The Persecution
Poor persecuted Tennessee House Speaker Kent Williams:
Realistically, it is neither politically advantageous or a political disadvantage on a Statewide scale for Kent Williams to tout the whole "Carter County Republican" line. The reaction of the voter on the street is "Republican, not a Republican, who gives a flying flip." The issue does matter to two subgroups of people-those who have invested money, time, or energy in the cause of a Republican majority-one which would allow the Republican Caucus to choose its own nominee for Speaker-and those Republican legislators who might be predisposed either to vote for Williams for Speaker or are diametrically opposed to him.
The only place where the Speaker can gain anything by his responses to actions about which he supposedly sees as a distraction is in the political universe that is Carter County, the only place on earth where anyone actually buys the "poor persecuted Kent" routine. No one who has seen the way things are working in the House of Representatives-whether they favor or oppose calling Kent Williams a Republican-can rightfully say that Williams gets the icy treatment from his colleagues (who let him back into the House Republican Caucus of their own accord) and that this somehow makes the House ungovernable, or that Williams' saga with the SEC impacts anyone other than him, the Executive Committee, and the Chairman. The only way that it would impact anyone else is if Kent Williams believes what others, including me, do not-that he could have a Republican opponent in Carter County in November and be beaten.
Labels: Democrats, Elections, Republican Party, Tennessee politics
posted by Deacon David Oatney @ 2:02 PM
2 Comments:
Anyone who is solely focused on this being about beating Kent in Carter County is missing the big picture.
This is about preventing Kent from being Speaker again.
If Kent is reelected as an Independent, then he cannot be the “Republican nominee for Speaker”.
So, even if he is nominated for Speaker on the House floor, his Republican buddies can’t vote for him…or, they will also be kicked out of the Party according to the by lawys which say you must vote for the “Republican nominee”.
This is a big shot acroos the bow of other potentially wayward House Republicans. This shows them that principles matter to the state Party and that they cannot stray too far.
Next time, if Republicans hold the majority in the House, Republicans are likely to pick their own Speaker.
that want stop Kent's new boy toy Frank Nicely from voting for him.
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