New State Rep. London Lamar (D-TN-91) was hit with an $8,175 fine for filing two campaign reports late.
Both Lamar and State Rep. Jesse Chism were fined by officials for issues related to their campaign finance disclosures, The Tennessean reported. Voters elected Chism and Lamar in this year’s Nov. 6 midterm election. Chism was fined $5,000 for filing a campaign finance report late.
The Registry of Election Finance also levied two more fines, totaling $20,000 against Rep. Joe Towns Jr., D-Memphis, for not filing two reports.
The list of delinquent report filers is online here.
The Tennessee Registry of Election Finance was created by the General Assembly in 1989 as an independent entity of state government.
Lamar earned international attention after The Tennessee Star reported the story of her Facebook video rant calling white Tennessee Republicans racist and uneducated.
“Looking here at Tennessee, let’s just call a spade a spade,” Lamar said in the video.
“Tennessee is racist, period. Period. And if you for one moment thought that white people in Tennessee were going to leave their own to jump over here and give us more access, they just told you last night it’s not happening,” Lamar said.
As The Star reported, Lamar livestreamed her remarks during a 15-minute Facebook video last week. She removed the video from Facebook a few days later. The Star broke this story past weekend. The story has since gone viral worldwide, with Newsweek citing The Star’s work. FOX News, The British Daily Mail, CBS News, and The Washington Post, among many others, also did their own follow-ups.
Members of the Tennessee Republican Assembly (TNRA) on Thursday called upon state legislators to officially censure Lamar, The Star said. In a press release, TNRA members said Lamar is guilty of “propagating racial divisiveness unbecoming any elected official.”
TNRA President Sharon Ford told The Star she and other board members decided censure is appropriate.
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Jason M. Reynolds has more than 20 years’ experience as a journalist at outlets of all sizes.
Photo “London Lamar” by London Lamar.
