When Tennessee Speaker Cameron Sexton overreached and expelled State Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson and tried to expel Representative Gloria Johnson, he should have made sure his own house was in order. But he didn't and now he's got a lot more problems than three lawmakers standing up for their constituents.
Scameron now has people asking about where he lives. The Tennessee State Constitution requires that representatives live in the community they represent. However, as Joy Reid and Holly McCall discussed, he lives at least 125 miles away from his district.
And it's not just a crash pad for him to sleep while the house is in session. It's were his wife and kids live as well, as Judd Legum had reported. Now, even though he's in violation of the state constitution, in practical terms, it doesn't mean a thing. The Republicans have a supermajority in the house and they would be the ones to decide if it's a problem.
But what could come back to bite him in the ass is the fact that he has been collecting thousands and thousands of dollars in mileage reimbursements. Now that has a distinct chance of being investigated. And he can't really afford that kind of scrutiny as he is preparing to run for governor and simultaneously fend off at least two people who smell blood in the water and would love to take him out.
A sign that Scameron is starting to sweat is the fact that he is trying to distance himself from threats to retaliate for the reinstatement of Pearson against Memphis by withholding state funding for the FedExForum and other capital projects:
In a written statement, Doug Kufner, communications director for House Speaker Cameron Sexton, said Sexton “will continue to be supportive” of the $350 million proposed by Gov. Bill Lee for Memphis stadiums.
“The House hasn’t entered into budget negotiations with the Senate at this time,” Kufner said. “(Sexton) is hopeful the funding will remain in when the final budget is presented on both floors.”
It would not be surprising at all if Scameron's days and weeks keep getting worse. He really put his foot into it when he tried to kill democracy, and he's going to have to face the consequences for once in his life.
