Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Scott Golden issued a statement following the conclusion of the House Republican Caucus meeting discussing Glen Casada (R-Franklin) as Speaker of the State House of Representatives, saying it is time for him to step down.
Within about thirty minutes of the end of the House GOP Caucus meeting, the statement was issued for immediate release under the Tennessee Republican Party letterhead.
Golden has served as the Chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party since 2016, and re-elected to the position in December 2018. Thus far, Golden has not publicly addressed the racist and sexist text messages from three years ago or other allegations surrounding Speaker Casada over the past several weeks.
The statement focused on the vote which, as reported by The Tennessee Star, resulted in a 45-24 vote of no confidence in Casada as Speaker of the House of Representatives.
In the statement, Golden called the events and actions surrounding Speaker Casada “a distraction from the great accomplishments of this Legislature and Governor Bill Lee.”
The Republican Party maintains a supermajority in the Tennessee General Assembly with 73 of 99 House members and 28 of the 33 Senators as well as a Republican Governor.
“Our Republican leadership in the legislature took the right course of action by calling today’s meeting,” Golden continued.
In closing, Golden referenced the vote and called for Casada to act accordingly, “The vote of no confidence by the Republican caucus sends a clear message; it is time for the Speaker to heed the advice of the majority of his fellow legislators and step down from his position of leadership and allow someone else to begin the process of restoring the trust of all Tennesseans.”
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Laura Baigert is a senior reporter at The Tennessee Star.
Who are the 24 members that actually thought this was acceptable?