Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Legislature / Politics / Woods In Sex Scandal, Norris Makes Ramsey Look Like a Chump
Posted by Jeff Woods on Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 11:53 AM
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On his new blog, Mark Brown speculates Senate Republican leader Mark Norris is making a play for Ron Ramsey's job. His evidence? Norris' statement calling for Paul Stanley to quit the Senate. "In a nutshell," says Brown, "that statement read, 'Ron Ramsey doesn't have the balls to be a leader. I do.' "
Pith agrees Norris' statement was curious. In it, he claims he'd repeatedly made his wishes known, "publicly as well as privately," that Stanley should "do the right thing" and resign. But if Norris did that, we never heard it. He also gives the impression that he'd been working hard behind the scenes to make Stanley see the light. Only as a last resort was he putting out a press release, he said.
"I had hoped that our efforts regarding Senator Stanley these last few days would prove successful without standing on a soapbox. It's more important to do the right thing and meet with success than it is to send press releases about doing the right thing and meet only with the media. That is why I have been working to resolve this situation all week without resorting to press releases and press conferences."But yesterday when he quit, Stanley said he'd never heard personally from anyone who had been calling for his resignation. That's even though Norris and Stanley practically live next door to each other in Shelby County. Stanley suggested his critics spoke out for "politically expedient reasons." We don't know whether Norris was trying to stick it to Ramsey but, whether intentional or not, he did undercut the Senate speaker and make him look like a patsy. While Ramsey was hemming and hawing, Norris stepped forward to force the issue and "stop the insaneness," as Stanley called it. If Ramsey wants to run for governor as a strong leader, he might think about acting like one.
