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TN Republicans Voting to Expel 3 Democrats from State House of Representatives

ChrisBFRPKY said:
There's a simple test to determine your own truth. Ask yourself "What would my feelings be about this had the participants been Trump supporters?"
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Maybe try it yourself and see how you'd feel if empty G lost her seat in congress for disrupting the state of the union address
 
Ryan O'Dine said:
Fair question. Let's say there were 3 Trump supporters, two White one Black, doing exactly the same behavior in a Dem controlled State House of Representatives. Just to add specificity.

What I would expect is that, first all 3 would be treated the same way for the same offense. Second, I'd expect them to be reprimanded, possibly fined, but certainly not expelled.

If they were advocating violence, that would probably rise to the level of expulsion. If they were openly carrying and dog whistling for violence, I'd hope they were expelled, but doubt the Dems would do it.

ETA And I would hope and expect there'd be some sort of due process involved.
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Ryan I would tend to agree with you that expulsion seemed a bit harsh for rule breaking. However, I do feel disrupting a Legislative body is a major no no, especially by those elected to be there and who know better.

For all those who wish to go into a different subject or Jan 6th, please note I was not there, as above I do not approve of disruption of Government and have no wish to engage in vomitus anti-Republican venting or debate.
 
ChrisBFRPKY said:
Ryan I would tend to agree with you that expulsion seemed a bit harsh for rule breaking. However, I do feel disrupting a Legislative body is a major no no, especially by those elected to be there and who know better.

...snip...
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Thank you. I agree that breaking the rules in a legislative body is bad. But I feel it's significantly worse -- by a long shot -- for a supermajority to abuse those rules in order shut down political opponents.
 
ChrisBFRPKY said:
There's a simple test to determine your own truth. Ask yourself "What would my feelings be about this had the participants been Trump supporters?"
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Did the protesters come armed? Did they injure anyone? Did they damage property? Did they chant 'hang' anyone? Did they declare they wanted to harm anyone?
 
Stacyhs said:
Did the protesters come armed? Did they injure anyone? Did they damage property? Did they chant 'hang' anyone? Did they declare they wanted to harm anyone?
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Did they smear **** on the walls? Did they piss in the halls?
 
Upchurch said:
IANAL, but I would guess it’s like double jeopardy. They could not be removed
a second time for robbing that first stage coach, but they could for each
subsequent stage coach. Each robbery is a new offense.
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Ah, I understand now. I suspect they'll be back in office in a few months.
Currently I'm looking for any legislation they've written. Just curious.
 
Shadowdweller said:
Would the January 6 rioters have been justified in breaking onto the congressional floor then and speaking THEIR mind, had they been unarmed and not threatening violence against anyone in your estimation? Imbeciles and extremists though they may have been, certainly not every single one was violent. Would one be justified in breaking into a court room and then drowning out participants in a trial with bullhorns?

I've got to admit, I'm not entirely certain I agree or disagree. There are times and ways I feel that it's justified to be disruptive for a political cause. And others where I don't believe it is. I would generally be much more inclined to expel a child molester, perpetrator of domestic violence, or individual who thought it was ok to urinate in another's chair than someone who spoke or protested out of turn, of course. Though I doubt that drowning out others with bullhorns is very persuasive.
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That analogy breaks down completely when you realise that the expelled legislators were doing the job they were elected to do, ie represent the people of Tennessee at the state legislature and to bring the concerns of their constituents to the legislature's attention. Too many republicans believe that the people of the US are there to serve them, and not the other way around.
 
Solitaire said:
Ah, I understand now. I suspect they'll be back in office in a few months.
Currently I'm looking for any legislation they've written. Just curious.
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They will probably be back this week.

Two expelled Democratic Tennessee lawmakers seek reappointments to state legislature

Recently expelled former Tennessee Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, who were ousted last week from the Republican-led Tennessee House for joining a protest on the House floor demanding stricter gun control, are seeking reinstatement.

Nashville's metro council has been called to a special meeting on Monday, during which it will likely vote to install Jones as his own interim successor, effectively giving him his seat back for the time being. A vote to reappoint Pearson to his seat will take place Wednesday, according to Shelby County Board of Commissioners Chairman Mickell Lowery.

Special elections will be held for the vacated seats in the coming months, and both Pearson and Jones said Sunday on "Meet the Press" that they intend to run in those elections to officially retake their positions.
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Norman Alexander said:
As I heard it, the protestors barged into the public gallery of the House and started protesting. The three politicians in question joined in with that protest from the House floor.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tennessee-expulsion-house-democrats-expelled-what-happens-now/
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Joined in with a bullhorn, you mean? That's the part that is getting glossed over. I think expelling them was stupid (and as we have seen, pointless), but it's not as if they were just innocently exercising their rights to protest.
 
It really appears that the speaker of the Tennessee House doesn't live in the district he represents. This is in and of itself a violation of the state constitution but he also receives a sizable per diem for his 'expenses' for having to travel to Nashville. His only school aged child is enrolled in a Nashville private school. It was more than $35k last year for these 'expenses'. Notably Sexton led the expulsion of another rep who misused $3,500 of federal funds on her wedding instead of her business. Is his apparent misuse of an order of magnitude more acceptable?

To the GOP? Of course. They're not about to hold each other to the same standards. It took a GOP rep having 22 cases of 'inappropriate sexual contact' in fours years for them to hold one of their own to account. But that was before the Trumpification, and not they're going for full fascist, even talking about taking funding away from Nashville if it sends the expelled reps back.
 
Brainster said:
Joined in with a bullhorn, you mean? That's the part that is getting glossed over. I think expelling them was stupid (and as we have seen, pointless), but it's not as if they were just innocently exercising their rights to protest.
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Yes, they did which they should not have done. But it's the blatant partisan hypocrisy of the GOP legislators that is so infuriating. Did they expel their own members for having fist fights on the floor? No.

From a reporter who covered the TN legislature for years:

When I covered the Tennessee Capitol from 2018 to 2021, the family-values espousing Republican House speaker had to explain why his text message trail included discussions of pole-dancing women and his chief of staff’s sexual encounters in the bathroom of a hot chicken restaurant.

After a Republican lawmaker was accused of sexually assaulting 15- and 16-year-old girls he had taught and coached, he was made chairman of the House education committee. Protesters filled the halls week after week, year after year, calling for the removal of the bust of the Ku Klux Klan’s first Grand Wizard, a piece of art featured prominently between the House and Senate chambers. Democrats pushed for its removal, while Republicans resisted.
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And then, of course, there was the famous peeing incident, where a legislator’s office chair was urinated on in an act of intraparty retribution over ***********. The actual identity of the Republican urinator is a closely-held secret among a small group of operatives who have bragged about witnessing it. But it’s generally accepted that former state Rep. Rick Tillis, a Republican and the brother of U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, did indeed have his chair peed on in the Cordell Hull legislative office building.
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For more than four years, House Republicans declined to expel one of their own, Rep. David Byrd, after he was accused of sexually assaulting three teenage girls, students he taught and coached on a high school basketball team. Byrd was on tape apologizing to one of them, decades later. Even the Republican governor said he believed the allegations to be credible. But House Republicans — some conceding in private that they suspected Byrd may actually have preyed on minors — dug their heels in, saying he was fairly elected.
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“Black people are idiots,” Cade Cothren, the chief of staff to former House Speaker Glen Casada, once wrote in a text message during a conversation about Common Core curriculum. It was one of several uncovered prior to his resignation in 2019. Both Casada and Cothren are now awaiting federal trial in a case involving alleged bribery and kickbacks at the legislature.
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A former GOP legislative staffer told me that in 2020, a member of House Republican leadership in a text message referred to Jones, then an activist, and another Black lawmaker as “baboons.” Former GOP Rep. Brandon Ogles, then vice-chair of the Republican caucus, at the time also recorded the staffer discussing the text. He shared a copy of the recording with POLITICO. The member of leadership in question denies sending the text. The comments were allegedly made while Jones was taking part in protests following George Floyd’s murder by police.

A member presenting a bill about sanctuary cities in 2018 used the term “wetback” while telling a story. On two separate occasions in 2020, Republican legislators publicly cracked jokes about Black people eating fried chicken.
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Brainster said:
Joined in with a bullhorn, you mean? That's the part that is getting glossed over.
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Yes, and not at all.

Were they being disruptive on the House floor? Probably, but no more than others in the GOP have done countless times before, it now turns out. So they should have been treated the same...by being lauded for their zeal like the GOP offenders were. ;)

I think expelling them was stupid (and as we have seen, pointless), but it's not as if they were just innocently exercising their rights to protest.
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Should they have been disciplined? I would imagine so. Disciplined, not expelled. Similar "incidents" happen in other parliaments, and house discipline was applied. It happened recently here in Australia with a right-wing MP turning up wearing a burqa as some sort of protest - she was admonished and told to mend her ways pronto. So these two should certainly have had their knuckles rapped. But expulsion? That should be reserved for something more serious, like corruption, or insurrection against the state.
 
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Norman Alexander said:
Yes, and not at all.

Were they being disruptive on the House floor? Probably, but no more than others in the GOP have done countless times before, it now turns out. So they should have been treated the same...by being lauded for their zeal like the GOP offenders were. ;)

Should they have been disciplined? I would imagine so. Disciplined, not expelled. Similar "incidents" happen in other parliaments, and house discipline was applied. It happened recently here in Australia with a right-wing MP turning up wearing a burqa as some sort of protest - she was admonished and told to mend her ways pronto. So these two should certainly have had their knuckles rapped. But expulsion? That should be reserved for something more serious, like corruption, or insurrection against the state.
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It's only wrong when a Democrat does it.
 
Oh no! A Bullhorn!

Now excuse them they have to explain how their fellow GOP member couldn’t have known the sheep was underage and so doesn’t need to be censured.
 
Brainster said:
Joined in with a bullhorn, you mean? That's the part that is getting glossed over. I think expelling them was stupid (and as we have seen, pointless), but it's not as if they were just innocently exercising their rights to protest.
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Oh good lord....I guess it would have been more acceptable if they had peed on someone or waved their willy around....not...they should wave big, huge guns around.
 
Brainster said:
Joined in with a bullhorn, you mean? That's the part that is getting glossed over. I think expelling them was stupid (and as we have seen, pointless), but it's not as if they were just innocently exercising their rights to protest.
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"Oh. My. God. It was terrible, officer. Really, really terrifying! They had bullhorns!! Two of them!!! And they weren't afraid to use them.

They had us petrified. Ready to hide under our desks. It must have lasted for minutes. Maybe even as much as five or more.

We were so upset by the attack that we were only able to work on forty nine pieces of legislation after it was over.

Worst thing that ever happened to me!"
 
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