Tennessee's top two ranking Republicans on Tuesday condemned behavior attributed to a top aide in House Speaker Glen Casada's office — of which Casada had in some cases been aware — but came short of calling for any change in leadership in the lower legislative chamber.

Gov. Bill Lee's office initially declined to comment Monday on news that Casada's chief of staff Cade Cothren had sent text messages soliciting sex from an intern and had admitted to previously using cocaine in the legislative office building.

In some of the text messages, sent between 2014 and 2016 and obtained by USA TODAY Network - Tennessee, Casada himself engaged in sexually explicit conversations with Cothren.

But on Tuesday, Lee said that elected officials "have an obligation to hold ourselves to a higher standard and cultivate an environment of professionalism and respect."

"We owe it to Tennesseans to ensure they know that all of us in elected office hold ourselves to that high standard. Recent revelations have shaken that faith, and we need to ensure that confidence is full restored," Lee said.

Lt. Gov. Randy McNally also delayed commenting on the situation until Tuesday afternoon. In a statement, the lieutenant governor described behavior outlined in the recent reports as "deeply troubling."

“Senate leadership and I are greatly disappointed by the inappropriate actions and attitudes revealed in recent news reports," McNally said. "Every person who interacts with the state legislature should be treated with the utmost respect. It is deeply troubling that some have fallen short of this standard.

"Tennesseans expect and deserve better from those who serve the public trust. Senate leadership is united in our commitment that members and staff continue to uphold the standard Tennesseans demand of their public officials.”

Neither Lee nor McNally named Cothren or Casada in their statements, nor provided specifics on what should be done to restore trust in the House speaker's office.

Other Republicans weigh in with concerns about speaker's office

Multiple Republican lawmakers on Tuesday spoke out about their concerns about the state of the legislative body in light of the recent reports involving Cothren and Casada.

"I have concerns about how we move forward as the House of Representatives based on what we know now, but am reserving judgement until we have all the facts," said Rep. Jason Zachary, R-Knoxville, in response to whether he believed Casada could continue to lead the House with integrity.

Rep. Patsy Hazlewood, R-Signal Mountain, said she sent a letter to Casada and House Republican Caucus leadership Tuesday morning outlining her consternation over the previous day's events.

"I do not condone, nor do I think we should tolerate the kind of behavior and the kind of judgment that has been evidenced in the reports that have come out in the past few days," Hazlewood said.

"The resignation of the Speaker’s chief of staff is a good first step. As a caucus, we need to take whatever additional steps are necessary to root out this type of behavior and to make sure there is zero tolerance for demeaning and denigration of any gender or ethnicity in the people’s House."

While Casada, Majority Leader William Lamberth and Caucus Chairman Cameron Sexton on Monday night each released short statements, only Lamberth's offered a sharp criticism of Cothren. He did not reference Casada in his response.

Lamberth said that he was "incredibly shocked and disappointed to learn of these allegations of inappropriate behavior" involving Cothren, describing the reported allegations as "grave and serious."

Tyler Whetstone contributed to this story.

Reach Natalie Allison at nallison@tennessean.com. Follow her on Twitter at @natalie_allison.

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