Democrats Make Dethroning DesJarlais Personal

Dr. Ronald Wilson appeared with TNDP chairman Chip Forrester Monday, saying he had no knowledge about the DesJarlais affairs but that physicians should not have relationships with patients. Photo credit Blake Farmer/WPLN

The Tennessee Democratic Party is trying to take full advantage of news accounts detailing extra marital affairs of Republican Congressman Scott DesJarlais. The party chair now sees dethroning the freshman representative as a political parting shot.

At a press conference, the outgoing Chip Forrester used extreme language, calling DesJarlais – who is a doctor by profession – a “monster” and a “fraud” who should be in jail.

“With the information about Scott DesJarlais having sex with patients and the fact that he has no ethical right to serve in congress or be a doctor, it would be very satisfying for him to go down and for Eric Stewart to be the congressman from the 4th Congressional District.”

Forrester says DesJarlais should just resign. To the contrary, the DesJarlais campaign has released internal polling that shows he still has a sizeable lead over the state senator who is challenging him.

Over the weekend, the Chattanooga Times Free Press published the story of an anonymous woman who says she dated DesJarlais and that they smoked marijuana together. Even the newspaper said it couldn’t confirm all the details. The DesJarlais campaign issued a statement questioning the factual accuracy but not denying the decade-old affair.