Jones Reappointed; Local Lawmakers Defend Expulsion
CLEVELAND, Tenn. (WDEF) – The debate over two Democrats in the Tennessee State Legislature being expelled is continuing as they are likely to be reappointed back to their seats.
The Metro Nashville Council voted Monday afternoon to reappoint Justin Jones as an interim representative after he was expelled last Thursday.
It was passed by a unanimous vote.
This is surrounded by another protest around the State Capitol and a Tennessee State House session.
Some local legislators voiced their thoughts on WCLE 104.1 today on how this situation in their view is being mischaracterized and has become a distraction.
Tennessee State Representative for District 22, Dan Howell, said that, “When you have a situation where they say the rules don’t apply to me, then you’re going down the road to anarchy, and that’s why they had to be dealt with, and that’s why I voted to expel them.”
The Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton, along State Representatives Howell, and Kevin Raper, discussed why the expel vote in their opinion had to occur. State Senator Adam Lowe was also interviewed where he discussed his thoughts on the pending school safety bill in front of the state legislature.
Speaker Sexton said, “If they went to the well without being recognized and just started screaming and yelling, and then the Democrats would’ve been able to remove them, that’s one thing. It led to a different level when they brought and then used a bullhorn from the well.”
State Representative for District 24 Raper alleges this is an ongoing pattern of disruption.
He said, “He’ll (Speaker Sexton) kill their mic, and then what they do is scream and yell and get the gallery to join in and do riot type behaviors.”
All the representatives involved deny that racism had any part in their decision to remove Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, but retain Gloria Johnson.
Rep. Howell said, “We voted to oust these three on the content of the character, not on the color of their skin. I believe Martin Luther King said he hoped we’d get to that point in America.”
With Jones’ and Pearson’s re-appointments imminent, they are wondering what is next in this situation.
Rep. Raper said, “They will come in, and it will be business as usual, until they start the same rhetoric over again, and then we’ll try to deal with that the best we possibly can.”
The vote for Justin Pearson to be reinstated in Memphis is scheduled for Wednesday.
