Dave Boucher, and Joel Ebert

The Tennessean

House Speaker Beth Harwell banished Rep. Jeremy Durham to a new office building Thursday and limited his access to staff after a scathing Tennessee attorney general report found the Franklin Republican engaged in inappropriate physical contact and potentially poses a "continuing risk to unsuspecting women."

"Based upon the information gathered thus far, Representative Durham's alleged behavior may pose a continuing risk to unsuspecting women who are employed by or interact with the legislature," Attorney General Herbert Slatery said in a letter to House officials.

In accordance with the attorney general's findings, Harwell, R-Nashville, is limiting Durham's access to certain legislative buildings — including moving his office across the street — and he has been barred from having contact with almost all staff or interns as the investigation continues.

Slatery's findings come after a Tennessean investigation published in January found women who said they had received inappropriate text messages from Durham. The lawmaker has told The Tennessean he doesn't remember sending the messages, and he has denied sexually harassing anyone. As of last week, Durham plans to run for re-election.

Durham hired prominent Nashville attorney Bill Harbison to represent him in the ongoing investigation. Harbison told The Tennessean on Thursday that Durham objected to the process of the investigation, calling it "unusual."

"We find it surprising and unfair, frankly, that a report would be released without our having had any opportunity to know what was being investigated or what was being discussed," Harbison said.

Harbison, the president of the Tennessee Bar Association who represented Tennessee couples in the gay marriage case before the U.S. Supreme Court in the summer, repeatedly said Durham finds the investigation unfair but did not specifically address the allegations.

Slatery's memo, dated Wednesday, states that the investigation has included interviews with 34 people. Information gleaned from those interviews revealed Durham:

"Occupied a superior position of power to the women."

"Obtained personal contact information from the women under the guise of legislative business or another legitimate reason."

"Initiated contact about non-legislative matters and attempted to meet the women alone."

"Usually involved alcohol in his interaction with women."

"Made inappropriate comments of a sexual nature or engaged in inappropriate physical contact with some women."

As The Tennessean discovered in its investigation, Slatery also found women were hesitant to report Durham's misconduct for fear of reprisals.

"With few exceptions, the women who related incidents felt they could not report Representative Durham's behavior because nothing could be done and they did not want to lose their jobs or be considered 'untrustworthy' by employers, clients or legislators," Slatery's report states.

The report also states women who continue to work at the legislature "avoid or refuse to be alone with Representative Durham, a situation which has affected their ability to perform their jobs."

“These proactive steps include reassigning Rep. Durham’s office from the War Memorial Building to the ground floor of the Rachel Jackson Building, and limiting his access to the Legislative Plaza, War Memorial Building, Rachel Jackson Building, and 2nd floor of the State Capitol for official legislative business only. These actions will be taken immediately," Harwell said in an emailed statement.

The attorney general started investigating Durham at the call of Harwell, and later a special investigative committee was created by the speaker. The committee recommended limiting where Durham can go and with whom he can speak.

“I want the investigation to be thorough and complete. I encourage anyone with information relevant to the investigation to contact the Attorney General’s office,” Harwell said.

Although Harbison said the attorney general hasn't been forthcoming with what they're investigating, Slatery sent Durham a lengthy letter on Feb. 12. The letter, obtained by The Tennessean, outlines a broad range of materials Slatery wants Durham to provide. In addition to requesting access to all electronic devices, email and social media accounts, Durham told local media that Slatery requested his state-issued iPad and made a copy of the hard drive from his state-issued computer.

House Democratic Chairman Mike Stewart, D-Nashville, said the findings and actions indicate reports of Durham's inappropriate behavior were true.

“I look forward to seeing the attorney general’s report and investigation. Certainly, the preliminary steps taken by Speaker Harwell appear to demonstrate that the investigation has already revealed that some of the suspicions have been confirmed," Stewart said. "While these steps show that this is a very serious matter, we, of course, need to get to the underlying facts and understand, as we’ve said from the very beginning, what happened when and who knew about it."

Harwell’s spokeswoman, Kara Owen, said she expects Durham’s office to be vacated before the end of the week. The Rachel Jackson building is across the street from Legislative Plaza. Durham would be the only lawmaker to have his office there. Legislative human resources head Connie Ridley has her office in the building.

After The Tennessean's investigation, Durham resigned from his position as the Republican majority whip in the House. He also stepped down from his position within the House Republican Caucus, but he has refused to leave his seat in the legislature. Republican leaders such as Gov. Bill Haslam, Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, Harwell and Tennessee GOP Party Chairman Ryan Haynes have called on Durham to resign.

"We maintain that Representative Durham should resign from the legislature," Haynes said by email Thursday in response to Slatery's report.

Tennessee Democratic Party Chairwoman Mary Mancini said moving Durham and limiting access isn't enough.

"Are there no women in that other office building? That doesn’t make any sense," Mancini told reporters Thursday afternoon.

"What about exiling him from the Capitol for good? What about starting proceedings to actually expel him from the House? These are serious actions. If he won’t resign, then that’s what leadership looks like, and that’s what the Republican leadership should be doing right now."

The Durham news on Thursday came less than an hour before a special committee tasked with revamping the legislature’s sexual harassment policy met. Harwell called for the creation of the committee in the aftermath of The Tennessean investigation that found holes in the legislature's policy. Experts said the policy was mired in secrecy, provided little incentive for potential victims to report issues and outlined no specific punishments for transgressors.

The attorney general's investigation is not complete, and there has been no final determination made about Durham.

Reach Dave Boucher at 615-259-8892 and on Twitter @Dave_Boucher1. Reach Joel Ebert at 615-259-8379 and on Twitter @joelebert29.

Key findings

As part of Attorney General Herbert Slatery's ongoing Durham investigation, 34 people were interviewed. The investigation found Durham:

"Occupied a superior position of power to the women."

"Obtained personal contact information from the women under the guise of legislative business or another legitimate reason."

"Initiated contact about non-legislative matters and attempted to meet the women alone."

"Usually involved alcohol in his interaction with women."

"Made inappropriate comments of a sexual nature or engaged in inappropriate physical contact with some women."

Actions

A special House committee and Speaker Beth Harwell took the following actions against Durham: