Gino Bulso

Gino Bulso (born December 25, 1961) is an American politician from the state of Tennessee, representing the state's 61st district in the Tennessee House of Representatives.^[1][2] Bulso is a managing partner of Bulso, PLC in Brentwood.^[3] He is a member of the Republican Party.

Bulso graduated from Cornell College in 1983 and Emory University Law School in 1986.^[4]

As a trial lawyer, Bulso recovered a $146.5 million judgement in Nissan North America v. West Covina Nissan and also worked on U.S. Securities Exchange Commission v. CapWealth Advisors.^[5]

From 2019 to 2020, Bulso acted as legal counsel to the Williamson County GOP. Bulso was also the Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure for the Tennessee Supreme Court in 2021.^[6]

Tenure[edit]

Bulso is a member of the Civil Justice Committee, the Education Administration, the Government Operations Committee, the Civil Justice Subcommittee, the Joint Judiciary and Government, and the K-12 Subcommittee.^[7]

In 2023, Bulso supported motions to expel three sitting Democratic representatives for from the legislature for violating decorum rules. Protesters were at the capitol voicing their support for gun control, days after the Covenant School shooting.^[8] HR 64, the resolution to remove Gloria Johnson, was sponsored by Bulso; the resolution failed by a vote of 65–30.^[9] The resolution to remove Justin Jones, HR 65, was sponsored by Bud Hulsey and co-sponsored by Bulso, Andrew Farmer, and Johnny Garrett; it passed with a vote of 72–25.^[10]

During the 2023-24 General Assembly, Bulso also sponsored legislation to ban pride flags from k-12 schools^[11] (equating them to Nazi flags in a video he presented at a gala^[12]) and to strip state courts of jurisdiction over challenges to rules enacted by the House and Senate^[13] (“a direct response to a lawsuit filed last year after three Tennesseans were dragged out of a committee hearing for holding paper signs calling for gun reform.”^[14])

Controversies and criticism[edit]

Bulso frequently denigrates members of the LGBTQ+ community. Speaking on legislation he sponsored to prohibit transgender people from changing vital records and identification documents to match their gender identity, he stated that there is no definition of "transgenderism or what a transgender is" and that "transgender ideology is probably the most dangerous one that comes under that pride flag."^[15][16]

He has argued that schools should expose children to 18th century morality and values: "the values that I think most parents want their children exposed to are the ones that were in existence at the time that our country was founded."^[17]

He also represented a group of parents in a lawsuit brought under Tennessee's "Age Appropriate Materials" law seeking to require the Williamson County School District to remove the following books from its junior high and high school libraries:

• "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky
• "Where the Crawdads Sing" by Delia Owens
• "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson
• "The Field Guide to the North American Teenager" by Ben Philippe
• "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran

During committee hearings, Bulso is frequently condescending to members of the public who are testifying and even to other legislators. In one exchange with a former professor from Vanderbilt University Medical Center who opposed a bill allowing teachers to discriminate against transgender students, he accused her of making an ad hominem attack and translated the latin phrase to her.^[18][19] In another committee hearing on legislation he sponsored, he lectured Rep. Vincent Dixie on the concept of checks and balances and pontificated on judicial review under the US Constitution.^[20]

Personal life[edit]

Bulso plays tennis competitively,^[21] but declined to follow with a prize he donated to the Williamson County GOP to provide a three hour tennis lesson after the highest bid went to the publisher of the Tennessee Holler, Justin Kanew, a progressive news source and frequent thorn in the side of the Tennessee GOP.^[22]

Bulso is married and has five children. He is Catholic.^[1]

References[edit]

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