Thursday, January 22, 2009
Legislature / Politics / Woods Williams Makes Himself All-Powerful with Committee Appointments
Posted by Jeff Woods on Thu, Jan 22, 2009 at 12:08 PM
Speaker Kent Williams appointed himself King of the House of Representatives today. By essentially dividing committees evenly between Republicans and Democrats, Williams made himself the potential tie-breaking vote on any issue. All he has to do, under House rules, is waltz into any committee or subcommittee at any time to cast the deciding vote on any piece of legislation. Williams gave himself even more power, if that was possible, by also unilaterally stripping committee chairs of the right to vote in subcommittees.
He also named Rep. Steve McDaniel as deputy speaker, an honorary title that basically makes McDaniel his consigliere. That appointment is certain to further enrage many House Republicans, who already see McDaniel as a party traitor for voting for Jimmy Naifeh for speaker in the past.
At an hourlong press conference, Williams variously cast himself as Thomas Jefferson musing on an enlightened new form of government or as Mr. Smith going to Nashville to bust up the power of corrupt political bosses.
"Today without a doubt is the proudest day of my political career," he said. "We've done something here that time will show is history."
"We haven't had anything in 140 years, our party. Remember we only have a majority of one. This is our opportunity. If we show the public we know how to govern, we can do it better than the Democrats did for 140 years. Then we can keep our seats for years to come. My philosophy is to always do it this way. I would like to come down here every year as a state representative knowing that I have a certain portion of the responsibility of chairing committees. By utilizing both parties, you're picking the best. It's a lot easier to pick the best out of 99 then it is 50. I think it's going to work. I think it's the way to go. I think it's the way for all government to work. The people elect us. The [party] caucuses don't elect us."In a news flash, state GOP chair Robin Smith says she isn't happy. Her statement: "Tennessee is facing tough times and serious choices, and voters last November voted for conservative leadership, but Kent Williams has decided to create a system designed to create gridlock in the House. That's unfortunate, but the Republican-lead Senate, under the capable leadership of Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, stands ready to lead Tennessee through tough times based on sound conservative principles and honest dealings with the public and with fellow lawmakers." More on Williams' presser after the jump. Williams was loquacious on all topics--except of course that nasty little sex harassment complaint against him. On that complaint, which may become the subject of an ethics committee investigation, he would only repeat his claim of innocence. (More on that later at Pith in the Wind.) He promised not to exercise his committee voting powers very often--oh, except if it's necessary to pass the GOP's big anti-abortion resolution or to change the law to allow handguns into state parks, or to pass whatever else he decides is important as the session goes along. On Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, he said: "Let me state this right now. Ron Ramsey's mad at me, and everybody knows Ron Ramsey's mad at me. The only difference between Ron Ramsey and myself is Ron could only get one Democrat to vote for him, I got 49. Next question. Let's get off my friend Ron Ramsey. I love Ron Ramsey, and I hope he can take a joke." On switching legislative offices to accommodate the new House makeup, he said: "We're going to move signs. It's easier to move signs than it is people. You know, that's a tremendous expense to the people of Tennessee when you start moving offices. Everybody has a different address. You've got change all the computers, the phones, business cards, stationery, everything new. I know it doesn't sound like a lot of dollars, but we have negative dollars. So the least we spend, the better we're going to be for it."
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Why would Williams vote for Mumpower after he actively campaigned against Williams as an incumbent in this elections primary?
http://eyeontn.com/?p=151
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Posted by
eyeontn
on January 23, 2009 at 10:31 AM
