Naifeh and the GOP
Bill Hobbs notes that:
I used to want Naifeh defeated. Now I want him re-elected – but I want the GOP to win a clear majority in the state House so I can be there and cheer when the movers come to haul Naifeh’s stuff out of his large, plush, multi-roomed Legislative Plaza office suite and cart it off to a tiny room deep inside the War Memorial Building where the majority party sticks the least powerful minority-party members.
That would be a fine, fine day.
That would be a fine day, indeed, but the GOP would have to win a super-majority for that to happen. As I wrote on January 12,
In the House, the other half of the West Tennessee Mafia, Jimmy Naifeh, won re-election as Speaker of the House, defeating House Minority Leader Tre Hargett 60-37. This means, of course, that the House has its own Turncoat Caucus after nine “Republicans” voted for Naifeh. (Two Democrats were on excused absences.)
The House Turncoat Caucus consists of Michael Harrison (Treadway), Russell Johnson (Loudon), Joe McCord (Maryville), Steve McDaniel (Parkers Crossroads), Bob McKee (Athens), Richard Montgomery (Seymour), Chris Newton (Benton), Doug Overbey (Maryville), and Dennis Roach (Rutledge).
Thus, although the GOP gained one House seat after the November elections to cut the Democrats’ majority to 53-46 on paper, Democrats maintain a de facto 62-37 majority given that there are nine Democrats in the House disguised as Republicans.
In other words, the GOP would have to pick up about 13 seats to have a reasonable chance of unseating Jimmy Naifeh as Speaker of the House. Remember that Republicans are the majority party in the Senate, but thanks to two turncoat Republicans (Tim Burchett and Mike Williams), John Wilder, a Democrat, remains Speaker of the Senate.
I know. It’s infuriating.
