CAMDEN, Tenn. – Republican Gov. Bill Haslam on Tuesday renewed his call for state Rep. Jeremy Durham to resign but says he won’t speed up the process by issuing the call for a special legislative session to oust him.
Haslam told reporters after a grant announcement that he will leave it to lawmakers to decide on calling the special session. If the governor doesn’t issue the call, it takes two-thirds of legislators in both chambers to convene one.
Haslam noted that the state constitution requires the same threshold to oust a member.
“If I have to call them in, that probably means they can’t get the votes because that means they couldn’t get the signatures,” Haslam said.
Durham earlier this month suspended his re-election campaign but did not resign after an investigation by the state attorney general included allegations of improper sexual interactions with 22 women at the Legislature.