A state lawmaker in Tennessee resigned suddenly for an ethics violation that became public Thursday, two weeks after he joined fellow Republicans in expelling two Black Democratic legislators for protesting in support of gun control on the state House floor.
Rep. Scotty Campbell, vice chair of the House Republican Caucus, violated the Legislature’s workplace discrimination and harassment policy. The brief Ethics Subcommittee findings document from late March did not provide specifics and said no more information would be released.
Campbell’s resignation came hours after a Nashville TV station confronted him about sexual harassment allegations involving legislative interns.
Rep. Scotty Campbell, R-Tenn., center, sits in session in the House Chambers at the Tennessee State Capitol Building in Nashville, Tenn., on March 20, 2023.Nicole Hester / The Tennessean/USA Today file
Campbell declined to provide a detailed account of what happened. Asked by WTVF-TV on Thursday about the ethics panel’s decision, Campbell said, “I had consensual, adult conversations with two adults off property.”
“If I choose to talk to any intern in the future, it will be recorded,” Campbell said.
About six hours after the broadcaster questioned him, the Mountain City lawmaker issued his resignation effective immediately, according to a letter to fellow legislators.
WTVF-TV was first to report on the finding by the Ethics Subcommittee, which issued its decision in a document dated March 29 addressed to Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton.
“I can’t determine exactly when we saw it (the letter),” Sexton told reporters Thursday. “But, the determination was the subcommittee. The speaker has no role in putting out any kind of corrective action. That comes from the subcommittee.”
Campbell stayed in office following the ethics finding, and on April 6 voted to expel Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson. They have since been reinstated. Campbell also voted to expel Democratic Rep. Gloria Johnson, who was spared expulsion by one vote.
Jones, Pearson and Johnson were targeted for expulsion for the March 30 protest at the front of the House floor in which hundreds of demonstrators packed the Capitol to call for passage of gun-control measures.
Johnson called Campbell’s ethics violation “horrendous” in a tweet Thursday afternoon.
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