Sexton says Griffey discipline due to 'behavior' not policy

Apr. 15—Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton said he and Rep. Bruce Griffey, R-Paris, have resolved issues Sexton said led him to strip the West Tennessee representative of his committee assignments last month.

"We wiped the slate clean, and he's back on committees, and we're continuing to work together and communicate," Sexton told a group of editors with the Tennessee Press Association Tuesday.

In March, Griffey had sought to revive a bill that had been defeated in subcommittee by bringing it before the full House. The legislation would have changed the state's E-Verify rules to require all employers with more than six employees to participate in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services system to confirm workers are eligible to work in the country.

Current law requires employers with 50 or more workers to participate in E-Verify.

Griffey attempted to use Rule 53 of the House rules, "Recall of a Bill From Committee." That requires a two-thirds vote in the House to recall the bill and hold a vote.

Sexton gaveled the motion dead for lack of a second.

Three days later, Sexton announced Griffey would be stripped of his committee assignments for allegations of not meeting "expectations."

Griffey, who has been reinstated, is a member of the Civil Justice, Criminal Justice and Education Instruction committees.

At the time, Griffey said he had not received communication about the specific reasons for his removal and suggested it was punishment for attempting disagreeing on legislative priorities, like trying to revive the E-Verify bill or opposing Gov. Bill Lee's criminal justice reform proposals.

Griffey accused Sexton of creating a dictatorship within the House of Representatives and likened his treatment to how former President Donald Trump was treated when he opposed the Republican Party establishment in 2016.

"Speaker Sexton and Governor Lee clearly do not want legislators at the Capitol who think independently and are unwilling to be puppets to a larger puppet master," Griffey said at the time.

Griffey was elected to the House in 2018. So far, none of his sponsored legislation has been signed into law.

The removal of Griffey from his committee assignments led the Henry County Republican Party to issue a censure of Sexton of "obstruction of the democratic process."

Sexton said the his actions were not because Griffey attempted to use the Rule 53 procedure or in response to any piece of legislation.

"It was about continual behavior," Sexton said. "I've always told members I I expect them to have decorum, respect for others and act professionally at all times. Over the course of years, that hasn't always been the case."

In the past, Griffey has used social media to name representatives with whom he disagreed on votes. Griffey has said he was sharing publicly available information so constituents would know how legislators voted. Sexton described it as a form of harassment and said Griffey would call other representatives names.

Griffey denied name calling. He did admit he had confronted a fellow Republican member of the House who had opposed Griffey's legislation on duck hunting. He told the Tennessean his use of explicit language was to "someone I thought was my friend."

Griffey also clashed with Gov. Bill Lee when he appointed a Huntingdon attorney to a chancery court vacancy in 2019. Griffey's wife, Rebecca, had applied for the open position but was not selected as a finalist. The Associated Press reported the appointee, King, resigned after nine days, saying the Griffeys had attempted to undermine her appointment and worked with GOP officials to keep King from being the party's chancery nominee in the 2020 election.

Sexton emphasized the issues were not related to policy positions but to behavior.

"It came to a head. Sometimes you have to make a hard decision," he said.

Sexton said he consulted with other members of the Republican caucus.

"We felt the best course of action at that time with Rep. Griffey was to remove him from the committees," Sexton said.

He said that move was followed with conversations with Griffey and a meeting with the caucus about the internal issues. Once those steps were completed, Griffey was reinstated to his assigned committees.

"As speaker, the one thing I won't compromise on is having decorum, respect for one another and professional behavior. If we can't achieve that goal, then I have to take appropriate action," Sexton said. "There is a certain standard

Heather Mullinix is editor of the Crossville Chronicle. She covers schools and education in Cumberland County. She may be reached at hmullinix@crossville-chronicle.com.