NASHVILLE - With a Friday deadline looming, backers of competing House petitions to call Tennessee lawmakers into special session to oust embattled Rep. Jeremy Durham remain dozens of signatures short of making it happen.
House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick, R-Chattanooga, who is sponsoring one of two dueling petitions on Durham, R-Franklin, said Monday he isn't sure he will get the required two thirds or 66 of 99 representatives required to call the proposed Aug. 15 special session.
"I hope there's a flood of people going into Nashville in the next few days, but I really don't sense that," said McCormick, who favors ousting Durham, who is the target of a recent state attorney general investigation that detailed accusations of inappropriate sexual behavior or harassment by 22 women.
"It's up to membership," McCormick later added. "Whichever way they go is OK with me."
A major impediment to gaining enough signatures is that lawmakers cannot electronically sign the petition. They must ink their John or Jane Doe on the petition.
Given that the state party primary election season has been in full swing for weeks - election day is Thursday - as well as back-to-back Republican and Democratic National Conventions, that hasn't been easy to do.
Moreover, at least some members of the 73-member House Republican super majority harbor lingering suspicions the entire effort is a conspiracy to remove Durham, an ambitious 32-year-old lawyer who got himself elected Republican Whip before before being forced to step down.
One colleague, Rep. Rick Womick, R-Murfreesboro, claims it's all a politically motivated "witch hunt," although others point to the sheer number of women willing to speak to the attorney general, provided that their names remain confidential from fear of retaliation.
Tack on distances of sometimes hundreds of miles that some lawmakers have to travel to get to the state Capitol in Nashville and it's been a tough haul on getting signatures for either petition, which differ in significant aspects.
McCormick's petition deals only with Durham and, as of late Monday afternoon, his effort had only 11 signatures. Nine were Republican representatives, including McCormick, House Speaker Beth Harwell and Rep. Kevin Brooks, R-Cleveland, the assistant GOP leader.
Just one Democrat, Rep. John Ray Clemmons of Nashville, has definitely signed it. There was an 11th signature but it appeared illegible to a Times Free Press reporter and two legislative staffers.
Rep. Sherry Jones, D-Nashville, said she had signed the petition and objected to a reporter's characterization that the signature was difficult to ascertain.
Meanwhile, House Republican Caucus Chairman Glenn Casada of Franklin has a separate petition calling for a special session to oust not just Durham but Rep. Joe Armstrong, D-Knoxville.
Armstrong is scheduled to go on trial today in a U.S. District Court in Knoxville on federal charges he didn't report income from profits he made on cigarette tax stamps after a 2007 tax increase passed with his support.
Ten Republicans, including McCormick and Harwell, have signed Casada's petition. But no Democrats have signed it. They say lawmakers should await the outcome of Armstrong's case. Armstrong argues he is innocent of the charges.
Durham, who at one point acknowledged having issues with his medication for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, denied many of the allegations made by women in Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery's investigation. But he has said some of his comments or actions may have been unintentionally inappropriate or misinterpreted by female staffers, interns and lobbyists.
Slatery's report details, among other things, allegations Durham had sex with one woman in his office.
The 32-year-old Durham, once seen as a rising conservative star, suspended his reelection campaign after fighting unsuccessfully to block Slatery's report to a special House committee from being released publicly.
But because Durham would continue to serve until Nov. 8, even if he loses his Thursday GOP primary, he would become eligible much later in life for a taxpayer-funded state pension which pegs eligibility to four years in office.
Democrats, who have sought to put Republicans on the political defensive on Durham for months, as well as at least some Republicans don't like the idea of Durham becoming eligible for the pension once he reaches the required age.
Even if ousted, he would remain eligible for another provision giving him lifetime membership and in the state health insurance system along with taxpayer subsidization.
Besides McCormick, Brooks, Harwell, Clemmons and apparently Jones, others signing the McCormick petition including Casada, Rep. Bill Dunn, R-Knoxville; Rep. Susan Lynn, R-Mt. Juliet; Rep. William Lamberth, R-Cotton Town; Rep. Charles Sargent, R-Franklin and Rep. Jason Zachary, R-Knoxville.
The 10 signing the Casada petition include seven lawmakers who also signed McCormick's. They are Casada, McCormick, Harwell, Sargent, Dunn, Lynn and Lamberth. Also signing the Casada petition are Rep. Debra Moody, R-Covington; Rep. Tilman Goins, R-Morristown, and Rep. Sabi Kumar, R-Springfield.
Meanwhile, there's another wrinkle to the petitions. While Casada has sought to address the issue of lawmakers being unable to come to Nashville by asking they print petition copies, sign them and mail them, McCormick said he has been advised that can't be done.
Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfree press.com or 615-255-0550. Follow on Twitter @AndySher1.