Former state Rep. Scotty Campbell claims he was forced to resign as part of a cover-up

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) — Former state Rep. Scotty Campbell claims in a newly filed lawsuit that he was forced to resign last year as part of a cover-up involving a top Republican lawmaker.

Campbell, who represented Johnson and parts of Carter, Sullivan and Hawkins counties, resigned in April 2023 shortly after an ethics violation and allegations of sexual harassment involving an intern were unearthed by Nashville TV station WTVF. A subcommittee determined that Campbell violated the General Assembly’s policy on workplace discrimination and harassment.

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But in a lawsuit filed Tuesday, Campbell claims House Republican Caucus Chairman Jeremy Faison told him to resign or face expulsion in an attempt to keep a complaint filed against Faison secret.

“Once it became apparent that the media was aware of the subcommittee’s conclusion regarding Mr. Campbell, he was forced to resign upon threat of being expelled — that day! — and losing his health insurance, etc. by Representative Jeremy Faison, who is believed to have been conspiring with certain yet-to-be-determined others, to keep the media from finding out that a complaint had also been filed against him,” the lawsuit states.

Campbell is suing Director of the Office of Legislative Administration Connie Ridley for refusing to release records he requested concerning the complaint against him.

The lawsuit claims those records would “help clear his name.”

“Before his forced resignation, there was a ‘complaint’ filed against him by a legislative intern who had been flirting with him and spending time with him after work (Mr. Campbell has text messages to prove this),” the lawsuit states. “He asserts that the conversations he had with the intern were consensual, after work, and not at work.”

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“That ‘complaint’ came as a complete surprise to Mr. Campbell,” the lawsuit states.

Ridley cited several reasons why the records couldn’t be released, including that they were confidential under General Assembly policy, but the lawsuit claims the real reason was to cover up a complaint filed against Faison.

The lawsuit claims that when Campbell attempted to show Ridley text messages between him and the intern, she refused and “held her hand up and gestured for him to stop.”

The alleged complaint against Faison came to light in a separate lawsuit filed by a Nashville attorney seeking records on the sexual harassment investigation involving Campbell. The ruling in that lawsuit mentioned “notes pertaining to a complaint against Representative Faison” but provided no details about the complaint.

Ridley and Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton have both denied the existence of such a complaint, according to News Channel 11’s Nashville sister station WKRN.

Faison also denied its existence in a text message to News Channel 11 on Tuesday.

“I stand by what Speaker Sexton and Connie Ridley have said,” Faison wrote. “There is no complaint against me nor has there been.”

Campbell released a statement to News Channel 11 on Tuesday:

The lawsuit states that Campbell “categorically denies that he violated” the General Assembly’s workplace discrimination and harassment policy.

Following his resignation, voters elected Timothy Hill as his replacement.

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