Embattled Rep. Jeremy Durham has decided to file a lawsuit against House Speaker Beth Harwell and Attorney General Herbert Slatery. The suit comes after a recent investigation was opened into Durham, allegedly by Speaker Harwell. The details of that investigation have yet to be released.

Rutherford County resident and State Representative Rick Womick said that the investigation is illegal.

Representative Womick has sent media highlights of his thoughts on the entire ordeal, which can be read below.

Below, from State Rep. Rick Womick:

In reviewing the attached letter to the Attorney General, it is important to note that nothing in the content of the letter should be seen as a defense of Representative Jeremy Durham in regard to the allegations made against him. The accusations are very serious. However, guilt or innocence, as well as, any appropriate punishment must be determined in a legal and ethical manner. That has not happened.

Unfortunately, in their haste to address the rumors and accusations made against Representative Durham, both the Speaker of the House and her agent, the Attorney General, have ignored and circumvented the process laid out by the Tennessee State Constitution and the Permanent Rules of Order of the Tennessee House of Representatives. This has resulted in numerous violations of process that have raised questions about the integrity and basic fairness of the investigation, and which has irretrievably tainted not only the investigation, but any findings or report which may be issued as a result.

Here are the major points from Representative Womick's letter to the Attorney General:

• The investigation into the allegations against Representative Jeremy Durham is illegal, unconstitutional and unauthorized.
  
  
• There is a process available for investigating Representative Durham, but Speaker Harwell and Attorney General Slatery chose to ignore it. The process required the complainants claiming sexual harassment to file a formal complaint with either the Speaker, the EEOC or the Tennessee Human Rights Commission. The complainants refused to do so and took their accusations to the news media instead. Speaker Harwell publicly acknowledged that the women refused to file a formal complaint. At that point she contacted the Attorney General and they began to cobble together a rationale and process to conduct an independent investigation wholly outside the Constitution and the Permanent Rules of Order of the Tennessee House of Representatives.
  
  
• Speaker Harwell unilaterally and illegally created an Ad Hoc Select Committee and called it an Article II, Section 12, House approved committee. She is allowed to appoint members to all committees, but she is not allowed to create such a committee without approval of the full House. Despite her office publicly stating that a Resolution would be submitted to the full House to receive permission to create such a committee, no Resolution was ever presented, much less submitted and filed.
  
  
• Instead, even before the Ad Hoc Committee was (illegally) established, and before it had taken any action or had even met, Speaker Harwell and Attorney General Slatery colluded in creating and announcing an independent investigation, which was in itself an illegal act that violated the Permanent Rules of Order of the House, as well as, the Distribution of Powers required in Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution.
  
  
• Speaker Harwell instructed the Ad Hoc Select Committee to produce a Resolution authorizing Attorney General Slatery to begin an investigation. This, as well, was illegal and unconstitutional.
  
  
• It is illegal because the "Resolution" produced by the illegal Ad Hoc Select Committee was a counterfeit Resolution, created completely outside the Permanent Rules of Order of the House. In their rush, Speaker Harwell and Committee Chairman Representative Steve McDaniel, violated numerous rules they were required to follow: a fiscal note required to determine the cost of such an investigation was never obtained, and the "Resolution" was never presented to the full House for a vote . Chairman McDaniel unilaterally signed the "Resolution" and sent it to the Attorney General. It is this "Resolution" that Attorney General Slatery claims is his authorization to conduct the investigation. The "Resolution" is nothing more than a device of convenience created by improper acts and presented as something that is legitimate. It is not.
  
  
• Speaker Harwell's punishment of Representative Jeremy Durham to date, based on information collected by the illegal Committee's interim report, was not allowed under the Permanent Rules of Order of the House, Article II, Section 12 of the Constitution, or by the Tennessee General Assembly Sexual Harassment Policy which requires that all disciplinary actions must be presented to the full House of Representatives for a vote. Speaker Harwell has deliberately ignored all these documents that govern her actions.
  
  
• Any report created by an illegally authorized committee should not be received or released by any of the affected parties. Doing so would constitute a gross miscarriage of justice and a direct violation of the Tennessee State Constitution. If an investigation were to be authorized, it must be Constitutional and ethically conducted in such a manner that it insures people on either side of the issue be afforded an opportunity to complain and/or respond and that the proper rules of the House and the Constitution were followed.

The release of any report in advance of the August primary reeks of political manipulation. Any charges against Representative Durham, proven or disproved, will still exist after August 4. The primary is less than four weeks away and picking this time to release it is a rather obvious and crass attempt to affect the election of Representative Durham. Judgement Day will come soon enough for Representative Durham without the machinations of Speaker Harwell, Chairman McDaniel, and Attorney General Slatery. But when it comes, it must be the result of a fair - and legal - process.

These are not quibbling details. In the rush by Speaker Harwell and the Attorney General's office to "deal" with Representative Durham, they both engaged in improper and illegal shortcuts, and unethical behavior. They have made a mockery of the Permanent Rules of Order of the Tennessee House of Representatives, as well as, the Tennessee Constitution. They are allowed to address the situation, but they are not allowed to make up their own rules and laws to do so.

Attorney General Slatery also refused to answer an earlier question presented by Representative Womick as to who oversees the Attorney General in matters where the Attorney General may have acted improperly, illegally or unethically. Considering the evidence presented here, that question is resubmitted to the Attorney General and a forthright, complete response is required, by law.