Durham Expulsion Doesn’t End Debate Over Sexual Harassment At The Tennessee Capitol

State Rep. Brenda Gilmore has been in the state legislature for nearly a decade.

She says it’s not enough to have rules at the Capitol against sexually harassing women. Legislative leaders have to show people’s complaints about harassment will be taken seriously.

“They need to feel assured that when they bring these types of allegations to the attention of leadership, that something is going to be done immediately.”

Gilmore, D-Nashville, doesn’t think Republican leaders pass that test.

Franklin Republican Jeremy Durham’s expulsion from the Tennessee legislature hasn’t ended the debate over his behavior. Democrats say the claims of sexual harassment are symptoms of deeper problems. Republican leaders, meanwhile, say he was just a bad apple.

Gilmore and other Democrats say House Speaker Beth Harwell didn’t take any action against Durham until some women spoke anonymously with reporters. They accuse her of worrying more about political perception than the alleged victims.

Harwell, however, says that behind the scenes she acted quickly. But her hands were tied because no one was willing to file a formal complaint and risk retaliation.

She says she’s tried to make sure that’s no longer the case.

“We have completely reformed what was an inherited sexual harassment policy that was not a good one. It was 17 years old. We have rewritten it, and I think it’s a much better policy. I don’t think it; I know it.”

The new policy widens the definition of harassment, gives victims more ways to file complaints and requires lawmakers and senior staff to report any complaints they hear about.

Harwell adds that she set in motion the independent investigation that eventually led to Durham’s removal.

But state Rep. Bo Mitchell says it came too late and didn’t go far enough. The Nashville Democrat notes investigators turned up evidence that an unnamed Republican lawmaker fired a staffer who complained about harassment.

“These people are in here talking about they’re trying to make it safe for women to come forward. They’ve set the example that if you come forward and say anything, you’ll be fired, and we’re not going to do anything about.”

The legislature’s sexual harassment policy, Mitchell says, is only as good as the people enforcing it.

Mitchell also says the issue is personal for him. He met his wife while they were both legislative aides at the state Capitol in the 1990s.

He argues the Democratic legislative leaders, such as House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh and Senate Speaker John Wilder, would’ve pursued claims of harassment more aggressively. But Mitchell wouldn’t say whether the culture at the Capitol has gotten any better or worse since then.