Republicans boot speaker from party, lose majority in TN House

[guruoo]

Speaker booted from GOP
Williams without a party after state House maneuver

By Tom Humphrey
Tuesday, February 10, 2009


NASHVILLE - Tennessee GOP Chairman Robin Smith declared Monday that House Speaker Kent Williams is no longer recognized as a Republican because he has betrayed the party's voters and legislators. Williams said he still considers himself "a Carter County Republican" and that Smith was trying to impose a dictatorship on party membership based on "politics of hate."

Smith has been considering banishment of Williams from the GOP since he joined all 49 Democrats in the state House on Jan. 13 to win election as House speaker over House Republican Leader Jason Mumpower, the GOP nominee. In a news conference at state GOP headquarters, Smith noted that the Republican State Executive Committee had voted overwhelmingly - by an 81 percent margin, though she declined to name members for or against Williams - to oust the speaker from the party.

Williams said he believes the GOP, nationally and in Tennessee, has "hit rock bottom" in a decline that began after Ronald Reagan's presidency. "I have hoped for some time that my party would work to build a bigger tent, a more inclusive tent. My hopes may have been in vain," said Williams in a statement. "The tent Robin Smith wants is a small tent. A narrow-minded tent. A tent with no room for alternative ideas."

If Williams is counted as an Independent, the Republicans have now lost control of the House, leaving the partisan makeup at 49 Democrats, 49 Republicans and one Independent.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/feb/10/speaker-booted-from-gop/

[verse18]

1. I'm vice-chair of a GLBT citizen lobbying group in TN

And this has been the best political theater I've seen since the Tennessee Waltz.

[tom_paine]

2. As always, it's a race between Nazis/Bushies and their victims waking up in time.

This one's gonna be close, and while I am not thrilled with the odds on whether the "New Jews" are going to be saved from the "New Nazis" because the "New Good Germans" woke up in time, there can be no doubt that Obama and the current political situation figevs us more hope than in the alst 30 years or more.

Maybe Obama CAN turn this thing around with sweet reason and post-partisanship. I am just afraid the "New Nazis" are going to proceed onward shamelessly like always, taking slight damage in the short run but knowing that it is NOT political power nor seet reason that got them to the brink of Bushification/Nazification of the country, but a Triumph of the Will.

[Still Sensible]

3. So even Kool Aid drinkers can get tired of Kool Aid. n/t

[TechBear_Seattle]

4. "'Hit rock bottom' in a decline that began after Ronald Reagan's presidency"

And that bottom was hit immediately after eight years of the Bush II administration. Hmm.....

[skooooo]

5. Yeah, I caught that too...

:eyes:

[jtrockville]

6. It began AFTER Ronald Reagan? Maybe it began WITH Ronald Reagan?

[rurallib]

7. Must keep the party pure

Sort of reminds me of another party long ago in a foreign land.......

[struggle4progress]

8. .

:rofl:

[Fly by night]

9. Speaker Williams is a good man.

I met with him last year when we were lobbying to do away with DREs and replace them with paper ballots/opscans and mandatory random manual audits. He strongly supported our bill and gave me probably twice as long as most legislators (Dem or Rethug) to discuss the issues with him.

(BTW, although the bill passed overwhelmingly, its implementation was delayed until 2010. Now that Rethugs have "won" our legislature, they have listed repealing the TN Voter Confidence Act as one of their three top priorities. Guess they know which side their bread is buttered on and which voting methods allow them to "win" elections. That is another reason why it's good to have Speaker Williams running the show.)

Speaker Williams also rose on the floor of the House last year to denounce his party's latest anti-abortion bill as nothing more than insensitive political grand-standing that was not grounded in the "real world".

I am glad that honorable Republicans in Tennessee have a new alternative to Rethug state party membership -- I hope all of them who choose to remain Republican will become "Carter County Republicans". All the rest of them are hardly worth shooting. (Note that I said "hardly".)

[spanone]

10. you gotta love the dumbass pukes in my state....they now have lost the house

bwahahahahahaaa

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. Yep partisan loyalty over what is best for the people they serve

Every single one of these GOP reps should be kicked out of office.

[4_TN_TITANS]

12. Democrats are alive and well in Tennessee.

This was brilliant strategy to shoot a gaping hole in this year's Tennessee Republican Revolution. It won't take long for this Repub controlled state congress to fuck up enough to be handed back to the Dems.

[Fly by night]

13. ... if we can keep the Rethugs from repealing the TN Voter Confidence Act ...

... that Rep. Cue-ball Mumpower has already announced is one of their three legislative priorities.

[barbtries]

14. banishment?

that cracks me up. is it a political party or a religious cult