White Republican asks about joining Black Caucus

“I think he just wanted to mess with somebody,” said Black Caucus Chairman Rep. Johnny Shaw. “(Rep.) Stacey Campfield is a strange guy. That’s the best I can say. He would never say why he wanted the bylaws or what he was trying to do.”

Shaw, D-Jackson, denied the requests from Campfield, R-Knoxville, the men told the Knoxville News Sentinel.

Campfield said he might take further steps in the next legislative session.

The Republican said he was “just curious” about operations of the Black Caucus and decided to ask Shaw for a copy of the bylaws. He said Shaw at one point asked for a copy of Republican Party bylaws and Campfield had a copy of the GOP document sent to Shaw.

“I have my questions” about the Black Caucus, Campfield said. “How is their money spent? What are membership requirements? A lot of things are contained in the bylaws. I haven’t decided how far to push it.”

As he was talking to Shaw about these questions, the possibility of Campfield becoming a Black Caucus member came up.

By Campfield’s account, Shaw was staunchly against it.

“I said, ‘Why?’ and he said, ‘Because you’re white.’ I thought, ‘What? Whoa!'” said Campfield.

Campfield says he has a “substantial” number of minority constituents in his House district.

Shaw said he thought Campfield brought up the possibility of membership in the Black Caucus in “a kidding sort of way.”

“He’s an oddball and I didn’t take him seriously,” said Shaw. “I felt like he was trying to do something that was, well, not good.”

Shaw did provide a copy of the bylaws to a reporter, but not to Campfield.

“We don’t have anything going on in the Black Caucus that anyone wants to hide. There’s nothing out of the ordinary in the bylaws,” said Shaw. “We are strictly legit and up front.”

The bylaws say “The regular membership shall consist of those black elected officials serving in the state Senate and House of Representatives.”

Another provision says that “honorary membership” can be granted to “those persons whose belief and actions contribute to the purpose for which this caucus was formed.”

“We still want to make sure the black community gets the representation it needs,” Shaw said. “But it’s not just the black community. We represent people as a whole. When you start dividing people up into race, if you’re not careful you can get yourself into a lot of trouble.”