The Tennessee Ethics Commission has dismissed a complaint filed by a local leftist Memphis group against outspoken conservative State Senator Brent Taylor. Now, the group itself may find itself in hot water over its sworn complaint against Taylor for critical remarks he made about participants in a “No Kings” rally last month.
Commission members and state ethics director Bill Young raised questions this week about whether the residents tried to “weaponize” the process to go after Taylor, who called out those who rallied against President Donald Trump’s immigration policies in June. Taylor called them “idiots” and warned that the police could arrest them for an illegal protest. Taylor followed up by posting comments on X, calling the protesters “purple-haired Jihadis.”
“The Left’s violence masquerading as free speech is a stain on our republic, and it’s escalating at a terrifying pace. From assassination attempts on President Trump—twice in two months—to torching cars at Tesla dealerships during Tesla Takedowns,” Taylor posted.
Five people filed identical complaints against him, saying he used his official position “to spread false, inflammatory and dangerous misinformation about a peaceful protest event,” endangering constituents and inciting harassment.
Young told the commission it didn’t have jurisdiction to cite Taylor, in part, because he didn’t benefit financially from the criticism. The executive director of the Commission went on to point out that they could hold a hearing to determine whether civil penalties should be levied against the complainants for filing a “frivolous” complaint, potentially leading to a $10,000 civil penalty.
Commission members agreed it’s “not unethical” for Taylor to state his opinion, even as an elected official. The Commission deferred action on the frivolous complaint until its next meeting.
Taylor’s attorney, Allan Wade, wrote in a letter to the Commission that the complaints were “merely personal grievances about Brent Taylor’s dislike of complainants and their political views, which is not a proper subject of an ethics complaint under the Ethics Act.” The Commission agreed.
In a written statement to Memphis TV station Fox 13 following the dismissal of the ethics complaint, Taylor noted:
“The ethics complaints were copied and pasted from the crazy, weathered, purple-haired hippies at Indivisible Memphis who don’t like my efforts to #MakeMemphisMatter. Apparently, their feelings were hurt by something I said. They should fill out a hurt feelings report and move on.”
Indivisible Memphis claims to be a grassroots movement in Shelby County focused on defeating the Trump agenda and electing progressive leaders to defend democracy. They claim “Memphis already matters” and encourage their followers to get in the “good trouble” being advocated by liberal extremists across the country. They are currently hosting remote phone banks to support far-left Democratic Congressional candidate Aftyn Behn in the special election for the 7th District congressional seat vacated by Republican Congressman Mark Green.
Steve Gill is the publisher of Tri-Star Daily and is a national and international political analyst and commentator.
