Bill Sanderson
State Rep. Bill Sanderson — a "family values" Republican from Kenton in the northwest corner of the state — announced unexpectedly Tuesday night that he'd be resigning. He told The Tennessean he had to give up his seat in the state House of Representatives so he could better tend to his business — White Squirrel Winery. He also lamented the fact that during his time in the legislature this year he'd lost the fruit of 135 peach trees.
Adding that his son-in-law was recently diagnosed with cancer, Sanderson said he just couldn't justify the time he'd be spending in Nashville.
That may all be true. But a report that came on the heels of Sanderson's announcement claims it's not just a booming wine business and dead peaches that led the representative to step down.
Cari Wade Gervin reports for her newsletter:
Since he took office in 2011, Tennessee state Rep. Bill Sanderson (R-Kenton) has voted repeatedly in favor of legislation designed to harm the LGBT community. During that same time period, the 59-year-old Sanderson has also been openly soliciting sex with much younger men on Grindr, a gay hook-up and dating app, both from his home in West Tennessee and in Nashville.
Gervin did not publish any messages or photos from Sanderson on the app, although she describes them in detail and cites sources who told her about Sanderson's communications and encounters with younger men. She also says Sanderson denies it all and that he begged her not to publish her story in an interview she also plans to publish.
Stories from The Tennessean and NewsChannel 5 about Sanderson's resignation noted that rumors were circulating on Capitol Hill regarding dirt on Sanderson.
Gervin also reports that local ABC affiliate, WKRN, conducted an interview in 2016 with a man who connected with Sanderson through Grindr but never ran the story, reportedly after pressure from Sanderson.
This sort of thing is becoming routine for the Republican supermajority. (Although this year also saw Democratic Rep. Rick Staples step down from a leadership post after a sexual harassment allegation.)
The Kenton Republican's resignation came on the same day House Republicans decided on a nominee to replace Speaker Glen Casada, who announced his own resignation from that post in the wake of a scandal involving racist and sexist text messages between him and his chief of staff, Cade Cothren. Cothren, of course, also admitted he'd been using cocaine in his Capitol Hill office. All of that came after a legislative session that featured near-constant protests over the continued presence of Rep. David Byrd, who has refused to resign despite credible allegations that he sexually abused female high school students when he was their coach in the 1980s. The Byrd allegations, which were first brought to light last year, followed allegations that Sen. Joey Hensley had an affair with his nurse and prescribed her opioids. And that came only a couple of years after Rep. Jeremy Durham was ousted from the legislature in the wake of an explosive report on his alleged sexual harassment of and misconduct with numerous women.
