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Edited on Sun Jan-18-09 07:58 PM by doeriver
Talk about sore losers --- the Tennessee Republican Party is reportedly now acting to disfranchise the Carter County voters of Northeast Tennessee by somehow denying newly-elected TNGA House Speaker Kent Williams (R, Elizabethton) from being listed as a candidate within the 2010 Tennessee 4th House District Republican Primary. What is even more brazen is the fact that the Tennessee Republican Party does not even pay the enormous expense of holding statewide Republican primary elections --- those costs are borne by Tennnessee taxpayers such those residing in Carter County!:How Kent Williams became the House's new speaker
GOP rift that led to election surprise has deep roots
By Brad Schrade THE TENNESSEAN January 18, 2009
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090118/NEWS0201/901180380/-1/NLETTER01?source=nletter-news
PDF: Letter telling House Republicans what could happen if they didn't back the party's leadership choices
Maggart Letter, Dec. 20, 2008 TRP bylaws
http://www.tennessean.com/assets/pdf/DN126565118.PDF
TNGA House Speaker Kent Williams, R-Elizabethton
http://www.capitol.tn.gov/house/members/h4.html
When Republican state Rep. Kent Williams stunned Tennessee last week by crossing his own party to join 49 House Democrats in narrowly electing him to become the chamber's new speaker, many wondered what prompted such a bold maneuver.
After all, the backbench lawmaker from rural Carter County had been in office only two years, and few in Tennessee politics knew much about him.
Members of his own party and caucus spent much of last week painting Williams as a traitor who, for his own gain and ambition, went back on his word to support the party's chosen nominee, Jason Mumpower. But a closer look at Williams' brief political career suggests a more nuanced version of the story, one that shows he was, at times, bitterly at odds with fellow legislators in his own party — some who even campaigned against him.
Williams so resisted and even resented the lock-step expectations put upon caucus members, he was willing to buck his party to assert his independence. Just hours before the speaker vote Tuesday, a letter sent to GOP lawmakers last month by House Republican Whip Debra Maggart was still on his mind, according to Danny D. Smith, a supporter and longtime friend from Elizabethton. The two had breakfast together that morning.
Smith said Williams viewed the letter as a threat. It outlined state Republican Party Chairman Robin Smith's intention to go after, and strip from the party's ballot in 2010, any member who failed to support the party's nominees for leadership.
"(Williams) said, 'I don't care who Robin Smith is; there is no person in the state of Tennessee or group of people who are going to tell me how to vote except the people in Carter County,' " Danny Smith said. "It's like a rattlesnake. If you back it into a corner and you push it so far, it's going to strike. I think that letter tipped the scale. If that letter had not come out, and he had not been threatened, this whole thing probably wouldn't have happened. That's my opinion."
The letter was a subject of a front-page article in Williams' hometown newspaper, the Elizabethton Star, on Jan. 11. He was quoted as saying "This is like a dictatorship. It's saying, 'If you don't play ball with us, you're out.' " And then there is more... Tennessee Republican Party | State Executive Committee
http://ms.tngop.org/new/sec.asp
STATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REVIEWS WILLIAMS SITUATION
REPUBLICAN LEADERS CHALLENGE WILLIAMS’ STATUS AS “BONA FIDE” REPUBLICAN
Move could trigger expulsion from Party and ban from Republican ballot in 2010 primaries
http://www.tngop.org/wordpress/2009/01/13/republican-leaders-challenge-williams-status-as-bona-fide-republican/
« TRP Weekly Report - 1/8/09
NASHVILLE – State Rep. Kent Williams’ tenure as a self-proclaimed Republican Speaker is likely to be very short-lived, as a challenge to his status as a bona fide Republican is already moving forward at a fast pace.
Eighteen members of the Tennessee Republican Party State Executive Committee have signed a written document, presented tonight to Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Robin Smith, challenging the “bona fide” status of Rep. Kent Williams as a Republican.
The action, which triggers a review under Party bylaws, comes after Williams broke his signed oath (and multiple verbal promises reported in various media and made to various Republican lawmakers and party officials even as recently as Tuesday morning) to vote for the House Republican Caucus nominee for Speaker, Rep. Jason Mumpower.
“Williams put personal ambition ahead of honor and lied his way into the Speaker’s chair,” said Bill Hobbs, Communications Director for the Tennessee Republican Party. “Elected by Republican voters in the historic 2008 elections that saw Republicans win a majority of House seats for the first time since 1868, Rep. Williams chose to betray his party and his constituents. Party bylaws – which Williams was aware of - provide a clear and straightforward process for the challenge to Williams’ status as a bona fide Republican as a result of his actions today. We expect the process will move quickly.”
If Williams is stripped of his status as a member of the Republican Party, he will not be permitted to run on the Republican ballot in 2010.
Upon entering a reception these evening, committee members presented their challenges pursuant to the Tennessee Republican Party Bylaws. “Action will begin immediately to address the actions of Rep. Kent Williams,” responded Robin Smith, TN Republican Party Chairman. “His commitment today was not to Republican Principles, but to the blind and shameless pursuit of personal power. He cast his vote for a Pro-Tax, Pro-Gay, Pro-Abortion, Anti-Gun Liberal Democrat to preside in leadership against all 49 of his Republican colleagues.”
“This challenge will move swiftly to honor the character and integrity of the 49 members of the Republican House Caucus who stand committed to the Republican principles and the voters who support them. Acting like Ronald Reagan in Carter County but Jimmy Carter in the Capitol has resulted in an official challenge of Mr. Williams’s status as a Party member,” Smith said. “I look forward to the work ahead with our state leadership to strengthen our party, grow our party and honor the wishes of Tennesseans by electing a true Republican as Speaker of the Tennessee House.”
“If Rep. Williams is stripped of his membership in the Republican Party in a process in accordance with the bylaws of the Tennessee Republican Party, the Party will insist that Speaker Williams no longer be referred to in media accounts or state government websites as a Republican,” Hobbs said. But if in 2010 the Carter County voters still regard TNGA House Speaker Kents Williams as a "Republican", then by all accounts, Williams will still be a "Republican"...perhaps the Tennessee Republican Party should be listing their "official" candidates on Tennessee primary elections ballots as "Bona Fide Republicans" instead of misleading voters:REPUBLICAN LEADERS CHALLENGE WILLIAMS’ STATUS AS “BONA FIDE” REPUBLICAN
STATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REVIEWS WILLIAMS SITUATION
http://www.tngop.org/wordpress/2009/01/14/state-executive-committee-reviews-williams-situation/
NASHVILLE, TN – The Tennessee Republican Party State Executive Committee met today via telephone conference call to discuss the multiple formal challenges filed to the status of Kent Williams, the newly-installed House Speaker, as a “bona fide Republican” under party bylaws. More than two dozen challenges have been filed contesting Williams is not a bona fide Republican, prompted by his breaking both party bylaws and his solemn oath to vote for the Republican Caucus nominee for Speaker of the House. Under Party bylaws, the party chairman has the authority to consider such challenges and make a determination.
During the conference call, the Executive Committee members heard a review of the facts and chronology surrounding Williams’ betrayal of the new Republican majority in the state House in conspiring with Democrats to make Williams as Speaker and to elect a Democrat as Speaker Pro Tempore.
On Tuesday, Williams lied his way into the Speaker’s chair, aided by Democrats eager to retain control of the House even though Republicans won a majority of seats in the House in the 2008 election. The ascent of Williams, a second-term legislator, to the Speaker’s chair was engineered by Democrat former House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh and Democrat House Minority Leader Gary Odom, leaving them in a position of considerable control over the House.
The 66-member Tennessee Republican Party State Executive Committee is reviewing the information. ...and yet more from the ever-charming Robin Smith
Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Robin Smith
STATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REVIEWS WILLIAMS SITUATION
http://www.tngop.org/wordpress/2009/01/16/trp-weekly-report-11609/
TRP Weekly Report - 1/16/09
PRINCIPLED LEADERSHIP LOST
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