House Speaker Beth Harwell presides over a floor session in Nashville in this file photo.
The anonymously photoshopped picture.NASHVILLE - State Rep. Rick Womick, R-Rockvale, is disavowing anonymous emails portraying Republican House Speaker Beth Harwell and two key legislative allies as puppets on a string controlled by the House clerk.
In an email to House members, Womick, who hopes to unseat Harwell as speaker in the Dec. 10 Republican Caucus meeting, said he will "not allow" his challenge "to degrade into a campaign centered around character assassination."
"While I appreciate the efforts of undisclosed supporters across the state, I am not responsible, do not condone, and do not support these, or any future emails, that degrade, attack, or misrepresent the character of any individual associated with the Tennessee House of Representatives," he wrote.
The image is one of several winding up in Republicans' email. The puppet email simply says, "Tennessee deserves leaders who won't have their strings pulled. Be there. Vote Rick."
But it features a of a grinning House Clerk Joe McCord, a former Republican House member, pasted on to a body holding marionette strings with the faces of Harwell, House Finance Committee Chairman Charles Sargent, R-Franklin; House Speaker Pro Tem Curtis Johnson, R-Clarksville, and former Republican Caucus Chairman Debra Maggart crudely slapped onto dangling puppets.
A conservative Tea Party lawmaker, Womick has denounced Republican Gov. Bill Haslam as a "traitor" to conservative causes and accused Harwell of failing to stand up to administration efforts to unseat conservative representatives in August primaries.
"I want everyone to understand that my bid for speaker is based on a fundamental disagreement in leadership style and a lack of accountability to the members of our caucus," Womick says in his email. "My challenge to Speaker Harwell is not of a personal nature and I will not allow it to degrade into a campaign centered around character assassination."
McCord became Harwell's clerk when she assumed office in January 2011.