‘Smart and handsome’ but fighting Capitol Hill temptations

NASHVILLE — Former Tennessee Secretary of State Riley Darnell recalls learning a quick lesson when he first came to the state Capitol in 1971 to begin serving in the General Assembly.

“Everbody’ll tell you how smart and handsome you are, and you never hear anything contrary,” said Mr. Darnell, a Democrat. “Everybody wants something and will provide. If you’re not careful, it sure gets in your head.”

Mr. Darnell, who went on to serve 22 years in the state House and Senate and another 16 years as secretary of state, said he avoided one Capitol Hill temptation in particular — straying from his marriage.

“I’m not any stronger than anyone else,” said Mr. Darnell, who was known for largely steering clear of the nightly alcohol-fueled receptions and expeditions to bars and nightclubs. “Opportunity is the problem. And you get to thinking the rules don’t apply to you.”

But as the intern sex-and-extortion scandal involving state Sen. Paul Stanley, R-Germantown, shows, not all legislators resist the temptations.

Sen. Stanley, a 47-year-old married father of two, announced last week he would resign his seat Aug. 10 after he had what a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agent described in an affidavit as a “sexual relationship” with his 22-year-old legislative intern, McKensie Morrison.

The affair came to light in July after Ms. Morrison’s boyfriend, Joel Watts, was bound over to a Davidson County grand jury on charges he tried to extort $10,000 from the senator for “provocative” pictures the lawmaker took of Ms. Morrison.

A family-values conservative who championed legislation to prevent gay couples from adopting children, Sen. Stanley initially issued a public statement calling himself the “victim.”

But he soon came under pressure from top Tennessee Republicans to resign and did so.

Sexual shenanigans — or allegations of them— are nothing new on Tennessee’s Capitol Hill.

“It’s sort of hilarious where people stand up and throw stones at Paul Stanley about doing something with a young intern,” said Rep. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville. “There’s a lot of stones that can be thrown all around on this. There’s a lot of glass houses in the legislature.”

As debate over Sen. Stanley’s actions raged last week, Terry Frank, a conservative East Tennessee talk-radio show host, criticized media portrayals of Ms. Morrison as the only victim. On her blog, she shared something about her own experience as a legislative intern in Nashville.

“When a state senator asked me on a date when I was an intern, I said, ‘No,’” Ms. Frank wrote. “He asked me, ‘Why not?’ and it was very easy for me to say, “Because you’re married.’ I was Ms. Morrison’s age.”

glass houses

The glass houses on Tennessee’s Capitol Hill do shatter publicly on occasion. Over the years, a number of lawmakers have seen their marriages break up over infidelity charges.

In 2005, the wife of then-Senate Republican Caucus Chairman Jeff Miller, of Cleveland, filed for divorce. She charged in court filings that Mr. Miller, who sponsored legislation banning same-sex marriage, had engaged in “inappropriate marital conduct.”

Mr. Miller denied the charge, but he was romantically linked in various news accounts to his then-executive assistant for policy, Jessa Fahey, whom he continued to employ. The Millers eventually divorced.

Efforts to contact Mr. Miller last week about reports in Nashville and Cleveland, Tenn., that he and Ms. Fahey have since married were unsuccessful.

After being arrested for DUI and other charges in 2007, then-House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rob Briley, D-Nashville, listed the name of a female lobbyist for trial lawyers as his next-of-kin or contact person. The Nashville Scene reported the lawmaker and lobbyist were having an affair, a charge Mr. Briley, who has since left office, never disputed.

Earlier this year, after Rep. Kent Williams, R-Elizabethton, was elected House speaker by Democrats, Republican leaders released 2-year-old allegations by Rep. Susan Lynn, R-Mount Juliet, that Rep. Williams had sexually harassed her. She had told GOP leaders in 2007 that Rep. Williams told her he would give a week’s pay “just to see you naked” and later gave her an unwelcome hug.

The speaker denied the allegations.

risk takers

Some such as Temple University psychologist Frank Farley and University of Virginia political science professor Larry Sabato believe politicians are born risk takers who in a sense are hard-wired with a propensity to stray.

Moreover, Dr. Sabato said, “the temptations are great. You know power is an aphrodisiac. There are people who will throw themselves at elected officials. I’ve watched it. I’ve seen it happen. There are actually political groupies who do that.”

Lawmakers on Tennessee’s Capitol Hill said they have watched it, too, and some, as Mr. Darnell did, take special pains to avoid situations.

“You’ve seen what’s happened to several marriages over the past five, 10, 15 years at the legislature,” said state Rep. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, a Christian conservative. “Part of it’s being away from home. Part of it, I’m afraid at times, part of it’s people being elected who don’t have a strong foundation in their lives. I guess this can be a dangerous place for a person who’s not well grounded.”

Rep. Richard Floyd, R-Chattanooga, also a Christian conservative, said “any man or woman is susceptible to these types of actions. I believe my faith is what’s sustained me. ... The first two people I talk to every morning are my Lord and my wife. The last two I talk to (at night) are my wife and my Lord.”

“I tell you, Paul Stanley is my friend,” Rep. Floyd said. “The fearful thing about this — I don’t condemn anybody — it can happen to anybody. I tell you, you have to build your defenses against that. You just cannot place yourself to be in a position to be tempted.”