Scott DesJarlais

Scott Eugene DesJarlais (/ˈdeɪʒɑːrleɪ/; born February 21, 1964) is an American politician and physician currently serving as U.S. Representative for Tennessee's 4th congressional district. The district stretches across East and Middle Tennessee. He is a member of the Republican Party.

DesJarlais was born in 1964 in Des Moines, Iowa to Joe DesJarlais, a barber, and Sylvia, a registered nurse. He grew up in Sturgis, South Dakota. Over ten years he, his parents and his brother and sister built their own house in Sturgis; his parents still live there. DesJarlais earned his undergraduate degree in Chemistry and Psychology from the University of South Dakota in 1987 and his Doctor of Medicine from the University of South Dakota School of Medicine in 1991. He moved to East Tennessee in 1993 to practice medicine as a generalist.

Elections

2010

DesJarlais is a member of the Tea Party movement. In 2009 he entered politics, filing papers to challenge Democratic incumbent Lincoln Davis, as well as Independents Paul H. Curtis, James Gray, Richard S. Johnson, and Gerald York. Late in the 2010 race the Washington newspaper Roll Call reported details of DesJarlais's 2001 divorce proceedings. The Davis campaign used the material in print and TV attack ads and told Roll Call that Fourth District voters "expect[ed] more than lip service about family values." DesJarlais defeated Davis 57%–39%, the third-largest defeat of a Democratic incumbent in the 2010 cycle, and the first time that an incumbent had been unseated in the district since its creation in 1983. While the 4th has historically not been considered safe for either party, its size and configuration (it stretches across two time zones and parts of four television markets) usually makes it very difficult to oust an incumbent.

2012

Prior to the 2012 election, the Fourth District was significantly altered as a result of redistricting. Notably, Murfreesboro, formerly the heart of the 6th District, was shifted into the 4th. The redrawn 4th contains about half of the constituents who resided in the former 4th district, with 14 of 24 counties being moved elsewhere by redistricting.

DesJarlais was challenged by Democratic nominee and state senator Eric Stewart. For a time, it was thought that DesJarlais would face a primary challenge from state senator Bill Ketron, a Murfreesboro resident and the chairman of the state senate redistricting committee. However, Ketron decided that he wouldn't run. DesJarlais defeated Stewart 56%–44% joining all the other incumbent members of Tennessee congressional delegation who also won their re-election bids.

2012 scandals

Late in the 2012 election campaign, more events from DesJarlais's personal life became public, making the race against Stewart "one of the ugliest Tennessee congressional races in decades". In October 2012 the Huffington Post obtained a transcript of a recorded September 2000 phone conversation in which DesJarlais pressured a mistress to get an abortion. DesJarlais repeatedly denied that he himself had taped the conversation. In October he wrote to supporters on Facebook, "The media wrongly reported that I recorded the conversation myself. I was recorded unknowingly and without my consent." Nine days before the general election a second woman came forward to state that she began dating DesJarlais while she was his patient. She alleged that the two smoked marijuana together and that he prescribed pain medications for her while at his house.

Two weeks after DesJarlais won the 2012 election, the Chattanooga Times Free Press obtained a full transcript of DesJarlais's 2001 divorce proceedings. The transcript revealed that DesJarlais had admitted under oath to at least six sexual relationships with people he came in contact with while he was chief of staff at Grandview Medical Center in Jasper, Tennessee. Among them were three co-workers, two patients and a drug representative. The transcript also revealed that he and his former wife had had two abortions. The transcript also revealed that DesJarlais had admitted under oath that he and his former wife had recorded the phone conversation with the mistress. "One of the biggest mistakes I made was I commented to the press before I had the opportunity to go back and read a transcript that was 13, 14 years old," he said in an interview with the Knoxville News Sentinel. "It was never my intention to mislead anyone, and had I read this, I don't think the inaccuracies that occurred would have taken place."

Three weeks after he won the election, DesJarlais announced on a conservative talk radio show that "God has 'forgiven me' and asked 'fellow Christians' and constituents 'to consider doing the same'."

Formal reprimand

In October 2012, the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) requested that the Tennessee Board of Health investigate evidence that DesJarlais had had a sexual relationship with a patient, in violation of the Tennessee Medical Practice Act. The complaint was investigated and in May 2013 DesJarlais was formally reprimanded by the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners for having sex with patients and was fined $500 - calculated by the Board as "$250 per patient" - and $1000 in costs. He did not contest the charges.

In November 2012, after further details of the divorce proceedings were published, CREW asked the House of Representatives' Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate whether DesJarlais had violated House ethics rules, asserting that he had "blatantly" lied when he denied having taped the telephone conversation.

2014

In 2014 DesJarlais's seat was considered vulnerable, as controversy over the divorce record revelations returned to the fore. He had been re-elected in 2012 with a reduced majority. DesJarlais held his seat.

State senator Jim Tracy challenged DesJarlais in the primary. At the end of June 2013, Tracy had raised nearly $750,000 (including over $300,000 in the second quarter of 2013) for his bid. He raised an additional $150,000 in the fourth quarter and reported $840,000 cash-on-hand. By contrast, at the end of September, DesJarlais reported $170,000 cash-on-hand. DesJarlais won the primary by a margin of 38 votes. Tracy decided not to challenge the results, despite citing irregularities.

2016

In January 2016 Politico rated Tennessee's Fourth District one of the top five primary races to watch, and in March ranked DesJarlais one of the most vulnerable incumbents in the 2016 cycle; he is one of only two Tennessee incumbents to face serious challenge. His opponents are attorney and conservative activist Grant Starrett, attorney and physician Yomi "Fapas" Faparusi and economic data specialist Erran Persley, all three of whom filed from Murfreesboro. The Murfreesboro Post described Starrett as "running to the right of DesJarlais".

Committee assignments

• Committee on Agriculture
  • Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture
  • Subcommittee on Conservation and Forestry
• Committee on Foreign Affairs
  • Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific
• Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
  • Subcommittee on Health Care, Benefits, and Administrative Rules

Caucus memberships

• Freedom Caucus
• Republican Study Committee
• Republican Doctors Caucus
• General Aviation Caucus
• Congressional Caucus to Fight and Control Methamphetamine
• Congressional Skin Care Caucus
• Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus
• Congressional Chicken Caucus
• Congressional Taiwan Caucus
• Congressional Range and Testing Center Caucus
• Congressional Aluminum Caucus
• Congressional Diabetes Caucus
• Cystic Fibrosis Caucus
• Malaria Caucus
• Border Security Caucus

Legislation

As of April 2016 Rep. DesJarlais has sponsored 14 bills, two resolutions and one joint resolution and has cosponsored 585 legislative actions.

DesJarlais was the first member of the House Freedom Caucus to endorse Donald Trump for president of the United States.

Scott and Amy DesJarlais have three children. They live in South Pittsburg. They are members of the Epiphany Mission Episcopal Church in Sherwood, Tennessee.

Health

In July 2014, DesJarlais announced he was undergoing aggressive chemotherapy to treat cancer in his neck which had spread to a lymph node. In a campaign appearance during his illness DesJarlais indicated that the cancer had affected his voice but added that the type is curable 90% of the time. The cancer and chemotherapy caused him to lose over forty pounds, limiting his ability to make appearances and campaign. In June 2015 DesJarlais announced that he was cancer-free.