NASHVILLE - The leader of Tennessee's Democrats charged Tuesday that Republican state Rep. Rick Womick is out of control and called on GOP leaders to "do something anything" to "rein" him in.
State Democratic Party Chairwoman Mary Mancini spoke after two widely publicized volleys by the Murfreesboro lawmaker.
The first was when Womick called on GOP legislative colleagues to give "serious consideration" to impeaching Republican Gov. Bill Haslam over accepting the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage.
Womick followed that up last week by writing to urge the state's 95 county clerks to refuse to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.
"Republican leadership's silence on this issue is deafening," Mancini said in a news release Tuesday. "Once again Governor Haslam, Speaker [Beth] Harwell, and Lieutenant Governor [Ron] Ramsey are too afraid of the extremists in their own party to show any kind of leadership.
"Or," Mancini continued, "maybe they agree with Rep. Womick's irresponsible actions but just won't admit it. Either way, the Tennessee's Republican Party is clearly becoming home to extremists who expend their energy on grandstanding instead of focusing on the real problems facing the state."
Womick dismissed the charges in a telephone interview.
"It's Democrats," he said. "I mean, they don't uphold the Constitution anyway."
He said the U.S. Supreme Court "has no power to write the laws from the bench."
"And for [Democrats] to sit there and say in their press release that basically the Supreme Court has ruled on that and it now becomes law is false. It's completely unconstitutional [for the Supreme Court] to make some sort of statement like that.
"Once again, Democrats at large, but in particular the Democrat Party, if they can't get what they want through the legislative process, they try through the courts."
In his letter, which was written on his official stationery with the state's seal, Womick told clerks they can legally ignore the Supreme Court ruling.
And in his own news release Tuesday, Womick stated that "each of Tennessee's county clerks are publicly elected servants of their county. They are held accountable only to the people that elected them and to their oath of office, not to the [U.S. Supreme Court], Governor Haslam, or Attorney General Herbert Slatery III."
Mancini holds Womick's Republican colleagues responsible.
"First it was impeach the governor and now it's pressuring other elected officials to ignore the law," Mancini said. "With a complete lack of leadership from Haslam, Harwell and Ramsey, I doubt this will be the last time we hear something this outrageous from Rep. Womick."
Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550.