The newest member of the Shelby County delegation to the Tennessee General Assembly is Karen Camper, an entertainment executive and entrepreneur and a veteran of 21 years’ Army service as an intelligence officer. Camper won nine first-ballot votes from members of the Shelby County Commission on Monday and eventually won acclamation as successor to the late Gary Rowe in House District 87.
Other candidates for the interim appointment were Jennings Bernard and Andrew Withers, both of whom, along with Camper, had indicated a desire to seek the position in this year’s regular Democratic primary.?
Camper ran unsuccessfully for the District 2 position o the city council last year and was one of several aspirants late last year for interim appointment to complete the school board term of Wanda Halbert, who had been elected to the city council.
