NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — What did Tennessee's House speaker and his fellow Republicans know and when did they know it?
That's what some are asking about a sexual harassment scandal involving a prominent GOP lawmaker, and now members of the so-called Tennessee Three want an investigation.
"The reality is we need a full internal investigation that is public as to how taxpayer dollars were used to cover up the actions of the former representative," said Rep. Justin Pearson, D-Memphis, one of three lawmakers who recently face an expulsion vote in the state House.
Related: GOP leader, who voted to expel TN Three, resigns; found guilty of sexually harassing interns
That sexual harassment scandal involving Rep. Scotty Campbell, R-Mountain City, was first exposed Thursday by NewsChannel 5 Investigates. The lawmaker resigned just hours later.
"We have a very toxic culture up here, one in which rules are not consistently applied. In fact, sometimes things are covered up," said Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville.
Campbell's resignation was perhaps the most dramatic in Tennessee history.
His seat on the House floor now sits empty.
"At first, the representative said they weren't going to resign," Jones said, referring to Campbell. "We came back from lunch. They had resigned, and everyone here acted like nothing had happened. We were just supposed to act like everything was normal."
In fact, more than a week before the three Democratic lawmakers faced expulsion vote for their gun violence protest on the House floor, House Speaker Cameron Sexton had been given a vaguely worded memo confirming that, based on a staff investigation, an ethics subcommittee had found that Campbell violated the legislature's sexual harassment policy.
"He knew about it before they moved and he pushed to expel us for talking out of turn," said Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville.
"Meanwhile they are covering a sexual harassment situation with one for certain and possibly multiple interns."
"This resignation did not come because they felt like what they did was wrong. It came out because of the news, because you brought it up in the news," Jones said.
Pearson agreed.
"It is despicable that it wasn't until this was made public that the speaker and Republican leadership decided to do something."
House Republican Caucus Chair Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby, insisted he was also in the dark about what his own vice chair was accused of doing.
"We never have any clue about it," he said.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked, "So you had no idea?"
"No," he answered. "We found out when you put it out yesterday, we found out what took place."
Sexton, pointing to the process that's followed for such investigations, said he also had no idea.
"At no point during that time am I aware of the information about the details. The first time I learned about that was when you actually reported it," he told NewsChannel 5 Investigates.
"That process does not provide any details on any matter to the speakers. And so anything that happened, I am not privy to."
We followed up, "Could you ask for it?"
"No," he responded, "because it's protected information."
Sexton blamed a process that was put in place after Republican Jeremy Durham, R-Franklin, was expelled in 2016 as part of a sexual harassment scandal.
It created an ethics subcommittee composed of two Republican and two Democrats to handle such complaints.
Sexton says all he got was that vaguely worded letter.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates noted, "It sounds like this process is broken."
"Well, I think it's something that we need to take a look at," Sexton said. "At the same time, what you're trying to do is also protect the victim."
As NewsChannel 5 first reported, the legislature also paid thousands of dollars to get one victim out of her lease at Capitol Towers, where she and Campbell each had apartments; paid to move her furniture back home and to put her up in a downtown hotel for the rest of her internship.
Legislative staff members are saying those payments are also secret.
"That information, my understanding through ethics counsel, is protected information that even I cannot get," Sexton said.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates pushed back, "But we're talking about taxpayer money."
"I understand," the speaker said, "but I'm just saying the way that was set up that is considered protected information."
Faison said the process needs to be overhauled.
"If there's somebody behaving in such a way that's put somebody else in harm or fear, we've got to deal immediately," the East Tennessee Republican said.
While the House speaker acknowledged the process for handling sexual harassment complaints needs to be reviewed, he said he was not sure when or how that review would be conducted.
During their post-session news conference Friday night, TN House Republican leaders spent a lot of time answering questions about the sexual harassment scandal that we exposed involving Scotty Campbell. What do you think? pic.twitter.com/dJzEYNQ55N
— Phil Williams (@NC5PhilWilliams) April 24, 2023
SPECIAL SECTION: Revealed
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