Knoxville
(Article 3 Section 2 Item 4)
That may be just one of the ethics rules violated by Tennessee State Senator Stacy Campfield as a result of requesting a $1000 “retainer” and paid expenses in exchange for a debate with Del Shores.
Fundraising during session could be another.
As Betsy Phillips at the Nashville Scene notes, violating Tennessee Senate Rules could be a third.
All of this over a bill that would prohibit schools from teaching anything about human sexuality other than heterosexuality.
So what happens next? There could be an ethics complaint filed on either of the counts listed above. There could be additional lapses that I haven’t caught. From there, things get a little murky.
As reported on March 21st of this year, the State Ethics Commission lacks a quorum to do it’s job because House Speaker Beth Harwell and Governor Bill Haslam have failed to nominate anyone to the two posts they each have to fill. 4 of the 6 Commissioners seats are empty, leaving potential violations like that of Senator Campfield unresolved.
100 days into Governor Haslam’s administration and despite knowing that the State Ethics Commission has lacked a quorum since November, we’ve seen no movement on the issue. If this is what the Governor and Republican majority might call running government like a business this state is in a lot of trouble.
Of course, we’ve seen how businesses operate. If Governor Haslam really wants our government to run like that, he’s doing a heckuva job.
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