Speaker Williams Intends To Be Around Awhile
Posted on March 29, 2009 at 1:42 pmThe Speaker of the House talks about the legislature and his reelection plans at a Carter County legislative breakfast:
Williams, who afterward was stripped of his party affiliation by Tennessee Republican Party Chairwoman Robin Smith, did not mention Mumpower, whose seat at the front table remained vacant.
“I know I’m going to have some challenges,” Williams said. “I’ve had a couple of problems with my own party, but we’re getting those ironed out. We just have a small minority, I think, here in Carter County that would rather see someone out of Nashville tell us what to do in Carter County than to have our own down there. But like I said, that’s a small minority, and I think in 2010 in November we’ll show what a small minority that is.”
Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey of Blountville, who supported Mumpower, told the crowd he is working well with Williams.
“The speaker of the House and the speaker of the Senate have to work together — period,” Ramsey said after getting a partial standing ovation.
SEE ALSO:
Commentary on the Mumpower noshow
Better For Whom?
Posted on February 5, 2009 at 12:50 pmLt. Governor Ron Ramsey tells Speaker Kent Williams that it would be better for him if he left the Republican Party rather than get kicked out:
“I sat down and talked with Kent Williams about this in my office, and to be honest, I think it’d be better for him if he was independent,” Ramsey said. “I think it would be better if he made that choice instead of being kicked out of the party. I think the whole atmosphere, the whole situation would work better if he was an independent.”
Better for him, Governor Ramsey, or better for you?
As I’ve said before, Kent Williams doesn’t want to be a Republican when the elections of 2010 rolls around. He can’t win a Republican in this climate. This much we know. On this point, Ramsey is correct.
The Republican Party will use all it’s powers and all of it’s skills to defeat Kent Williams in 2010. It won’t be like Kurita or Mike Williams last time. Kurita’s vote for Ramsey, while despised by activists, was understood by certain factions of the party and the casual Democratic leaning voter. Williams’ 2005 vote for Speaker Wilder was ameliorated by the fact that it was some time past by the time 2008 rolled around and he did, in fact, vote for Ramsey in 2007.
Kent Williams will be different. The conservatives hated him before.
They had already tried to defeat him. This time, they will have the party infrastructure behind them as well.
Williams’ only chance to maintain his seat in the legislature is as an independent. True, there aren’t many Democrats up in Carter County, but he’ll need every one to win. He’ll also need the casual voter, the voter that leans Republican, but is not necessarily an activist or a primary voter.
The last thing Kent Williams wants to do is make the Kurita mistake, stay in a party where they activists and the establishment are against you. So Ramsey is right, Williams does need to be an independent for his own good but which is better for him, being kicked out or leaving?
Again, Williams is from Carter County in East Tennessee. Republicanism is in the soil there, in the water. But so is independence. Kent Williams can sell himself in East Tennessee as the Independent Republican who did what he thought was right but got kicked out by an angry, ideological party hijacked by the religious right.
You can market that image to East Tennesseans. Not the activists, but your average voter will buy that. If he is painted the betrayer, the sellout who got elected as a Republican only to then vote with the Democrats, become speaker and then leave the party, that is an image he cannot sell.
Yes, Williams needs to an independent. It is in his interest. What is also important, however, is how he gets there and for a Carter Countian to leave the Republican Party under these circumstances is not a place Kent Williams wants to be if he can avoid it.
He wants to get kicked out. He needs to get kicked out. And on February 9th, the party will likely oblige him.
You Only Get One Shot?
Posted on January 13, 2009 at 8:40 pmNow, like or not, if trends continue the way they have been electorally in this state, in 2010 we will likely be looking at an increased Republican majority in the state House.
The question is: Will Jason Mumpower be the next Republican speaker or does his failure to solidify Williams mean that Jason Mumpower will likely not be the Republican nominee next time around?
Williams will be blamed for being a traitor, sure. But will Mumpower also be blamed for failing to see this potential break and take steps to block it?
Discuss.
Putting Pen To Paper On Odom’s Designs
Posted on April 18, 2008 at 2:38 pmAlthough you hear rumblings of such things from time to time, this is the first time I’ve seen anyone write it down. From the Tennessee Journal:
It has long been speculated that if the Democrats maintain control of the House in November, [Rep. Gary] Odom will challenge Naifeh for the speaker’s position. But distribution of the newspaper article, which Odom jokingly described as Frist’s “first mail piece,” likely had nothing directly to do with any such aspirations.
Whether he has designs on the speaker’s job or not, Odom clearly wants to play a lead role in defending his party’s majority. He will be somewhat less free to get out to other districts than he had hoped because he faces a challenge of his own. Republican Timothy Lee, a paramedic paramedic, stands little chance against Odom but will force him to campaign some in his own district.
Naifeh too has an opponent, Covington Republican Rory Bricco, but is expected to win reelection handily.
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