Tennessee’s Office of Legislative Administration could use an abundance of sunshine.
An attorney hired by the state to defend the legislative administration office argued before Davidson County Chancellor Russell Perkins last week that the office is not subject to the state Public Records Act and therefore doesn’t have to reveal how it spent a reported nearly $9,000, and who authorized it, on the victim following a sexual harassment investigation into former state Rep. Scotty Campbell.
We believe, instead, if a government office spent taxpayer money to clean up, cover up or make the case involving an elected official go away, such details should be known to the public.
The fact that any state office can spend money — especially on such a tawdry errand — and not have to answer for it seems unconscionable and makes one wonder how else it might spend money, and how much, and not have to account for it.
On July 4, it seems to be the antithesis of the freedom and liberty on which the country was founded 247 years ago today.
Campbell, R-Mountain City, resigned his state House seat in late April after Nashville’s NewsChannel5 (WTVF) reported a House ethics committee found he violated a workplace harassment and discrimination policy. News reports at the time said he allegedly made vulgar comments and unwanted advances to at least one intern. The investigation by the bipartisan House Ethics Subcommittee found the allegations to be true.
WTVF also reported the state then spent nearly $9,000, including giving the 19-year-old legislative intern money to help her get out of her lease in an apartment complex where Campbell also lived and $935 in cash to help her move to a downtown hotel.
The attorneys for the state have variously argued that the legislative administrative office is the same as the House, and thus not subject to the Public Records Act; that the office had a right to adopt and apply the same rules for confidentiality it sets in harassment cases; that the public records requested are, in general, confidential under a House policy, which is set under state law; that the deliberative process in government bodies such as the Ethics Subcommittee is a court-allowed exception to the state public record law; and that compelling the records to be released would violate the separation of government powers.
In April, House Speaker Cameron Sexton claimed he had little knowledge about the Campbell case, but his spokesman later said a state law allows the legislative administration office to “make disbursements of funds for all lawful expenses of the General Assembly” and that the “bipartisan Workplace Discrimination and Harassment Subcommittee” working with the legislative administration office “has the ability and authority to disburse funds.”
But Legislative Administration Director Connie Ridley not only wouldn’t release the public records but refused to even say which budget the funds for the intern were drawn from, how many harassment complaints the subcommittee has handled in the last three years and how many have been filed against legislators.
Brian Manookian, the suspended Nashville lawyer who had filed suit over the public records, argued against the legislative administration office being the same as the legislature, saying it has a non-elected staff, is not a branch of the government and frequently complies with public records requests. Plus, he said any expense of public funds comes under the Public Records Act.
The attorney for the state also warned that releasing the records could identify the victim and/or her address, but we find that claim unpersuasive.
After all, such identifying information can be redacted, and the point of the records request was not about the woman’s identification but how much money was spent and who authorized it to be spent.
That aligns with what Deborah Fisher, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, said last month.
State law might permit withholding of details about Campbell’s victims, she said, but the records of any payments should be subject to public records laws.
An anonymous member of the ethics subcommittee said in May that the legislative policy on sexual harassment or misconduct is unclear about whether it can authorize the expense of money stemming from an investigation or sanction anyone found to have violated the workplace discrimination and harassment policy.
The Nashville chancellor said he would take last week’s arguments under advisement and issue an order.
In the first month of his first term, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a new executive order superseding and rescinding his predecessor Bill Haslam’s directive on openness, transparency and accountability in government. Although the legislative branch is not the executive branch, and although one report says Lee has denied at least 60 records requests since taking office, we wish his directive would transcend branches.
No government office should help sweep a scandal under the rug, spend taxpayer funds to do it and then claim it doesn’t have to account for them. That’s not right on July 4 or any other day.