Nashville, Tenn. — Three Tennessee state legislators have filed a complaint against Rep. Susan Lynn, R-Mount Juliet, because of a DVD she distributed to legislative members.
Rep. John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville, Barbara Cooper, D-Memphis, and Johnnie Turner, D-Memphis, addressed the concerns during a press conference Tuesday afternoon.
The legislators filed a Workplace Discrimination, Harassment and Creation of Hostile Work Environment complaint against Lynn concerning a DVD she distributed to all members of the Tennessee General Assembly.
The video is titled “America’s Mosques Exposed! Video Evidence They Are War Factories.”
According the complaint, the DVD was distributed on behalf of Louie E. Johnston Jr., the national director of Patriot Pastor Training.
The trio claim Lynn’s distribution of the DVD demonstrates a “careless and reckless disregard for the comfort and safety of those working in the hallowed halls of the state legislature.”
“This DVD was distributed with reckless and careless disregard for those of the Muslim faith working in and around our state legislature who came into contact with or may have come into contact with this DVD,” the complaint read. “Again, this conduct cannot and must not be tolerated. State rules and guidelines expressly forbid it.”
The complaint was filed with Connie Ridley, Director, Legislative Administration.
Lynn issued the following statement concerning the DVD:
A citizen who was unable to get the capitol on his own asked for me to distribute a video for him. Therefore, I take full responsibility for the distribution of the video. I saw no reason to sensor (sic) the individual – he would have distributed the video on his own had he been able to do so. Before distribution, we inquired of the Clerk’s office as to the proper procedure. The individual is a preacher, an historian and an author. The legislature, which includes the legislative the offices, is a forum for ideas and a place to share information on all subjects. We do not sensor information and we do not sensor (sic) citizens. The DVD contains information that is already available on websites and YouTube, even in our email inboxes any time of the day or night. The fact that he assembled the information on his own in the form of a video for distribution to the public, and the fact that it happened to find its way to a legislative office, which is a public office and forum to share ideas, hardly seems like an offense. On many occasions I too have received information from both legislators and citizens that I found offensive – but I did not run off and file a lawsuit in an attempt to make political hay – I simply discarded the material. The Democrats are opportunistically using a situation that neither I nor the preacher even knew existed.
Later Tuesday afternoon, Lynn issued an additional statement:
Moments ago I met with legislative personnel and discussed developing a policy for the distribution of materials. That way, if material is found to be too objectionable to be distributed by legislative employees, the legislator can let the citizen know that he or she is unable to distribute the material on their behalf but they are welcome to have a volunteer or friend distribute the material or to distribute it themselves.