 FAN 1-9-2007 |
TN Legend Wilder Falls From Power, Ramsey Marks a New Day in TN History: The Inside Story Here... In this issue: Let the speculation begin.
Well, that was the fearless prediction I made two weeks ago, and today Ron Ramsey became the first Speaker of the Senate in 35 years who does not bear the name "Wilder." Moreover, he became the first Republican Speaker since Reconstruction. It was a dramatic day on the Hill. For the last few weeks, the word was clear, Sen. Jerry Cooper (D-Smart Station) was not going to vote for Senator Wilder for Speaker. He has told his caucus Chairman, Joe Haynes (D-Goodlettseville), who subsequently unsuccessfully challenged Sen. Wilder for the Democratic nomination. Sen. Haynes had in recent days even publicly stated that Sen. Cooper had said he would not vote for Sen. Wilder. So onto the floor the Senators marched. One person who seemed to be in a position to know said the word was that Sen. Wilder had the votes. But Senator Ramsey kept smiling and winking at people he knew. Who was right? Well, what we did soon find out was that things maybe weren't as settled in the Wilder camp as some predicted. Uncertainty in the Democratic Camp? In an unprecedented move, once the Senate was called to order and convene, Sen. Haynes asked for a 15 minute recess for a Democratic Caucus meeting. It was tense. There were concerns that Sen. Wilder could not get 17 votes and if he didn't withdraw as the nominee, the Democrats would lose the Speaker's chair. Sen. Cooper told Sen. Wilder it was time for him to step aside, and he offered to vote for Sen. Wilder if he would promise to step aside at the end of his term in two years. Sen. Wilder said he had no plans to run again, but he'd said that prior to running the last time too. So, Cooper appeared to be in the I-will-not-vote-for Wilder column. But while is was not certain that Sen Wilder could get 17 votes without Sen. Cooper, it was not clear to those in the halls that any other Democrat could get 17 votes either. So back they went to the chamber to vote. As customary, Speaker Wilder stepped down from the Sepaker's chair for the vote, calling on his Speaker Pro Tem, Sen. Mike Williams (R-Maynardville) to preside. No doubt Governor Wilder thought he was turning the gavel over to the man whose vote would allow him to remain Speaker. The role call started and proceeded through the first few names without event. But when Senator Cooper's name was called for his choice, he called out, "Wilder," causing tremors among the Republican faithful who assumed that Sen .Cooper would be the crucial 17th vote, replacing the vote everyone presumed Speaker Ramsey would lose in his own Caucus, that of Sen. Mike Williams (R-Maynardsville). (Sen. Williams had been one of two key votes two years ago for Sen. Wilder that helped him retain his position as Speaker despite a Republican majority. And Sen. Williams had been non-committal even as of the time the Senate convened). So, did Wilder have the votes? With Sen. Cooper and Sen. Williams, Sen. Wilder had 17 votes. But there seemed to be no worry on Senator Ramsey's face. And his family, perched in the balcony in hopes they'd see history, seem unfazed. Maybe they knew something no one else knew. Or maybe they were in a state of shock. The biggest surprise since Sidney Poitier came to dinner! It appears that they knew something no one else knew...apparently something not even the Democratic caucus knew. Sen. Rosalind Kurita, the diminutive Democratic Senator from Clarksville, became larger than life in the lore of Tennessee politics, when she called out, "Ramsey." The head of Sen. Jim Kyle, the Democratic Leader who sits next to Sen. Kurita, jerked around as if to find who had said that and Sen. Kurita, looking at him, batted not an eye. Sen. Kurtia may be a lot of things in the minds of friend and foe, but intimated is not one of them. The gasps in the chamber were clearly audible! Unless a Republican other than Sen .Williams defected, Sen. Ron Ramsey had just won the election as Speaker. So, now it was just a question of the final vote. Would Sen. Williams remain faithful to the man who had name him Speaker Pro Tem? Voting next to last, Sen. Wilder being last, Sen. Williams knew the outcome and Speaker Ramsey was his man. With his vote, the crowd which must not have fully realized that with Sen. Kurita's vote the election was already over, erupted in applause. Here was a bit of dramatic irony - one of the Senators who had so angered and frustrated Republicans two years ago in voting for Sen. Wilder now had to gavel them down to order as a result of casting his own vote for Sen. Ramsey. Sen. Wilder's vote for himself was almost like an after thought, everyone's minds having already begun to think about the significance and meaning of what they had just observed. In the days ahead, Speaker Ramsey will have to decide who to name chairmen of the committees and try to put people on the committees they want to serve on (it was Sen. Wilder's practice to try to appoint Senators to at least one of their top two committee preferences) while at the same time trying to make sure that the "philosophical" and "political" composition of committees will be supportive a Republican agenda, whatever that proves to be as bills begin to be filed. By next week, he may feel like the dog who caught the car – "Why did I want to do this? Remind me somebody?" Sen. Kurita's vote left many wondering "why?" A good question and only she really knows. Some believe it was "payback" for the way the Democratic leadership in the state had treated her in her bid to run for Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate race where Harold Ford was the apparent "chosen one." Others say it was "payback" to Democratic Senate Leadership and Sen. Wilder for the way they had "treated" her on some bills important to her. She has long championed an increase in the tobacco tax and wanted to change the constitution to make the appointed Constitutional offices of Comptroller, Treasurer, and Attorney General public elections, offices Democrats controlled because of their control of the General Assembly. She was publicly chided by Democrats who thought she championed the later issues merely for the publicity. As I said, who really knows. But, there were some Democrats who knew she was "not happy" at times about "things." Coupled with her reputation for resoluteness, tenacity, and fearlessness, some Democrats apparently privately worried about whether she was "in the fold." Apparently those fears were well founded, but not confirmed. The other question is what will Sen. Wilder do? Sen. Wilder has always told Senators that when he is no longer Speaker, he would resign. When they voted for another Speaker, he would take the vote as a sign that it was "time for him to go home. He didn't want to outstay his welcome." The talk in the halls as the day wore on was, "When (not if) would Sen. Wilder resign." But, even as Sen. Wilder said he didn't think he'd run again three years ago, the Tennessean was reporting by the end of the day that Sen. Wilder intended to serve out his term. To what Committee do you assign an 85 year old Senator who for 35 years has never served on a Committee? Senator Ramsey, how does the bumper of that car feel? There is no doubt that Sen. John Wilder has done this state much good during his time of service and he has left his mark. There will never be another John Wilder. I had the privilege to serve with Sen. Wilder for 12 years. I recall that in my first year, he had a bill involving our state psychiatric hospitals that I really agreed with but which was contrary to the federal court order we were under. I was the lone Senator on the Committee to vote against his bill. What was then-Speaker Wilder's reaction? Not what you'd expect in politics today. Not what would have happened in Washington. He told me I'd done the right thing because I had voted my conscience. John Wilder was known for pulling Senators into his dimly lit office and by his rambling soliloquies that Senators understood, he made known his thoughts on the matter. You knew what he hoped you'd do. But like the famous picture on his wall of the Man who gave counsel to the lawyer and whose teaching he sought to follow, Sen wilder "stood at the door of your ‘conscience' and knocked." We will all do well if conscience remains the guiding principle in the Senate, even if the Speaker who guides goes by a different name.
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