NASHVILLE – The real action on the Tennessee General Assembly’s first day of its 2016 session didn’t take place in the House and Senate chambers on Tuesday.
Instead, it either happened behind closed doors, as some House GOP lawmakers’ efforts to oust their controversial Republican whip fizzled by one vote, or in hallways, where supporters rallied, chanted and urged lawmakers to revive Gov. Bill Haslam’s failed Medicaid expansion.
Toss in a number of last-minute political fundraisers before the start of the annual session and then call it a day.
No bills were debated or passed on the House and Senate floor, although some committees met.
Rep. Susan Lynn, R-Mount Juliet, center, recites the Pledge of Allegiance with other House members on the opening day of the second session of the 109th General Assembly Tuesday in Nashville.
In this Feb. 2, 2015, file photo, state Rep. Jeremy Durham, R-Franklin, speaks at a news conference at the legislative office complex in Nashville, Tenn., while Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, left, looks on. Voters in the home county of Durham, a top Republican in the state house, are receiving robocalls demanding his resignation. Much of the focus was on the House Republican Caucus, which voted to shut the door to the public as it considered ousting Rep. Jeremy Durham, R-Franklin, from his leadership post. Members never even got down to the heart of the matter, which involved several controversial actions taken by the 32-year-old Republican leader who was first elected whip in 2014.
“There were not a sufficient amount of votes to suspend the rules,” House Speaker Beth Harwell, R-Nashville, told reporters following the hour-long meeting, which a majority of the 73-member caucus voted to close to reporters.
Durham later blamed what he characterized as the “liberal media” for his woes, which included disclosures that prosecutors once recommended criminal charges against him over an altered drug prescription. A grand jury chose not to indict him.
The lawmaker also has come under fire for writing a character reference on behalf of a youth minister who pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Chattanooga to child pornography possession and later to statutory rape by an authority figure.
And Harwell previously acknowledged asking the legislature’s human resources chief to speak with Durham about unspecified behavioral issues. No one will discuss them publicly.
“I felt like the forces of good were on my side,” Durham told reporters afterward as he characterized the situation as a “kangaroo court.”
Still, Durham said, “it’s been a very humbling experience.”
When the meeting began, Rep. Sheila Butt, R-Columbia, quickly made a motion to remove reporters and any members of the general public from the old Supreme Court Chambers in the state Capitol, where the caucus was meeting.
Rep. Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol, objected and moved to table Butt’s motion. Only 17 Republicans of the estimated 66 present supported the tabling motion, however.
Then, 53 Republicans voted to close their meeting.
“We elected him in public. We should have considered removing him in public,” one disgruntled GOP lawmaker said later.
After reporters left, Republican lawmakers said they were confronted by a situation not covered in caucus bylaws because the rules address censure, not ouster. Bylaws also say the two-thirds vote to suspend the rules would apply to the entire caucus, not just those present.
A motion was made to suspend House Republican Caucus rules. It received 48 votes, several GOP sources said, one vote shy of the required 49.
Durham later told reporters he doesn’t understand why he was sent for workplace counseling in November by the legislature’s human resources chief, Connie Ridley.
“She wouldn’t tell me,” he said of Ridley. “I didn’t even know what she was talking about. She wouldn’t tell me what she was talking about. It was very short. It was very low-key. She just said every now and then I meet with legislators I forget what she said. It was very short.”
Harwell later said all “personnel files with Connie are confidential.”
“I’m disappointed that it was a closed meeting,” Harwell told two reporters. “It was a caucus decision. And the caucus made their decision. And now it’s time to become constructive and move on with the busy legislative session.”
Earlier in the day, supporters of Haslam’s proposed Insure Tennessee sought to revive the bill, which failed last year in two Senate panels controlled by the governor’s fellow Republicans.
It would have extended Medicaid health coverage under President Barack Obama’s 2010 health law to an estimated 280,000 low-income Tennesseans.
“These people are not going to be able to afford health insurance,” said Michele Johnson, executive director of the Tennessee Justice Center, as some 200 proponents rallied on Legislative Plaza prior to the start of the session. They later lined the underground tunnel leading to the state Capitol, urging lawmakers passing through to act.
And during the House and Senate sessions, they chanted, “Act now” and “Whose House? Our House,” their voices filtering through the closed doors to the House chamber.
Haslam, however, has said he sees little chance of reviving his bill and doesn’t plan to push it this session unless there is a sea change among fellow Republicans.
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Beleaguered state House Democrats got a major financial boost Tuesday morning as Nashville businessman Bill Freeman, an unsuccessful 2015 Nashville mayoral candidate, contributed $100,000 to their caucus’ campaign war chest for 2016 elections.
“It’s never good when one party controls everything. It’s time for Democrats to step up and have a real two-party system in our state,” Freeman said. “I’m pitching in because we just can’t afford to let our state get off in the ditch while Republicans do little but pander to their extreme fringe.”
Among those holding fundraisers on Monday were Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, the Republican Senate speaker, and House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick, R-Chattanooga.
McCormick said his Monday night event was both for his campaign and his leadership political action committee.
“In the last day or so I’ve raised about $40,000,” McCormick said.
The hours leading up to the session are often accompanied by a last-minute frenzy of political fundraising because state ethics laws enacted in the mid-1990s prohibit their raising money during the actual session.
Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com, 615-255-0550 or follow via twitter at AndySher1.