Former lawmaker claims he was forced to resign
The state legislature’s top administrator is being sued by former state Rep. Scotty Campbell, who claims he was forced out amid a workplace harassment complaint filed by an intern in 2023.
Campbell, an East Tennessee Republican, filed a lawsuit Tuesday saying he was “forced to resign upon threat of being expelled — that day — and losing his health insurance” by House Republican Caucus Chair Jeremy Faison. The filing also says Faison was believed to be conspiring with others to keep the media from finding out a similar complaint had been filed against him.
Campbell filed a public records petition Tuesday in Davidson County Circuit Court against Connie Ridley, director of Legislative Administration, court documents show. The filing contends Ridley and others refused to disclose state records Campbell requested and is entitled to receive under state law.
Campbell resigned April 20 after a subcommittee investigation found he sexually harassed an intern.
Around noon that day, Campbell told the Tennessee Lookout he would not step away from the legislature even though the Workplace Discrimination & Harassment Subcommittee determined he violated state policy. The subcommittee’s work was done secretly, and members were not allowed to comment on their deliberation.
Two hours later, though, he had vacated the Capitol complex, including the Cordell Hull Building where legislators’ offices are located.
House Speaker Cameron Sexton and House Majority Leader William Lamberth that night denied telling Campbell to leave.
State documents in a separate open records lawsuit dealing with Campbell’s case contained notes dealing with an alleged victim complaint against Faison, a recent court ruling shows.
“Contrary to the serious inference included in the (judge’s) order, no complaint has been filed against Chairman Faison,” Sexton said in a social media post at the time.
Faison has not commented on the matter.
In his filing, though, Campbell “categorically denies that he violated” the workplace discrimination and harassment policy.
Nashville TV station NewsChannel5 last year first reported Campbell sexually harassed two legislative interns, making vulgar comments and unwanted advances.
The state spent around $9,000 to relocate one of the interns from her apartment, shipping her furniture home and paying for her to stay in another downtown apartment during her internship, NewsChannel 5 reported.
Campbell, who served in the House from 2010 to 2012 and then won election again in 2020 and 2022, claims he told Ridley he had consensual conversations with the women after work and tried to show her text messages that would prove his point but that Ridley stopped him. Campbell’s lawsuit claims one of the interns had been “flirting with him and spending time with him after work.”