On March 8, 2023, a story broke on a political site about current Lt. Gov. Randy McNally and his
activity on Instagram which the story characterized as “openly leaving heart emojis and other encouraging comments under
very
racy pics on the Instagram page of a young gay male”. That was
followed by a Nashville news station interview by Phil Williams with Lt.
Gov. McNally where he
apologized
for his conduct and the resulting uproar. To the horror of some
Tennesseans and perhaps the laughter of others, on March 11, 2023,
Saturday Night Live ran a
skit
which appears to be a parody of the Lt. Governor’s news interview. The
Lt. Governor’s social media conduct has led to additional stories,
press releases, and a call by one Republican legislator for a
criminal investigation
— into the Lt. Governor’s conduct. The story has been covered
repeatedly on Nashville talk radio on stations WTN and WLAC. On March
12, 2023, the Tennessee Star in its first ever
editorial called for Lt. Gov. Randy McNally to step down at least from the office of Lt. Governor.
So
what might we see today, this week or even in the next few weeks? It
is hard to forecast because the options resemble a game of 3-D chess but
here are some options that are possible.
First, nothing happens and the
old adage in politics of ignore it and hopefully something new will
seize the public’s attention and the news media’s fascination shortly.
That could happen but with the scope of the controversy it might not.
Second,
we should anticipate that Lt. Gov. McNally, his staff and/or those
Senators who depend on his largesse are “counting their votes” among
other Senators to see whether it is time for him to step down … or not.
If the Senate support is lacking, stepping down, perhaps due to
health, from the office of Lt. Governor might be a better option than
receiving a controversial “no-confidence” vote and being removed (as
Speaker Glen Casada was).
Even if the support is lacking there
is still an opportunity to negotiate when to resign – perhaps this week
if support is really bad, perhaps at the end of this year’s session
(around June perhaps), perhaps by year end, or perhaps just agreeing to
serve out the remainder of this 2 year session and not seek
reappointment in 2025. All of those are options.
Third, if the
Senate survey indicates that the Lt. Gov. has the support to stay in
office then he might ask for a vote, knowing that he will receive support to stay in office and can
claim a vote of support. Why? Perhaps to use that support to try to end the news
media and social media speculation. Of course, a vote of confidence
might be merely choreographed. A formal vote of support might need to
be negotiated with the Senators or his perceived successor such that he
would receive a strong showing of support in exchange for a promise that
he would “retire” from Lt. Governor for plausible reasons later in the
year or agree to support a specific successor.
These are just a
few of some moves that political operatives may be considering to
extricate the Lt. Governor, the Senate and the State from this
“distraction”. There are certainly others.
Keep in mind that
while these options lie first in the hands of the Lt. Governor and,
then, if necessary, in the hands of the Senators. Tennesseans have no
means of voting for a Lt. Governor nor do they have a recall power –
those options would require statutory and/or constitutional changes.
However, Tennesseans do have the influence of speaking with their
individual Senators and even House members.
Tennesseans can and should be in contact with their Senators over the path forward with respect to the
office
of the Lt. Governor. Of equal and perhaps more significant concern is
that Tennesseans, particularly constitutionally minded conservative
Tennesseans need to be talking with their Senators about who the next
Lt. Governor will be because at some point, whether it be weeks, months
or years, there will be a successor. “Instagram-Gate” merely has the
potential of placing that point in time closer to the present rather
than in the distant future.
You can see a recent
commentary by Tennessee Firearms Association on who those potential successors are.
If you would like to reach out to your Senator, you can do so by using this
email generator.
