In this episode of Backroads and Backstories, Senator Paul Bailey sits down with House Speaker Cameron Sexton. The two discuss the current state of local politics and life in the Upper Cumberland.

Guests:

• Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton, http://www.capitol.tn.gov/house/speaker.html

Transcript:

Announcer: For the politics of Nashville, to the history of the Upper Cumberland, this is the Backroads and Backstories podcast, with Senator Paul Bailey.

Sen. Paul Bailey: Welcome back to the podcast. I’m your host, Paul Bailey. In today’s episode, we have invited Speaker of the House of the Tennessee House of Representatives, Cameron Sexton. The focus of our discussion today will be local politics and the life in the Upper Cumberland. But before we get started, I’d like to invite Speaker Sexton to tell us a little bit about himself and give us his backstory. Welcome, Mr. Speaker. 

Speaker Sexton: Well, thank you, Paul. It’s great to be here. My backstory is eighth generation Tennessean. So, long line of being Tennesseans. My family is from Scott County up in Huntsville and Oneida, Tennessee. 

Which means, in a small county back in the day, we were related to the Jeffers, which means we were related to the Duncans and to Howard Baker’s wife. So there’s a long political background as well that I didn’t know existed until many many years later. I didn’t grow up in Scott County. I grew up in Knoxville. Went to high school there, finished high school in Oak Ridge, went to University of Tennessee, and then migrated my way across the state for various jobs over the years, and then finally landed in Cumberland County, late ‘90s. And I’ve been there ever since.

Sen. Paul Bailey: Now, I believe one of the reasons that you were in Cumberland County is because you were working for Van Hilleary who was a congressman at that time, and you were one of his district representatives?

Speaker Sexton: I was. I was one of his full staff. I met Van for the first time—I was doing campaigns before then. I was doing a campaign in Knoxville, and I bumped into him when he was running for reelection in Congress, and we hit it off. And then after the campaign cycle, that time he had a job opening in Crossville and asked me if I wanted to come be part of his team.

Sen. Paul Bailey: But let me back up just a little bit and then I’ll come back to Van. So, you had attended University of Tennessee at Knoxville? 

Speaker Sexton: Yes.

Sen. Paul Bailey: And I’m assuming you studied political science?

Speaker Sexton: Political science. I had a little concentration in public administration. It really wasn’t that, at that point; years later, they added it. But it was a concentration with some business and economics and stuff in it.

Sen. Paul Bailey: Now, our lieutenant governor and Speaker of the Senate, Randy McNally, did you work for him while you were in college on his campaign? Or was this after college?

Speaker Sexton: Like any political science grad from University of Tennessee, when I graduated, there were plentiful jobs out there. So, I was picking through them—which means there were absolutely none. And so I knew Randy McNally whenever I was in high school because he was a representative of Oak Ridge, so I knew him and his family and his daughters in high school. And so, he was up for reelection in 1994, and I was looking for something to do after college, and so I jumped on his campaign and I worked on his campaign from August until November in that state Senate race.

Sen. Paul Bailey: Okay, and that was in 1994. And you went to work for Van Hilleary—

Speaker Sexton: Went to work for Van Hilleary and at the end of 1999. Now, if you remember 1994, that was the year that Sundquist was elected, Bill Frist, Fred Thompson. It was quite the year to be in Republican politics.

Sen. Paul Bailey: That was basically the Republican revolution that took place. And was 1994 the year that we had the New Deal with Newt Gingrich?

Speaker Sexton: It was. Contract with America. That’s when Van was first elected to Congress, too, so there’s a lot of things that happened in 1994, where if you look through my life that appears to be a pivotal point in politics.

Sen. Paul Bailey: So, at that point, say from your days of working on Speaker McNally’s campaign to being a field rep for Van Hilleary, was that kind of your foray into wanting to be a politician yourself, or did you always see yourself more as being that staffer?

Speaker Sexton: Well, usually when you’re involved in campaigns, you don’t really run for elected office. And I think I’m one of the few. There’s a lot of people that I’ve met over the years who are still working in various avenues across the state. Scott Golden was a field rep for Van Hilleary on his governor’s race. He’s now the chairman of the state Republican Party. 

So, I never really thought about getting into politics and running for office. I always thought I’d be helping people get elected. I helped an up-and-coming candidate for state Senate back in the day who was running up on the Plateau. We weren’t successful, but it helped out many years later when that person became a state senator.

Sen. Paul Bailey: Oh, that’s probably me, right? [laugh].

Speaker Sexton: It was. It was.

Sen. Paul Bailey: Well, and so you and I, just so that everyone knows, have been friends for many years. And so when you became Speaker last year, it was certainly an exciting time for me to see you elevate to that position, and certainly was a very proud moment for the Upper Cumberland. So, you and I represent Cumberland County together and third of Putnam County, and certainly have enjoyed our working relationship and helping the constituents of the Upper Cumberland. You know, representing six counties there, I say that’s one of the most beautiful parts of Tennessee, but at the same time, Tennessee is just beautiful from East to West and all parts in between. So, tell us a little bit about your favorite part of the Cumberland County and the Crossville, and representing the Upper Cumberland.

Speaker Sexton: The nice thing about living on the Plateau is, first of all, the weather is excellent. It’s always a little chillier. The weather is always very very nice. Even the winters aren’t that bad. What I would say is the Plateau has a lot of great outdoor activities. 

You can go kayak, and canoe, you can go play golf, you can do outdoor sports, you can hike, you can go to the state parks. It’s kind of a hidden treasure for people. There’s so much activities you can do outdoors. It’s a wonderful place if you like to do that sort of stuff. And then just the people are very nice and they’ve been very gracious to me. I wasn’t born and raised in Cumberland County, but they opened their arms and it’s been great to live there and raise a family.

Sen. Paul Bailey: And speaking of family, Lacey’s certainly been a big part—Lacey’s your wife, and she’s been a part of working with your campaign and being a great representative for that area with you. And then you also have a son that’s at UT. He’s a sophomore at UT.

Speaker Sexton: Senior.

Sen. Paul Bailey: Senior.

Speaker Sexton: Yeah, time flies. Time flies.

Sen. Paul Bailey: Oh, my goodness, a senior. Wow. A senior at UT. Then you’ve got a daughter that’s a senior—

Speaker Sexton: Freshman in college. I know I don’t look that old, Paul.

Sen. Paul Bailey: You don’t. 

Speaker Sexton: So, I forgive you.

Sen. Paul Bailey: You don’t. Wow, time has flown by. Did not realize that. Wow, you’ve got a senior at UT and now you’ve got a freshman. And then the other family member that’s kind of a staple around the legislature and especially Cordell Hull is Greer. 

And so, little miss Greer, she’s certainly always a bundle of joy when we see her and always happy to have her to come down and visit our office. I think she gets spoiled a little bit when she comes.

Speaker Sexton: I think your staff does spoil her quite a bit. And she loves hanging out, meeting people. She loves coming to the General Assembly. When we campaigned and her and I did the bus tour across state, she loved doing that as well. And so it’s fun being able to spend time with her going across Tennessee when I first ran, Nathaniel and Olivia, they campaigned with me. 

I don’t think they were as gung-ho as Greer has been, but they moved around, too. So it’s been—it’s an interesting experience because they see a lot. It is a different world when you’re campaigning than when you’re over here governing.

Sen. Paul Bailey: Right. Sometimes the fun part is the campaign. Once you become elected official, then the governing part is not always the fun part. In my experience. 

So you’ve told us a little bit about your background about your family. Let’s talk about your position as Speaker of the House. And you were first elected in 2010 to the House of Representatives. So, you began to serve in January of 2011. And I think you, at that time, moved up in leadership pretty quickly. I think the—what was it, your second term, you became whip?

Speaker Sexton: Correct. 

Sen. Paul Bailey: Yeah. Became whip. And so, and then from there, you’ve been Chair of the caucus, Republican caucus. And then, now Speaker. What made you want to run for Speaker?

Speaker Sexton: Well it’s been an interesting journey. And when you first run, first of all, you don’t know if you’re going to be elected. Everybody’s hopeful, but there’s always that in the back of your mind, you’re not sure. But when you come here, I got involved, and the caucus has been very kind to me. I’ve won things, I’ve lost things, I’ve passed bills, I’ve had my bills die. 

So it’s a very interesting process on how everything works out. And I think down here, it’s more about building relationships, and being able to work through stuff, and not letting things haunt you forever while you’re here. And it’s also about timing and opportunity. A few years ago wasn’t the right time for me to run for Speaker; it wasn’t a good time for me to try that back in 2019, when that opened up, the timing worked out better than it had the previous year. So, gave it a shot. 

Caucus or elections, I will say this, most people will say caucus elections are worse than actual elections. And they are. It’s a lot harder. But it’s all an opportunity, and the timing was right, and I was thankful that the caucus through multiple ballots decided to give me a shot as being their leader in the House.

Sen. Paul Bailey: So, 2020 has been a challenging year for all of us with the pandemic. But looking back, what do you think’s been the most challenging part of 2020 and being Speaker and—

Speaker Sexton: Well, I mean, 2020, it’s, uh—I mean, if you just kind of look, we’ve had three special sessions in a year and a half, which I think is probably more than we’ve ever had. You look at 2020, and it started off—everybody remembers to start off with the tornado that came through. Probably one of the longest tornadoes that stayed on the ground from Nashville all the way to almost Tennessee Tech in Cookeville. So that’s how 2020 started: with a tornado. Then we went into the pandemic, and then other things happened. 

And so 2020, it was a tough year. But, you know, I’m also a firm believer that things happen and to help you shape other things in the future, and you don’t know why, but you kind of live life, and do the best you can with the opportunity you have. And I think for the state of Tennessee, what we did in 2020, I think, will be looked back on with great success on how we managed it and how we were able to come out of it.

Sen. Paul Bailey: And I have to mention that, of course, at the end of 2020, the House had a FBI probe of some of its members. And I think you’ve handled that with style, and grace, and with true leadership. So, I have to commend you on that. That’s not an easy task, I’m sure.

Speaker Sexton: Well, thank you. I[wasn’t even [laugh] going into that part of the 2020 and 2021. But the thing to keep in mind is never rush to judgment. Our judicial system is, you’re innocent till proven guilty, and unfortunately, a lot of times, people want to go ahead and just [unintelligible 00:10:56] that you’re guilty. And we’ll see what comes of it. 

All I can say is we’ve been cooperating and working with them since the day I came in office in 2019 as Speaker with some things that they were already looking into. And so we started cooperating because that’s what you’re supposed to do if the federal authorities come.

Sen. Paul Bailey: Well, many times I look at our legislative members as family. And so, anytime there’s a family member that’s hurting, it causes pain with all of us. And so we always wish those well as time heals all wounds. So, describe a little bit of the duties of the Speaker of the House.

Speaker Sexton: It’s interesting. So, you kind of understand the managing of the members and working with them, and about Speaker getting—appoint the chairs and help shape policy debate in the state. We also have to remember, the Speaker is in charge of all the legislative staff on the House side. There’s joint staff that the lieutenant governor and Speaker both work for. And so, there’s a lot of extra capabilities that you have on your plate as well as managing the House as a whole on a day-to-day basis, just not with members. 

Sen. Paul Bailey: That’s sometimes a challenge within itself. [laugh].

Speaker Sexton: Well, it’s like running a business with about 150 to 175 employees. And the one thing I will say is what we really tried to do is get away from—in the House, having—and I don’t speak for the Senate, so I’m not implying anything about Senate—but on the House side, getting away from the mentality that everybody’s entitled to a job. We all have a job to do, and you can do it successful, and we hope that you will, but we’ve incorporated a lot of different new policies and things in the General Assembly to make it more work-like than you would see in everyday work and less look like government.

Sen. Paul Bailey: Looking forward however many years that your Speaker, what would you want your legacy to be as Speaker?

Speaker Sexton: We’ll see what that says. It’s like I’ve been reading a book by Keel Hunt, and it talks about crossing the aisle and it talks about when Lamar was governor and how he had to work with Lieutenant Governor Wilder and Speaker McWhorter, and kind of goes through a lot of Tennessee’s history. And one of the things that McWhorter said, who he was quoting the same thing in that book is, “At the end of the day, it shouldn’t matter whose idea it is. Your job is to make Tennessee a better place and pass good policy, and not worry about credit.” And so that the philosophy. 

We’ll see what the future holds. Who knows. That’s up to somebody else and for them to make that decision. I’m just worried about making sure that our kids, when they graduate high school, can get a job; that people when they commit a crime, they do the time; and make sure our budget stays in shape, and that businesses have the opportunity to be successful, and if people want a job, they can find a job. 

Sen. Paul Bailey: And speaking of policy, what do you see as the most challenging issues this legislative session?

Speaker Sexton: Well, I mean, I think there’s a few. Education is always going to be a challenge. We’re doing well; we’re not doing great. And I think for a long time, we’ve never really said we wanted to be number one in the state, we’ve always said, “We want to do better, we want to do better.” And when you set the bar a little lower, doing better is not really a defined goal. 

And so doing better, we have been doing better because we’ve improved in educational rankings, we’ve improved our proficiency in third-grade reading and math—not to the level that it should be only a third still, but we moved from a fourth to a third. Well, that’s improvement; that’s doing better, but at some point, we want to be the best. We have the best-run state in America; we have one of the top best pension plans in America; best roads in America. There’s a lot of things that we are proud about being best. And right now we’re lagging in education, and we need to put that on our parameter of being the best.

Sen. Paul Bailey: I agree. I agree. And Tennessee’s very, very blessed even in the pandemic. We’ve continued to see our revenues grow. And so I think that’s been certainly a credit to the past legislative—legislators that are there that have come before us and being able to have foresight and having the internet sales tax that we passed a few years ago. 

I think that’s definitely helped our local governments not necessarily have to come back to the legislature and ask for additional money just to fund their government. So, I think that—and you came before me, so I have to give you a lot of credit for that. Because we referenced earlier about you being elected in 2010, and we also talked about 1994 being kind of the Republican wave that hit Washington, DC, but also in 2010 and coming into 2011, that’s basically when the Republican wave took over the state. We had majorities in the Senate; we had majorities in the House; we also had the governors at that time as a Republican. So, I think that’s whenever a lot of reform took place that you’ve just spoken about, that’s caused us to be in a good state and good economic position.

Speaker Sexton: I think so. I think Governor Lee will be a great governor. I think when you go back and you look at the history books, what Governor Haslam came into, talking about the budget was a mess; we weren’t growing like we were supposed to in the business side with businesses and job growth. And we weren’t saving and putting money aside for times like 2020. And so if you want to know why we did so well in 2020, you go back and look at the first year of Governor Haslam’s budget, and how he cut government, how he put money into the rainy day fund, and he started growing businesses through reforms like workers comp, tort reform, making the changes that a good solid conservative business person would make. 

And so when you go back and look, I think single-handedly, having Governor Haslam at the helm during that time put our state in such a great place eight years later where we could handle a pandemic. Unlike California, not have to raise taxes, but manage our way through it. Not even have to use a rainy day fund to pay for anything. And I think that speaks volumes about, in eight short years under conservative Republican control of how a state can run and be efficient, and still offer the same services.

Sen. Paul Bailey: You and I represent, again, the Upper Cumberland. I mentioned that before. But as Speaker, you travel all across the state working with your members. What’s your perspective—how has your perspective changed from being a state representative to now being Speaker and basically traveling the entire state?

Speaker Sexton: It’s interesting. We all have common goals, I will tell you there’s a vast difference between East, Mid, and West. Economic recruitment’s different a little bit where you go, and so everybody has their unique challenges. You have urban, and rural, and suburban. And so it’s very interesting when I go into various communities to learn about them, to meet with them, find out their similar things, but also find out there’s a little differences along the way. And so it’s been a very rewarding and growing experience for me as I’m able to go through and talk to different business owners, and elected officials, and Tennesseans in those areas.

Sen. Paul Bailey: Who’s been the most influential person in your career, whether it be professional or political?

Speaker Sexton: Oh, wow. Well, I mean, if you—obviously you just have to take your parents off because everybody’s going to say parents because they do have a huge influence on you. And so, without saying, it’s obviously your parents because one thing I will say is, and I think everybody will understand this at some point in their life is, you remember being raised, and you’re like, “I have no idea why my parents would make me do this or what they’re doing.” And then you fast forward 20, 30 years later, and you’re like, “I completely understand why.” Right? 

And so I think that’s a difference. So, I think, if you’re looking professionally, when I was at UT, I worked for a guy named John Karnes, Karnes Drugstore, and he was very, very good as far as preparing me for different things and giving me advice without seeming like he was giving a 20-year-old kid advice at the time that you’re still going through. So, I had John Karnes. And it’s amazing when you go back and look, there’s just people who enter for different parts of your life, for different things. And Randy McNally was there for a number of years, and he’s been there throughout. But there’s been other people: Van Hilleary, and other people along the way who interjected things.

Sen. Paul Bailey: What would you contribute most to your success in state government?

Speaker Sexton: Well, first of all, I appreciate you saying I had success.

Sen. Paul Bailey: [laugh].

Speaker Sexton: You know, I would say, at the end of the day, I mean, I truly believe that you can’t let a few people give everybody a bad name, regardless of the profession, whether it’s elected officials, attorneys, healthcare providers, teachers, you just can’t do that. It’s not representative of the entire body. What I will say is, I’ve been very fortunate to work with very good people and build relationships with people on both sides of the aisle that I think will be long-lasting but that has also allowed us to have unique opportunities to work well with one another. And so if you’re willing to work with people, then you’re going to have much success, even if it’s not your idea, even if—[unintelligible 00:19:50] I’m as happy for someone else having success as me passing a bill.

Sen. Paul Bailey: What is one thing most people don’t know about Cameron Sexton?

Speaker Sexton: That’s a good one. And one thing I learned when I was campaigning for Speaker and I was traveling around the state talking to members is, when we’re here, we don’t have a lot of time to build relationships with one another. And so, when I go to their house, and I would see that maybe they’re a car collector, or maybe they’re a woodworker. And you just didn’t know that. And so you realize all of a sudden that we get too caught up in the day; we don’t spend enough time getting to know each other, right? 

And so I think that’s been very interesting. And the thing, one thing that most people don’t know about me, I would say, I’m a huge boxing fan. I love movies. I love musicals and plays which some people, you know, they want to laugh at, which is fine. But I think at the end of the day, I love doing a lot of different stuff. But if I was going to do something, I would go love to see a performance at the Cumberland County Playhouse, or TPAC, or something of that nature.

Sen. Paul Bailey: You didn’t mention golf.

Speaker Sexton: Well, that depends on how well you’re playing. And so, sometimes. But I don’t get to play much, but I do enjoy it. I mean, it’s good to get out. I tell the story sometimes is, is you don’t realize how attached you are to your phone—and I know some people will be surprised to hear that, but you don’t realize how attached to your phone until I went to play golf one time and we were out of state, and I was with some friends, and so we switched golf bags because of something that was happening. 

And so they switched the bags for me, I got about [unintelligible 00:21:21]. My phone was in the bag that got left in the car. And all of a sudden you realize for about a three-and-a-half-hour period when you don’t have your phone, there is a freeing aspect of it to where you remember back when you were growing up about how free you were and how much of a phone that lifeline it kind of attaches to your everyday life. And so there is an aspect of playing golf. But that story realizes that the impact of technology has in your life on a day to day basis, too.

Sen. Paul Bailey: Before we close out our discussion, any final thoughts that you’d like to share with our listeners?

Speaker Sexton: No, I appreciate the opportunity. And I appreciate Paul being my state senator. And as I tell all my friends, whenever he has an issue, he’s a lot better than the state rep. So, they need to make sure they call their state senator.

Sen. Paul Bailey: You tell your wife that mostly. [laugh].

Speaker Sexton: [laugh]. I tell everybody that. And what I will say is, we’re all very fortunate to be here. And one of the things I said on the House floor not too long ago is we all have a limited amount of time that we’re here, whether that’s the General Assembly, whether that’s life, and really what you’re destined to do is to figure out what you want to do and how you want to do it. And don’t get caught up in the disagreements and the arguments because you do just have a limited amount of time that you can make a difference.

Sen. Paul Bailey: I agree. We’re here for a fleeting moment of time. Well, Mr. Speaker, thank you very much for being with us today and I appreciate you taking your time out and sharing your story with us. 

Thank you for listening to Backroads and Backstories. You can keep up with the latest on the podcast at backroadsandbackstories.com and subscribe, rate, and review the show on iTunes Spotify, Google Play, or wherever fine podcasts are distributed. We’ll see you next time.

Announcer: Thank you for listening to the Backroads and Backstories podcast, with Senator Paul Bailey. You can keep up with the latest on the podcast at backroadsandbackstories.com. And subscribe, rate, and review the show on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, or wherever fine podcasts are distributed. Thanks again for listening, and we’ll see you next time on the Backroads and Backstories podcast.