Citing DesJarlais' past, Democrat Sherrell hits congressman's votes against domestic violence bill

photo Lenda Sherrell

NASHVILLE - Lenda Sherrell is taking U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais to task in a new television ad in which the Democrat draws a direct line from abuse allegations made against him by his first wife to the lawmaker's subsequent votes on domestic violence.

In the ad, Sherrell, a retired certified public account from Monteagle, speaks directly into the camera and alludes to charges revealed in the 2012 release of DesJarlais' 2001 divorce transcript.

"Domestic abuse is difficult to discuss," Sherrell says. "When Scott DesJarlais' wife said under oath he abused her, he asked for forgiveness. Like many, my husband and I prayed for them and forgave."

"But," Sherrell goes on to say in the 30-second spot, "actions speak louder than words. When Congressman DesJarlais had the opportunity to protect victims of domestic violence, he voted no. That we can't forget."

Sherrell then poses the following 4th Congressional District voters: "If that was your daughter would you still forgive and forget?"

The controversial congressman, a South Pittsburg physician who first ran in 2010 as a family values opponent of abortion, has dealt with aspects of his first and troubled marriage since his first campaign.

But it wasn't until after his 2012 race that the full transcript of the hearing emerged, detailing how he slept with at least two patients, pressured one to obtain an abortion and went along with his first wife getting two abortions. DesJarlais, who remarried 13 years ago, later said God has forgiven him and asked his 4th Congressional District constituents to consider doing the same.

In an email response to Sherrell's ad, campaign spokesman Robert Jameson accused the Democrat of "running a deceitful campaign in a desperate attempt to distract voters from her record of helping to implement President Obama's radical liberal agenda here in Tennessee."

Jameson said the "truth is Congressman DesJarlais has voted twice in favor of bipartisan legislation reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act. Additionally, as a mother and grandmother, Mrs. Sherrell should be ashamed that she would dispicably [sic] attack Congressman DesJarlais' wife and children just to score a few political points."

During his 2010 campaign, DesJarlais denounced as "all false" reports he had put a gun inside his mouth for more than two hours and threatened suicide after it became apparent the relationship with his then wife was over.

But in the divorce transcript, released after his 2012 campaign, the South Pittsburg physician testified under oath the allegation were substantially true and that he had indeed threatened suicide, calling it "immature" and saying he regretted frightening her.

He denied "dry-firing" his handgun outside her bedroom, saying he was only spinning the empty chamber of the weapon.

The couple's acrimonious divorce was granted in 2001, and he married his second wife, Amy, not long after that.

The Sherrell campaign says DesJarlais voted against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act.

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Congressional roll call files show DesJarlais indeed voted against the reauthorization of the bill on final passage. He previously voted for a House Republican version of the reauthorization bill that stripped out new provisions from a Senate bill, which passed 78-22 with Republican support. The House version failed and the chamber then passed the Senate version with most Democrats and several dozen Republicans supporting it.

As passed, the bill included expanded protections for Native American, undocumented immigrant victims and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender victims of domestic violence. Those versions were excluded from the House Republican bill.

In a subsequent email, Jameson said DesJarlais also voted for a 2012 version as well as the Republicans' attempted 2013 substitute. Both, he said, contained "all the substantive protections for victims of domestic violence but removed the sections on tribal sovereignty and provisions regarding illegal immigrants."

Among other things, Jameson said, there were doubts about the constitutionality of the Native American provisions dealing with assaults on tribal lands.

Sherrell said the Senate-backed bill was "voted down by DesJarlais because it provided protections for American Indian women, LGBT domestic violence victims and undocumented immigrants who had been abused."

She said the congressman will "always refer to his past as old news, but he has not done anything in Congress to show he has changed his pattern of behavior as it relates to women and children." She singled out other votes and said DesJarlais voted against "life-saving procedures to save mothers, help women breadwinners working in low-wage jobs, and lower the rates of child abuse in Tennessee and the rest of the country. We cannot forget his lapse in legislative judgment."

Meanwhile, Amy DesJarlais, the congressman's second wife, issued a statement saying, "I have been married to Scott for nearly 13 years and would certainly be the better judge of his character. He has been nothing short of a wonderful husband and father to two sons and a daughter."

Early voting in the Nov. 4 election begins Wednesday.

Contact staff writer Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550.

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