Tennessee House Republicans pile on unforced error after unforced error | Victor Ashe

About when one thought the House GOP could not handle any more scandals or politically dumb decisions, reporters revealed the House Ethics Committee had investigated state Rep. Scotty Campbell from Mountain City (the northeastern tip of Tennessee) for alleged sexual harassment of legislative employees. He was vice chair of the House GOP caucus and serving his third term.

It seems the findings were finalized more than a month ago, March 29, and submitted to Speaker Cameron Sexton. House Majority Leader William Lamberth serves on this committee.

The deliberations are confidential, but why would the final conclusion be kept secret for almost a month given that former state rep Jeremy Durham had been removed for similar offenses three years ago? Would Campbell still be there if the media had not discovered this?

After all the commotion over the Tennessee Three and their actions on the House floor, it seems one of the GOP’s own had his own issues. The leadership knew of it while they marched forward to remove three Democratic members, two of whom were Black. Democrats had served on this committee, too, but followed the committee's decision to keep the findings in-house.

When other Democrats discovered this, they let it be known they would introduce an expulsion resolution and force a vote. At this point, Sexton knew the game was up and told Campbell he could resign at once, keeping his small pension and health benefits, or be expelled with the negative consequences. Campbell resigned within the hour.

Tennessee now faces three special elections to fill three House seats within two months (the two expelled lawmakers, Reps. Justin Jones of Nashville and Justin Pearson of Memphis, were appointed by local officials to fill their seats the week after they were expelled, but must still run in the special election to fill out their terms).

Meanwhile, state Rep. Elaine Davis continued her campaign against Knoxville local government. In the final weeks, she sponsored bills to repeal early voting, outlaw citywide runoffs for City Council seats and cripple the work of civilian-run police review boards.

I established Knoxville’s civilian-run police review boards and it was approved three years later by the City Council, then retained and enhanced by Mayors Bill Haslam, Daniel Brown, Madeline Rogero and Indya Kincannon.

Davis’ husband, Michael Davis, 58, worked many years for the Knox County sheriff and then moved to the Drug Enforcement Administration over a decade ago. He has been able to extend his service by a year, as the normal retirement age for federal law enforcement is 57.

Many in law enforcement oppose civilian review boards. Davis was diligent in her 2022 campaign to hide the identity of her husband, even omitting his photo from campaign ads.

City Judge John Rosson, 75, was charged with reckless driving Feb. 28 in Williamson County after he drove the wrong way on an interstate exit ramp to find a bathroom.

Rosson is completing 36 years as a judge and will be 80 if he completes a 10th term. He might be doing himself a favor if he retires this year. City Council should consider a charter amendment limiting city judges to three 4-year terms.

Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Sharon Lee, who is retiring the end of August, will be the speaker at the University of Tennessee College of Law hooding ceremony on May 18. Lee now lives in Knoxville and has served 15 years on the court, with two years as chief justice. Her successor will be Dwight Tarwater, who was recently confirmed by the state legislature.

Erik Schelzig and Joel Ebert have written a book about scandals in the Tennessee legislature. It was written before the Tennessee Three (Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson) expulsion uproar, but is still worth acquiring. It is due out Aug. 15 from Vanderbilt Press.

Schelzig is editor of the Tennessee Journal, a must-read weekly summary of legislative actions.

Birthdays

May 4: Jared Smith is 41. Anabel Lino is 38. Al Harb is 71. Former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama is 69.

May 5: Ron Dearolf is 92. Sam Stapleton is 72. Justin Davis is 41. Charles Busler is 74. Hakeem Hensley is 31. Susan Edwards is 56.

May 6: Attorney David Noel is 74. Archie Mountbatten, son of Prince Harry, is 4.

May 7: Kelley L. Tafazzoli is 41. Frank Rothermel is 71. Steven D. Larimer is 65. Blanche Nicoll is 35.

May 8: Former state rep Ryan Haynes is 38. Javiette V. Samuel is 50. Grant Rosenberg is 43. Caroline Cooley is 72. Bob McClellan is 57. Former Knoxville mayoral deputy and TV broadcaster Gene Patterson is 69. David Williamson is 81. David Keith is 69.

May 9: Former County Commissioner Hugh Nystrom is 56. Kyle P. McDonald is 41. Steve Richardson is 68. Jim Jennings is 81. Mark Hill is 70. Jim Hagerman is 67. Retired city police officer Randy Lockmiller is 75. Bill Weigel is 85. Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft is 81. Nancy Maland is 72. Richard Norris is 69.

Victor Ashe can be reached at vhashe@aol.com.

Victor Ashe is a former Knoxville mayor and former ambassador to Poland. He is a columnist for Shopper News. 

Knox News and Shopper News promptly correct all errors. If you think we have published incorrect information, please email accuracy@knoxnews.com. Describe the error, where you saw it, the date, page number or the URL.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee House Republicans pile on error after error: Victor Ashe