NASHVILLE – House Republican leaders are expected to fail to meet today’s deadline in gathering enough representatives’ signatures to call the General Assembly into special session to consider expelling one, possibly two representatives.
The latest blow was an announcement by the Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators saying its members don’t back an effort to call the special legislative session to considering expelling state Rep. Jeremy Durham, R-Franklin, from office.
Durham lost his GOP primary election Thursday after suspending his campaign earlier this summer following a special state Attorney General investigation and report. It found the 32 year old had inappropriately approached or sexually harassed at least 22 women, most of whom worked at the state Capitol as staffers, lobbyists and interns.
Black Caucus members said in their news release that while they believe Rep. Durham’s activities “were worthy of expulsion, since this is an election year, the voters should be the ones to decide if he should return to the State House.”
Democratic leaders and the state party have repeatedly attacked the House’s GOP majority and called for Durham’s expulsion because he will become eligible for a taxpayer-funded pension if he serves until his term expires on Nov. 8.
House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick, R-Chattanooga, has been circulating the petition calling for a special session to consider expelling Durham, who is white.
The deadline for signatures is this afternoon and only 27 of the required two thirds or 66 representatives in the 99-member House had signed as of 2:25 p.m. (CDT). Most are Republicans but there are some Democrats.
There are 14 Black Caucus members in the House. Only one appears to support Durham’s ouster.
Another petition being circulated by House Republican Caucus Chairman Glen Casada, R-Frankin, seeks to expel both Durham and Rep. Joe Armstrong, D-Knoxville, who has been in a federal court trial this week on tax fraud charges. Armstrong is black.
Casada’s petition has garnered only 17 signatures, none from Democrats.
Armstrong’s trial stems from his failure to report profits he made while taking advantage of a cigarette tax hike he supported and advocated for.
Armstrong has acknowledged buying stamps at their old price and profiting when the new tax increase took effect in 2011. That was legal. The criminal charge only involves his failure to report the income to the IRS for tax purposes.
Some Democrats and Republicans have signed McCormick’s Durham-only special session ouster petition while some other Republicans have signed Casada’s Durham/Armstrong ouster call.
Casada told reporters today he is “disappointed” that Democrats are refusing to sign his double-edged ouster petition call.
Both Durham and Armstrong may not have committed felonies “but they both broke the public trust,” Casada said.
Durham on Thursday lost his GOP House primary contest to Sam Whitson who won by a 79.52 percent to 13.93 percent margin.
Tennessee Black Caucus Chair Brenda Gilmore, D-Memphis, said black lawmakers’ position is that a special session is not needed to ‘fix an issue that Republican leadership has known about for years and refused to do anything about. They stayed silent and took no action for months and months and now they want to try to turn it into a political issue.'”
Black lawmakers say voters in Durham’s district have now spoken and he won’t be back next year regardless.
Rep. Raumesh Akbari, D-Memphis, an attorney and the Black Caucus’s vice chair, served on the House’s ad hoc committee on Durham.
She said that “at this point, it’s more important to protect the victims mentioned in the AG’s report. Hearings during a special session would force the victims to re-live their trauma all over again and they have been victimized enough.”