Joel Ebert and Dave Boucher

The Tennessean

For the first time in Tennessee history, a state representative has been expelled from the legislature for alleged sexual misconduct.

In an historic move by state lawmakers, Jeremy Durham was ousted Tuesday as a member the Tennessee House of Representatives during a special legislative session.

The vote to oust Durham came months after The Tennessean launched an investigation into Durham's behavior, including inappropriate late-night text messages to three women from the lawmaker.

Republicans and Democrats joined together to remove the 32-year-old Franklin Republican, voting 70-2 to cast Durham out after more than an hour of discussion to approve the first legislative expulsion since 1980, and only the second since the Civil War. The House needed 66 votes to remove him. Durham is accused of inappropriate conduct with at least 22 women and remains under investigation by state and federal officials.

The proceeding and Durham's attendance caught some off guard, as GOP leaders had to call a quick break for an emotional plea from House Speaker Beth Harwell for support to prevent anyone from publicly identifying the women accusing Durham of sexual misconduct.

After lawmakers yelled at Durham and questioned him about issues ranging from sexual harassment to an FBI inquiry, the embattled lawmaker brandished a folder, threatening to reveal some information. He blasted the allegations and suggested he could reveal details about the 22 women and others in the Attorney General's investigation, but then abruptly left the chamber before his colleagues voted to oust him. The women were referred to only as Jane Does in the report because they had requested anonymity for fear of retribution.

"It's amazing what people say, as long as it's not happening to them. I can't vote for their bills anymore," Durham told a crowd of reporters as he left the capitol, after initially refusing to answer questions.

The Tennessean's ongoing scrutiny of Durham prompted a Tennessee attorney general investigation into his behavior and calls for his resignation.

Drew Rawlins, executive director of the state Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance, said the state's investigation into Durham's finances will continue. The status of the federal investigation is unclear.

The attorney general found 22 women who said Durham had acted sexually inappropriate with them. The report includes an array of allegations, from lewd comments and inappropriate hugs to giving beer to and having sex with a 20-year-old "college student/political worker" in his legislative office and home.

GOP, Democrats react to expelling Jeremy Durham

Harwell, R-Nashville, said after the vote: "I'm very pleased that the House made the decision it did today. This was good for the taxpayers of the state. It was good for the victims of the state."

After a speech that lasted nearly 13 minutes, Durham said the attorney general report was "anonymous hearsay" and that it was an unethical investigation. Much of Durham's speech focused on the mechanism of the investigation, not the substance of the allegations.

"I ask that you vote for due process," Durham said.

Durham previously has denied sexually harassing anyone, calling the investigation unconstitutional and an attempt to remove a conservative stalwart. He sent a letter to colleagues Monday outlining his critiques of the investigation and other allegations, and threatened to release a document naming the women who accused him of inappropriate conduct.

"No matter how guilty you think I am, there are aspects of this situation that should bother you," Durham said.

Durham appeared ready to leave after his speech when Rep. William Lamberth, R-Cottontown — a former prosecutor — asked him to return to the podium to answer questions.

Lamberth, who was clearly bothered, had already made a motion that no one speaking about the report could identify anyone by name. He thundered away at Durham, asking him to respond to numerous allegations outlined in the report, including whether Durham had sex in his office with a 20-year-old woman.

“I mean, I’m a father, I’m a husband, I’m a son. I feel violated that any one of our members would treat anyone in the fashion that the allegations in the report lay out," Lamberth said after the expulsion vote.

"I will also tell you that having personally known Rep. Durham for four years, I felt betrayed. If any one of those allegations is true, it is completely unacceptable behavior by an elected representative of this state.”

House Democratic Caucus Leader Mike Stewart, D-Nashville, also walked Durham through a series of questions about the attorney general's report and investigation. When Stewart asked him to point out in the report which allegations were true, Durham refused.

"I'm not going to go one by one. I really don't think these witnesses would want me to," Durham said. "It would be much more fun to talk about the ones that are false. Some of the text messages that they've sent me and some of the things that I know. But I'm not going to go down that road."

Durham later pointed to a black binder he'd brought with him that contained a letter previously written by his attorney Bill Harbison, along with other undisclosed information which he suggested could be damaging to others in the House.

"I assure you, you don't want me releasing some of the things that are in this binder," Durham said. That remark came less than an hour after he'd criticized the media for reporting that Durham had threatened to name accusers.

During his questioning by Stewart, Durham did admit some wrongdoing. "There were some things I did wrong, there’s no question about it. There’s things I should not have said."

Stewart, reflecting on his questioning of Durham, later said, "I wanted to cross-examine him to make it clear, although he talks about fairness, he's not willing to do his part."

Durham repeatedly argued that an ouster procedure should be treated like a criminal hearing or trial. But Rep. Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol, noted earlier in the day that court procedure has nothing to do with the House expelling a member. No complaint or formal charge is required to remove a member from the House, according to House rules and the state Constitution.

Rep. Rick Womick, R-Rockvale, and a handful of other lawmakers disagreed. Womick argued, as he's done repeatedly, that the investigation didn't afford Durham the necessary due process and violated constitutional principles, setting up the legislature for a lawsuit from Durham.

"Anyone can file a lawsuit anytime. I don’t think he has any standing," Harwell said after the vote.

At one point during the House discussion — and amid questions from his colleagues — Durham abruptly left the chamber, with reporters in pursuit as he briskly left the building ahead of the chamber's vote.

House leadership once thought they would get as many as 80 votes to expel Durham. Fourteen Republicans and two Democrats voted present or did not vote. Reps. Courtney Rogers, R-Goodlettsville, and Terri Lynn Weaver, R-Lancaster, were the sole members to vote no on expelling Durham.

House Republican Caucus Chairman Glen Casada, R-Franklin, said the narrow vote was because "members thought we were a court and they viewed it in that process."

Rep. Charles Sargent, R-Franklin, said Durham's expulsion allows the voters of Williamson County to have closure.

The move to expel Durham comes nearly eight months after leading Republicans, including Gov. Bill Haslam, and Democrats called for Durham to resign in the wake of an ongoing Tennessean investigation which started in January. The Tennessean's coverage set off a firestorm of scrutiny for the once-rising star.

In the aftermath of The Tennessean investigation, Durham resigned from his House Whip leadership post, left the House Republican caucus and took a two-week hiatus from the legislature. At the time, Harwell also began exploring the process for expelling Durham while calling for Attorney General Herbert Slatery to open an independent investigation. At one point during the probe, Durham's legislative office was relocated because Slatery found the lawmaker posed a "continuing risk to unsuspecting women."

Slatery's six-month investigation culminated in a scathing report issued in July, which was released only after a Davidson County judge nixed an effort by Durham and his attorney Bill Harbison to stop its release. The day after the report was released, Durham denied most of the accusations but announced he would suspend his re-election campaign.

The attorney general also sent information from a former Durham employee to state election officials. The former employee said Durham told him to put money from his campaign finances into his personal business. Durham has denied the allegation, arguing the state has also cleared him on this particular issue.

The state registry of election finance did say that a payment from Durham's campaign to the former employee "appears to have not been paid directly from Rep. Durham's campaign account," although a payment was listed to the employee in Durham's election finance report. The registry is still investigating a $191,000 discrepancy between Durham's campaign report and his bank account. In his letter to colleagues, Durham said the discrepancy is due to investments but didn't elaborate.

A federal investigation also still appears to be underway. Peter Strianse, a Nashville criminal defense attorney recently hired by Durham, recently told The Tennessean that the U.S. attorney issued two subpoenas for records related to campaign finances and a possible tax violation. Durham also closed his title company recently.

Before Tuesday's expulsion vote, the session was halted after Casada called for a recess that lasted almost 45 minutes.

"I'm asking the speaker if I can go into recess to remind the caucus that it is paramount to protect the Jane Does — the innocent women who are brave enough to come forward," Casada said moments before the start of session.

Her voice breaking, Harwell asked the GOP caucus to support the motion from Lamberth to protect the identities of the women in the attorney general's report who were afraid of retribution.

"Don't do this to these women. Don't you dare," Harwell said.

Lamberth also called on the press not to print the names of any victims if Durham does mention them or try to release them.

"Please, for God's sake, do not print anybody's name. It is not right," Lamberth said.

The Tennessean has not published the names of any women who have accused Durham of inappropriate conduct. Durham nor anyone else named the victims during the proceedings.

The caucus also debated the constitutionality of the session in general, with Rep. Andy Holt, R-Dresden, vowing not to vote on any measure to oust Durham.

Others disagreed.

"Let's go up there and flush this commode," said Rep. David Alexander, R-Winchester, during the caucus meeting.

Immediately after the vote, Durham's name was removed from his desk on the House floor and his name was removed from the legislative website. He is no longer eligible to receive a state pension, having not served enough time in the House.

The last Tennessee lawmaker to be expelled was Robert Fisher, who was kicked out in 1980 after being convicted of soliciting a $1,000 bribe in exchange to kill a bill. Prior to that, six lawmakers were ousted during an 1866 special session after they tried to prevent Tennessee from ratifying an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to provide citizenship to slaves.

Reach Dave Boucher at 615-259-8892 and on Twitter @Dave_Boucher1. Reach Joel Ebert at 615-772-1681 and on Twitter @joelebert29.



