Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Legislature / Politics / Woods Caucus Chair Mike Turner Refuses to Defend Gary Odom; It's 'a Bit Bizarre,' Odom Says
Posted by Jeff Woods on Wed, Feb 25, 2009 at 3:09 PM
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House Democrats are so pissed off at Gary Odom that even caucus chair Mike Turner is refusing to defend the party leader. Turner and Rep. John Litz sat down with reporters today to contradict Odom's published claims to the role of kingmaker in the House. Not only did Turner never express the slightest allegiance to Odom, he repeatedly refused to say whether he thinks Odom can survive as leader after disrespecting Jimmy Naifeh in the Memphis Flyer.
Odom boasts in last week's Flyer interview that he orchestrated the crowning of Kent Williams as speaker partly to cast aside Naifeh as a political rival. Odom portrays Naifeh as clueless and blames the former speaker for the demise of Tennessee Democrats.
Today, Litz distributed a timeline of the Williams plot, and it barely mentions Odom. In this version, Litz is the one who starts fishing for a Republican candidate to oppose Jason Mumpower. That was around the end of November. The second week of December, Williams comes to Litz to check whether the Democrats can deliver their 49 votes. Litz tells only Naifeh and someone else, apparently not Odom. It's not until the first week of January that Litz and Odom discuss it. During a caucus meeting, Odom tells Litz that he "mentioned the speakership" to Williams around Thanksgiving.
Turner said Naifeh always was in the loop and, on the morning of the election, he personally convinced the last holdout Democrat to vote for Williams for speaker.
"The whole time Jimmy Naifeh was calling the shots," Turner said. "At no point would this thing have happened without Jimmy Naifeh. He was in charge the whole time."
Update: Odom talks to The Tennessean. He didn't know Turner and Litz were meeting with reporters to stab him in the back. In a surprising change of heart, he now considers the back-and-forth over the Williams election a "pointless discussion." More Odom: "I feel like I have substantial support in the House Democratic Caucus. I think this is a bit bizarre, and I don't know what Rep. Turner or Rep. Litz were trying to do."
After the jump, excerpts from the Q&A with Turner and Litz:
Q: I thought Odom orchestrated this whole deal.
Turner: You'll have to ask him about that. I don't know he's ever said he orchestrated the whole deal. I know he was quoted as saying that by Jackson Baker, but I think he said he was misquoted in that article.
Q: What's the point of all this? Is this to make Naifeh feel better, to calm down his supporters in the caucus?
Litz: I think with the recent article in the Memphis Flyer that it came off looking like the speaker didn't know anything about this. Guys, I tell you straight. I never mentioned this to Gary Odom except we talked about it a week or two before.
Q: How upset is the caucus over what Odom said?
Turner: ... We've been meaning to set this straight for a long time anyway. At the same time, there were some things said that did upset some people. We decided let's get this thing straight. Speaker Naifeh led this caucus for a long time. He's done some great things. He's done a few things that's irritated people over the years. But he's not the cause of our downfall. ... The biggest cause of our downfall is we've kind of ignored our infrastructure. We don't have a Democratic Party on a county-by-county basis anymore. ... Then the phenomenon of John McCain vs. Barack Obama came to town, and the perfect storm kind of came around, that's what happened.
Q: Do you think the caucus is upset enough to try to unseat Odom?
Turner: I've not been part of that.
Q: Part of what?
Turner: Whatever it is. Whatever you're talking about.
Q: So you don't know if they're upset enough to try to oust Odom?
Turner: There are some people upset. I'll be honest. I don' t know. I know there are some people upset.
Q: Have either of you talked to Representative Odom since this article came out?
Turner: Sure, I was driving down the road with him in Memphis when I was called on the phone and told about it.
Q: What did Odom say?
Turner: I hadn't read the article and he said it was not that big a deal and I just kind of let it go at that. Then I got back home and I called him back again and I said we need to address it.
Q: Would you say Odom's position is shaky or how would you characterize it?
Turner: I think there are some concerns with some of our members of the caucus, and I think he's got to address those with some members.
Q: Is he doing it?
Turner: I'm sure he is. I don't know.
Q: If Odom loses his position, you're next in line, right?
Turner: You've got that backward. I've always thought caucus chair was higher than leader and I will not take a demotion ... I control all the meetings. I control the press availabilities. I control the funds. I will not give up that position.
Comments (7)
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Glad to know Mike Turner is running things. ("I control all the meetings. I control the press availabilities. I control the funds."---Mike Turner) Strange experience I had, though, at Mike's event on Sat. Feb. 21. I showed up at The Hermitage (Andrew Jackson's home)at 8:30 a.m. for the legislative breakfast he called. The bewildered Garden Cafe staff had prepared a huge breakfast (bacon, sausage, eggs, biscuits) for the expected crowd. Mike and the Davidson County Democratic delegation were nowhere to be found. The manager was never told of any cancellation. Neither was I. What's the deal, Mike?
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Posted by
Dru Fuller
on February 25, 2009 at 4:46 PM
The DCDP breakfast was listed on the website as being for Saturday Feb. 28th. Sounds like a real mix-up has occurred.
Posted by
Naoko
on February 25, 2009 at 6:21 PM
Why anyone would defend Gary Odom at all is beyond me. We're talking about a man who dumped his wife to shack up with an intern younger than his own kids.
If Odom is elected to anything, it should be as leader of the Johnson Caucus.
Posted by
Odom is a joke
on February 25, 2009 at 9:43 PM
Agreed. Democrats should be running for somebody, anybody, different. I nominate Mike Turner. He has shown exceptional leadership since ascending to the upper ranks. Is there any way he could be both leader and caucus chair?
Posted by
Odom is a disgrace
on February 25, 2009 at 10:04 PM
