Tennessee Rep. Gino Bulso faces ethics complaint over sponsoring of book bill

A Brentwood woman this week filed an ethics complaint against Rep. Gino Bulso alleging the lawmaker and practicing attorney violated conflict of interest rules after he filed legislation that could affect the outcome of a legal case he's currently involved in.

Erica Bowton filed the complaint with the House Ethics Committee on April 15, arguing Bulso ran afoul of House ethics rules by sponsoring House Bill 1632, which Bowton said would give Bulso a "clear legal advantage in a lawsuit in which he serves as attorney for the plaintiffs."

Bulso, R-Brentwood, called the complaint "meritless" on Thursday.

Bulso represents a group of parents and the conservative activist group Citizens for Renewing America in a lawsuit against the Williamson County Board of Education. The group sued the county school board over Tennessee's library book law, arguing they should be allowed to challenge books on the shelves even if their children don't attend Williamson County schools.

Meanwhile, Bulso's HB 1632 would allow any parent whose children are eligible to attend a local school to challenge library books. Though the bill passed in the Senate, it stalled in the House and won't be passed this session. Bulso previously told The Tennessean there wasn't a conflict between his involvement in the legal case and sponsoring a bill to change state law, even though the two would effectively accomplish the same outcomes.

Bulso earlier this year said that because legal arguments in the lawsuit had already been made, his legislation couldn't have an effect on it.

"It is not accurate for Rep. Bulso to contend that the proposed law would not affect Rep. Bulso’s lawsuit simply because the case has already been filed and the issue briefed," Bowton said in the ethics complaint. "As an attorney, Rep. Bulso certainly knows that supplemental briefs can be filed at any time prior to the court’s ruling on a legal issue, and he would be remiss if he failed to bring to the court’s attention that there had been a legislative amendment to the text of the Age-Appropriate Materials Act that directly addressed the standing issue."

Bowton previously accused Bulso of violating House ethics rules during a heated January committee meeting, where she testified against two of Bulso's bills and accused Bulso of standing to "profit financially from this arrangement."

At the time, Bulso stringently denied allegations of a conflict of interest, but Rep. Sam McKenzie, D-Knoxville, eventually asked for legal clarification regarding the issue. After a lengthy discussion with the House Clerk’s office, the committee chair announced that “there is no statement of interest violation, no code of ethics violation, or House Rules violation.”

House Ethics Rules prohibit members from taking actions from which “the representative has reason to believe or expect that the representative will derive a direct monetary gain or any other advantage or suffer a direct monetary loss by reason of the representative’s official activity,” without proper disclosure.

“This complaint is meritless and politically motivated," Bulso said in a statement. "I have complete faith in the House Ethics Committee and I trust the facts will lead them to the correct course of action.”

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Rep. Gino Bulso faces ethics complaint over school book bill