Durham keeps leadership role in secret House GOP vote
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Embattled Tennessee Rep. Jeremy Durham has survived an effort to oust him from his leadership role among state House Republicans.
House Republicans voted to eject the media from the meeting Tuesday before a motion to remove Durham as majority whip failed to receive two-thirds of the vote in a secret ballot.
After the vote, Durham blamed the negative attention on coverage by what he decried as the “liberal media.”
Prosecutors in 2013 sought charges against Durham on allegations that he had altered the dates on medical prescriptions, but a grand jury declined to indict him in 2014.
Durham was later criticized by fellow Republicans for writing a character reference for a former youth minister seeking a lenient sentence after pleading guilty to a federal charge of child porn possession.
