Stacey Campfield (born June 8, 1968) is an American politician. He served as the
Republican member of the
Tennessee Senate
The Tennessee Senate is the upper house of the U.S. state of Tennessee , Tennessee's state legislature, which is known formally as the Tennessee General Assembly.
The Tennessee Senate has the power to pass resolutions concerning essentially any ...
from the
7th district, including
Knoxville
Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...
,
Farragut, University of Tennessee, Powell and other parts of
Knox County.
Early life and education
Stacey T. Campfield was born on June 8, 1968.
Originally from
Vestal, New York
Vestal is a Town (New York), town within Broome County, New York, Broome County in the Southern Tier of New York (state), New York, United States, and lies between the Susquehanna River and the Pennsylvania border. As of the 2020 census, the pop ...
, and a 1986 graduate of
Vestal High School
Vestal High School is a state school#United States, public high school that operates as part of the Vestal Central School District which encompasses just west of Binghamton, New York, Binghamton in the Southern Tier of New York. It is a four-ye ...
where he was named "Sportsman of the year" for Wrestling and later was inducted into their high school hall of fame, Campfield moved to Knoxville at age 25.
He received an associate degree in Marketing from
Broome Community College in 1989.
He received an A.S. in marketing and a B.S. in Management from Regents College of the
University of the State of New York
The University of the State of New York (USNY, ) is the state governmental umbrella organization that oversees all educational institutions, including schools, libraries, and museums in New York State. It is governed by the Board of Regents.
D ...
(now
Excelsior University).
He has been involved with the
Young Republicans
The Young Republican National Federation, commonly referred to as the Young Republicans or YRNF, is a 527 organization for members of the Republican Party of the United States between the ages of 18 and 40. It has both a national organization ...
, the
College Republicans
College Republicans is an umbrella term that describes college and university students who support the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party of the United States. The College Republican National Committee (CRNC) is the oldest campus- ...
, and the
American Red Cross
The American National Red Cross is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Humanitarianism, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. Clara Barton founded ...
.
Personal life
Campfield is an unmarried
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
.
[Lakin, Matt]
"Bistro at the Bijou owner boots, bans state Sen. Stacey Campfield for AIDS remarks"
''Knoxville News Sentinel
The ''Knoxville News Sentinel'', also known as ''Knox News'', is a daily newspaper in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, owned by the Gannett Company.
History
The newspaper was formed in 1926 from the merger of two competing newspapers: '' ...
''. January 30, 2012
Tennessee House of Representatives
He was first elected in 2004 to the
Tennessee House of Representatives
The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee.
Constitutional requirements
According to the state constitution of 1870, this body is to consis ...
.
In 2005, Campfield said that he was interested in joining the legislative Black Caucus.
Campfield described the group's bylaws as racist because he said they restrict membership based on race, which described as being more restrictive than the Ku Klux Klan's bylaws that only restrict based on the ideology of white supremacy.
[ The leader of the Black Caucus considered asking members of the group to vote on whether to give Campfield honorary membership without voting rights, but Campfield said he only wanted full membership saying "Separate but equal did not work in the 1960s and anything short of full membership is an insult to equal rights."
As of 2006, felons were eligible to vote in Tennessee as long as they are not delinquent on any payments of child support or victim restitution.] Because there is no law prohibiting voting by non-felons who are delinquent on child support payment, a bill was proposed dropping the eligibility for felons of being timely with child support payments in 2006.[ Campfield opposed the bill, saying that one way a felon can show rehabilitation is by being timely on any child support payments.][
Campfield sponsored a bill to issue ]death certificates
A death certificate is either a legal document issued by a medical practitioner which states when a person died, or a document issued by a government civil registration office, that declares the date, location and cause of a person's death, as ...
for aborted
Aborted is a Belgian death metal band formed in 1995 in Waregem. The group currently consists of vocalist, founder, and only constant member Sven de Caluwé, along with guitarists Ian Jekelis and Dan Konráðsson. Although the band originally ...
fetus
A fetus or foetus (; : fetuses, foetuses, rarely feti or foeti) is the unborn offspring of a viviparous animal that develops from an embryo. Following the embryonic development, embryonic stage, the fetal stage of development takes place. Pren ...
es in 2007. Campfield said he wanted people to be able to find out how many abortions were being performed in Tennessee and to note the loss of human lives. Tennessee already required abortions to be reported to the Office of Vital Records, and the number of abortions performed in the state was publicly available.[
In 2008, Campfield sponsored a bill requiring public colleges in Tennessee to allow their full-time employees with state-issued handgun-carry permits to carry their handguns on campus.][Sher, Andy]
"Bill to allow guns on campuses sparks debate"
, ''Chattanooga Times Free Press
The ''Chattanooga Times Free Press'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and is distributed in the metropolitan Chattanooga region of southeastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia. It is one of Tennessee's majo ...
''. March 14, 2008. The Tennessee Board of Regent opposed the bill, saying that only campus security police at universities should possess weapons on their campuses, and that local police are the best way to protect community college campuses.[ Two years later, he sponsored a bill to make private the names of people with state-issued handgun permits, but not the names of people whose permits had been revoked.
Also in 2008, Campfield proposed a bill to ban teachers from teaching as part of the lesson plan about homosexuality in Tennessee's public elementary and middle schools,] saying that the topic should only be discussed by each student's family.["Lawmaker Wants 'Gay-Talk' Banned From Classroom"](_blank)
, ''WTVF''. February 18, 2008. The bill died in committee.[ The Tennessee Equality Project opposed the bill, saying that teachers need not advocate for or against homosexuality, but they should allow students to debate the issue of homosexuality.]
In 2008, Campfield proposed a bill to prohibit Tennessee public colleges from admitting illegal immigrants. Campfield said that if students cannot enroll in classes with unpaid parking tickets, then students should not be able to enroll in classes if they are in violation of federal immigration laws either.[
In 2009, Campfield introduced a bill to limit lottery winnings to $600 for people on public assistance.] Campfield said that people on public assistance should not be buying lottery tickets and instead should be using that money to buy food for their children.[ Tennessee law already prohibited the use of public assistance money to purchase lottery tickets. The bill also prohibited prisoners from redeeming winning lottery tickets.][
]
Tennessee Senate
In 2010 Campfield was elected to the State Senate.[Humphrey, Tom]
"Humphrey on the Hill:Stacey Campfield Wins Senate District 7 GOP Nomination"
. ''Knoxville News Sentinel
The ''Knoxville News Sentinel'', also known as ''Knox News'', is a daily newspaper in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, owned by the Gannett Company.
History
The newspaper was formed in 1926 from the merger of two competing newspapers: '' ...
''. August 6, 2010. The seat was previously held by Tim Burchett. His opponent, Democrat Randy Walker, had openly solicited support from moderate
Moderate is an ideological category which entails centrist views on a liberal-conservative spectrum. It may also designate a rejection of radical or extreme views, especially in regard to politics and religion.
Political position
Canad ...
Republicans in the November election but was defeated 37–53%.
Tennessee holds open primaries
Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pri ...
, where any voter may vote in any party's primary election. Campfield introduced a bill to change to a closed primary.[ The bill would only allow a registered voter to vote in a primary election if the voter was affiliated with that particular political party.][ Campfield said that voters often vote in the other party's primary in order to vote for a weaker candidate or one that is closer to the voter's own party's politician positions, both of which Campfield opposed.][
On August 7, 2014, Campfield was defeated 66%-28% in the Republican state senate primary by Knox County Commissioner Richard Briggs who outspent Campfield almost 4 to 1 (Briggs $380,000.00 to Campfields $100,000.00).
Briggs had courted many high-profile Democrats who had openly encouraged Democrats to cross party lines to unseat Campfield in the Republican primary.
]
State tribal recognition for Native Americans
In three successive years, 2011—SB 1802, 2012—SB 2177, 2013—SB 489, Campfield sponsored bills to grant state tribal recognition to six groups of not publicly documented Native American descendants, which would have also appointed the six groups, known collectively as the "Confederation of Tennessee Native Tribes", as the means for other Native Americans not relocated during the "trail of tears" to receive state recognition as Native American Indian tribe
In the United States, an American Indian tribe, Native American tribe, Alaska Native village, Indigenous tribe, or Tribal nation may be any current or historical tribe, band, or nation of Native Americans in the United States. Modern forms of t ...
s. The bills were either withdrawn or died in committee. Campfield's sponsorship was seen as largely ' carrying water' for Lieutenant Governor Ron Ramsey in whose district one of the groups also resides and whose previous state representative Nathan Vaughn initiated the legislation in 2008.
"Classroom protection" bill
In 2011 as a senator, he revived his 2008 "pro traditional family education" bill as SB49, the so-called "Don't Say Gay" bill, and it gained national and international attention. Openly gay filmmaker Del Shores challenged him to a debate about it. Lillian Faderman
Lillian Faderman (born July 18, 1940) is an American historian whose books on lesbian history and LGBT history have earned critical praise and awards. ''The New York Times'' named three of her books on its "Notable Books of the Year" list. In addi ...
and Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
historian Ian Lekus agreed it encouraged dishonesty and could lead to further suicide among LGBT youth
Research has found that attempted suicide rates and suicidal ideation among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people are significantly higher than among the general population.
In the United States, one study has shown the ...
. In an interview, Campfield explained he supported anti-bullying
Bullying is the use of force, coercion, Suffering, hurtful teasing, comments, or threats, in order to abuse, aggression, aggressively wikt:domination, dominate, or intimidate one or more others. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. On ...
legislation for all children, not just for the LGBT community. Later however, he remarked, "that bullying thing is the biggest lark out there. Tennessee already has anti bullying laws that cover everyone and many groups are using "bullying" to push their social agenda in schools"[NewsChannel5]
"State Senator Campfield's remarks drawing criticism"
''Out & About Newspaper''. January 12, 2012.
Modification of "Classroom protection" bill
In January 2013, Campfield introduced a modified version of his "Classroom protection act" bill. This version allows teachers and guidance counselors to answer a child's private questions about sexuality, but forces the counselors to tell the child's parents if those responses included activity that could be life-threatening or possible sexual abuse. Many gay rights advocates believed this information could result in the disclosure of a child's sexual orientation to their parents.
Decreased welfare to parents who are not involved with their failing child's education
In 2013, Campfield introduced Senate Bill 0132, which cuts by 30% the payment made to parents or caretakers of children in families eligible for Tennessee's Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program if any of the children fail to meet requirements for grades or attendance and the parent refused to go to any parent teacher conferences, parent counseling or to enroll their child in free tutoring programs.
In April 2013, Campfield postponed this Bill after an organized protest by community activists at the State Capitol. Eight-year-old Aamira Fetuga followed him around Capitol Hill with a signed petition opposing the bill while asking him questions and sharing her concerns. Campfield said "Children should not be used as props to push their parents agenda." The bill was postponed shortly thereafter but was passed the next year with stronger requirements and tougher restrictions.
Media and positions
Campfield has appeared or been quoted on multiple national, international news broadcasts and media outlets for his legislation as well as his outspoken and often creative conservative views. Among the broadcasts: TMZ
''TMZ'' is an American entertainment-focused tabloid news organization owned by Fox Corporation. It made its debut on November 8, 2005, as a collaboration between AOL and Telepictures, a division of Warner Bros., until Time Warner divested ...
, CNN
Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...
with Wolf Blitzer
Wolf Isaac Blitzer (born March 22, 1948) is an American journalist, television news anchor, and author who has been a CNN reporter since 1990, and who currently serves as one of the principal anchors at the network. He has been a host of ''The ...
, Piers Morgan
Piers Stefan Pughe-Morgan (; O'Meara, born 30 March 1965) is an English journalist and media personality. He began his career in 1988 at the tabloid ''The Sun (United Kingdom), The Sun''. In 1994, at the age of 29, he was appointed editor of ...
and Martin Bashir
Martin Henry Bashir (born 19 January 1963) is a British former journalist. He was a presenter on British and American television and for the BBC's '' Panorama'' programme, for which he gained an interview with Diana, Princess of Wales under fal ...
, The O'Reilly Factor
''The O'Reilly Factor'' (originally titled ''The O'Reilly Report'' and also known as ''The Factor'') is an American cable television news and talk show. ''The O'Reilly Factor'' first aired in the United States on Fox News Channel on October 7 ...
with Bill O'Reilly, Morning Joe
''Morning Joe'' is an American morning news talk show, which airs weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time Zone, Eastern Time on the cable news channel MSNBC. It features former United States House of Representatives, US Repr ...
with Joe Scarborough, NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
's "Tonight Show
''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show
A late-night talk show is a genre of talk show, originating in the American Media, United States. It is generally structured around humorous monologues about the day's news, guest inte ...
" with Jay Leno
James Douglas Muir Leno ( ; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, and writer. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Tonight Show'' from 1992 until 200 ...
. " The View", Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...
's "The Daily Show
''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk show, late-night talk and news satire television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central in the United States, with extended episodes released shortly after on Paramount+ ...
", "The Colbert Report
''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late night television, late-night Late-night talk show, talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December ...
" allegedly, "South Park
''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand the ...
" which had an episode regarding his exclusion from the Black Caucus, Rush Limbaugh
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative political commentator who was the host of ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nati ...
, Allan Colmes, Michael Reagan
Michael Edward Reagan (born John Charles Flaugher; March 18, 1945) is an American conservative political commentator, Republican Party (United States), Republican strategist, and former radio talk show host. He is the adopted son of former U.S. ...
, ''USA Today
''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
'', ''NewsWeek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...
'', ''The Washington Times
''The Washington Times'' is an American Conservatism, conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It covers general interest topics with an emphasis on Politics of the United States, national politics. Its broadsheet daily edit ...
'', as well as others.
Campfield currently hosts a TV show ''The Reality Camp'' on IAM TV and the Brighteon Network.
Musicals and Plays
To date there have been two musicals and one play written about Campfield and his life in the legislature. The most recent one sold out for multiple nights and received strong reviews from multiple Tennessee newspapers. While not portraying him in a positive light, Campfield himself quipped he was glad he could support the arts and was even willing to do a cameo role.
Duncan Barbecue
In 2002, at one of Republican Congressman Jimmy Duncan's annual barbecues, Campfield followed candidate for Governor of Tennessee Phil Bredesen
Philip Norman Bredesen Jr. (; born November 21, 1943) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 48th governor of Tennessee from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was elected in ...
with a sign saying "Tax 'n' Spend Governor". He was forcibly removed by security after being attacked by a Bredesen supporter but was later allowed to come back into the event.
2009 UT Neyland Stadium football game
On October 31, 2009, Campfield attended the Halloween Volunteers
Volunteering is an elective and freely chosen act of an individual or group giving their time and labor, often for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergenc ...
football game with the University of South Carolina at the University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...
Neyland Stadium
Neyland Stadium ( ) is a sports stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. It serves primarily as the home of the Tennessee Volunteers football team, but is also used to host large conventions and has been a site for several National Footba ...
where he was briefly questioned, searched, and detained allegedly after the mother of two young girls complained that the presence of a masked Campfield had allegedly frightened two young girls. The girls had previously been told by UT stadium security that masks were not allowed to be worn inside the stadium for the Halloween
Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...
football game). While Campfield was questioned in section B he was reported as only having stadium seating admission tickets for Section LL and was then escorted outside of the stadium by two UT deputies. Campfield later offered college scholarships to the two girls if they were ever identified. They never were. Several people accused UT legal council Ron Leadbetter of having a report made weeks later just to use in his campaign to unseat Campfield for the state house that same year.
Campfield on the origin and transmission of AIDS
In a January 2012 interview with Michelangelo Signorile
Michelangelo Signorile (; born December 19, 1960) is an American journalist, author and talk radio host. His radio program is aired each weekday across the United States and Canada on Sirius XM Radio and globally online. Signorile was editor ...
, Campfield replied to a question on the history of AIDS "most people realize that AIDS came from the homosexual community – it was one guy screwing a monkey, if I recall correctly, and then having sex with men. It was an airline pilot, if I recall.... My understanding is that it is virtually – not completely, but virtually – impossible to contract AIDS through heterosexual sex...very rarely ransmitted" He later quoted the odds of heterosexual vaginal transmission at 1 in 5 million.
Medical authority sources disagree: "When risk is assessed ''per act'' of unprotected vaginal intercourse" (between an infected male and a female partner), "the chance of HIV transmission is estimated to be between 1 in 500 and 1 in 1000." Campfield said the numbers quoted by him were for transmission to heterosexual US males through vaginal intercourse, with protection, multiplied by the odds of actually having sex with an AIDS infected, heterosexual female partner in the US. Those odds were roughly 1 in 5 million.
Although there is no definitive origin or "Patient 0" many assume, contrary to Campfield's statement, HIV's various distinct strains may possibly have come about in humans on numerous separate occasions because of the handling and consumption of bushmeat
Bushmeat is meat from wildlife species that are Hunting, hunted for human consumption. Bushmeat represents a primary source of animal protein and a cash-earning commodity in poor and rural communities of humid tropical forest regions of the worl ...
infected with Simian immunodeficiency virus
Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) is a species of retrovirus that cause persistent infections in at least 45 species of non-human primates. Based on analysis of strains found in four species of monkeys from Bioko Island, which was isolated fr ...
, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the National public health institutes, national public health agency of the United States. It is a Federal agencies of the United States, United States federal agency under the United S ...
and the World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...
. while not being able to completely refute his claim Health experts expressed concern about the possible health consequences of Campfield's remarks. Campfield's "airline pilot" reference likely referred to the case of Gaëtan Dugas, a flight attendant who was falsely referred to as "Patient Zero", by the late Randy Shilts in his 1987 book on the modern US outbreak of AIDS, '' And The Band Played On''.
When later asked about his comments, Campfield said that some of his comments were taken out of context, saying that "I'm not a historian on AIDS ... but I've read and seen what other people have read and seen and those facts and numbers, in context, are out there and even backed up by the CDC numbers."
Bistro at the Bijou in Knoxville
On January 29, 2012, the owner of the cafe Bistro at the Bijou, Martha Boggs in Knoxville asked Stacey Campfield to leave the restaurant as a stand for gay rights. He was asked to leave because of his assertion that HIV is seldom transmitted through heterosexual sex and because Boggs believed his comments to be homophobic.
Intellectual property
Since March 2005, Campfield has maintained a public blog that includes a warning that any quotation from it for print will be charged at "$1,000 USD per word".
Gun politics
In 2013 Campfield appeared on CNN with Piers Morgan and debated gun rights and a possible gun ban in the USA. Campfield called gun control a failure and at one point asked when Morgan planned to fulfill his promise to leave the USA if gun control failed. Morgan said he would "Wait and see". Campfield would later move to stop local municipalities from implementing second amendment restrictions beyond what the state had implemented saying the state constitution only allows the legislature to regulate the wearing of arms and that "constitutional freedoms should be protected at all levels, not struck down at the lowest level. We should no more accept local restrictions on the second amendment than we do the first".
Drug testing for government benefits
In 2012 Campfield authored legislation requiring suspicion based drug testing for those receiving cash government benefits. Those failing the test were referred to drug treatment centers but were allowed to stay on government benefits if they continued drug treatment and remained drug-free for 6 months. If they failed another drug test at the end of 6 months they would be banned from the program for 1 year. Early testing results showed an 18% failure rate of those tested for drugs. All of the money saved by the drug testing program remained in the assistance program to help others that qualified.
Obamacare Holocaust comparison
On May 5, 2014, Campfield drew widespread criticism for a blog post comparing mandatory signups under the Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and informally as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presid ...
(Obamacare) to the "train rides" the Jews took under Nazi Germany ("Democrats bragging about the number of mandatory sign ups for Obamacare is like Germans bragging about the number of mandatory sign ups for 'train rides' for Jews in the 40s."). Campfield responded to the criticism saying it missed his point about "government mandates and bureaucrats deciding who should be given life saving medications and who should be denied" and government funding for abortion.Campfield regrets comparing Obamacare to Nazi train ride
by Chas Sisk May 5, 2014 The Tennessean
References
External links
Stacey Campfield at Ballotpedia
Campfield's blog
*Campaign Contributions
2008
2006
2004
2002
{{DEFAULTSORT:Campfield, Stacey
1968 births
Living people
American real estate and property developers
Republican Party members of the Tennessee House of Representatives
Republican Party Tennessee state senators
USNY Regents College alumni
University of Tennessee faculty
Politicians from Knoxville, Tennessee
People from Vestal, New York
Catholics from New York (state)
Catholics from Tennessee
21st-century members of the Tennessee General Assembly