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.