemade sign reminding people not to open the door to the outside hallway.

Finley said he found one ashtray in the corner of the room and another ashtray in a drawer alongside 12 bottles of booze.

"It bothers me as a taxpayer that here we've got this room set up to essentially throw a party, have a little party in the middle of the day. We've got booze. We've got smokes. We've got card games. It's being done on my dime, your time. Taxpayers are paying these people to work," Johnson said.

Lawmakers are allowed to keep alcohol in their offices, but smoking is prohibited.

The I-Team didn't get an official invitation to any of the rooms, and when Finley and a photographer went to talk to McCord about what was going on, he declined to comment.

"People are complaining that people are coming in here to smoke," Finley told McCord.

"OK," McCord said.

"I've got to at least get your reaction to it," Finley said.

"Sir, you've told me what you are working with. Thank you," McCord said.

"So is this happening? Are people coming in here to smoke?" Finley said.

"Sir, I told you I'd sit down and talk with you, but I don't want to talk on camera," McCord said.

"Bottom line, is it's against state policy to smoke in Legislative Plaza, but it appears people are smoking in your offices," Finley told McCord.

"I am dipping," McCord said.

"It's really not an issue of smoking or having alcohol in your office. It's really an issue of what they can do, you can't do," Finley said.

"It's just a slap in the face to taxpayers," Johnson said.

Finley said McCord's is the only office about which the I-Team received complaints. McCord shares the conference room with Rep. Park M. Strader, R-Knoxville. Strader has been out of the state and Legislature recently for cancer treatment.

It's unclear if there are other offices set up for smoking.

Could McCord or any of the people smoking in the smoking room face repercussions?

People are being busted after being accused of smoking in non-smoking places, but being punished for it is a different case entirely.

Finley will have more on that part of the story on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

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