What happened yesterday on the way to a historic day as Republicans stood at the precipice of electing their nominee as Speaker of the House of Representative is something you can’t make up. It had more twists and turns than a good John Grisham novel. For Republicans it was more like a Stephen King novel. It was to be history, Republican majorities in both Houses, both electing their respective nominee as Speaker. Well, history got re-written before it was written. Republican activists and leadership alike will take no delight in rehashing the rest of this story.

Actually, because of what happened yesterday, the “rest of the story” is really still to be written. More about that later, but here is what happened yesterday.

The story starts back on Nov. 11, 2008. That day, as a “visual sign of [their] commitment,” all members of the newly elected Republican House majority signed a publicly released statement in which they committed to “vote for a Republican for Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives” and “vote for a Republican Speaker Pro Tempore.” With that as a backdrop, after all members were sworn into office, strange things began to happen.

First, Democratic Leader, Rep. Gary Odom (Nashville), moved to recess until 1 p.m., effectively delaying the nominations and vote for the Speaker. Almost in one motion, Speaker Naifeh struck the gavel, and said, “We’re adjourned until 1 p.m,” and started walking away from the podium. Immediately, Republicans began shouting “objection,” and Speaker Naifeh stepped back to the microphone and recognized Majority Leader, Rep. Mumpower (R-Bristol) who formally objected to the motion.

You must understand, who is Speaker makes all the difference in the world. The Speaker names all committee chairs and committee members, essentially establishing the legislative philosophy that will control all legislation.

In response to the objection, Minority Leader Odom said, “When we have important events like today, the swearing in of new members, it has never been unusual for us to take a brief recess” for new members to have pictures taken with family and guests (emphasis added). But, not one Republican I spoke with nor one of the retired, long-term veterans I called remembered ever having a recess between members being sworn in and voting for Speaker. So, Rep. Jason Mumpower made a motion to table the motion to recess. That set off more sparks with Minority Leader Odom.

No doubt Republicans were leery of a recess. No doubt Republicans on the floor were asking the same thing Republicans in the balcony were asking, , “What Republican’s arm was going to get twisted to vote for a Democrat? What subterfuge was afoot?” Strange things can happen. And the strange did happen.

Perhaps the motion to recess was a “test vote” for Democrats to see if Republicans would all hold together. Perhaps it was a move by Democrats to make a last attempt to peel off a Republican vote. Speculation ran rampant in the jam-packed Chamber balcony. As it turned out, the latter was the case, but not in the way you’d think.

The Democrats did not, in fact, have the votes to elect a Democrat, but discussions had been underway among Democrats about voting for Republican Kent Williams (R-Butler). Apparently going on to the floor, though, Democrats were not yet all in agreement about voting for Rep. Williams. They needed time and, thus the motion to recess.

Shockingly, Majority Leader Mumpower’s motion to table failed with one Republican voting with the Democrats not to table. But the Republican was not Rep. Kent Williams. It was a new Republican legislator who, seated among Democrats, mistakenly voted against the motion to table. The tabling motion having failed, there was nothing left to do but take a recess. Interestingly, now only 30 minutes was needed for the “brief” recess, not three hours.

Apparently during the recess, the stars aligned for Rep. Williams. Republicans caucused during the recess. Apparently as his party caucused, I am told that Rep. Williams sat there, saying nothing about the Democratic efforts taking place in another part of the building to get the votes for him to be Speaker. However, at some point before going back into Session, at least some Republican leaders were told that the Democrats were going to vote as a block for Rep. Williams. That explains why, before session was called back to order, Republican leadership huddled around the desk of Rep. Kent Williams. Presumably they were trying to convince him to hang in there and not turn on his Republican colleagues who had signed the pledge.

When session resumed, as expected, Republican Jason Mumpower, who the Republican caucus unanimously voted to be its nominee for Speaker, was nominated. Then another strange thing (notice the pattern?). In a surprise (big understatement) move, Rep. Glen Casada (R-College Grove) moved to close the nominations, effectively moving to cut off any attempt by Democrats to nominate a candidate for Speaker. That set off more sparks.

No one had ever heard of nominations being cut off. And many Republican faithful in the Chamber balcony were wondering what was going on, saying, “Why would the Republicans cut off the Democrats and make an already rancorous situation worse, but cutting Democrats off from even nominating someone?” Some surmised that there must be trouble and the Republican leadership was trying to keep a Republican for voting for a Democrat.

Well, as it turned out, they were not just trying to “stick it in the eye” of Democrats. They were trying to cut off the possibility of Rep. Williams being nominated. Perhaps they hoped Rep. Williams would feel compelled to vote for the motion with his Republican colleagues, knowing that if he ever got a chance to vote for himself as Speaker, he’d do it. Perhaps they knew he’d vote for himself, and they just wanted to have him on record for two votes against the Republican majority when the 2010 election comes around.

In any event, the motion to cut off the nominations was withdrawn and, to the surprise of everyone in Chamber balcony, none of whom had any idea what had been transpiring, Minority Leader Gary Odom nominated Rep. Williams. You had to be there, you could feel the shock among those looking on. Rep. Williams just sat there, not moving, not saying a word.

The roll call for the Speaker elections commenced. All Democrats voted for Rep. Williams. So, it was clear that Rep. Williams whose name was, alphabetically, the last one to be called would be Speaker if he just voted for himself. And when Williams’ name was called, he voted for himself and a chorus of boo’s cascaded down from the balcony.

Presiding Speaker Naifeh then immediately called Rep. Williams to the front to be sworn in as Speaker. Again he was roundly booed. Interestingly, Speaker Williams pulled a prepared speech out of his coat pocket. While his election might not have been sure when the session started, he knew the effort among Democrats to elect him was underfoot and he was prepared for the possibility. His silence on the matter leading up to and through the caucus meeting during the recess was a bitter pill for Republicans to swallow.

Speaker Williams began by saying the “reign of a great Speaker” had just ended, setting on edge the teeth of every Republican in the balcony, none of whom used that word to describe now Rep. Naifeh. Then, by implication, he alluded to all the reasons Republicans did not see Naifeh as “great,” namely, that legislation that the whole body wanted to vote on had been kept from the floor (presumably a veiled reference to Senate Joint Resolution 127 dealing with abortion rights in the state constitution), and that some talented people (his Republican colleagues) had been effectively shut out of the process, denying their constituents any real representation.

Those backhanded aspersion cast on now former Speaker Naifeh are all true which, no doubt, made the knowledge that Democrats had effectively elected the Speaker even more infuriating to Republicans. Trust me, Rep. Williams only had 49 friends on that floor, the Democrats who had elected him. And I’m sure, if truth be told, even some of them didn’t really like him. Some perhaps had to bite their tongue as they called out his name for Speaker, but at least he was their nominee, not the Republican’s. What’s the old saying, “He may be a son of a gun, but he’s our son of a gun.”

Then, to add insult to the injury just inflicted on his Republican colleagues, Speaker Williams first act as Speaker was to ask Rep. Naifeh to continue to preside, with him, over the balance of the agenda. Perhaps he did so to demonstrate his “bi-partisanship” to the Democrats who had just elected him or perhaps it was because, having only been there for one two-year term, he wasn’t quite sure how to preside, an activity he will now have to do every day.

Next was the election of a Speaker Pro Tem. The Republicans, in a state of shock and no doubt unsure what to do in the face of Speaker Williams’ betrayal of their caucus, asked for a recess. Rep. McDaniel, who the caucus had previously unanimously chosen to be their Speaker Pro Tem, was not interested in serving as Speaker Williams’ “substitute” Speaker. Rep. Beth Harwell agreed to be nominated, and Republicans trudged back into the chamber, probably assuming that Speaker Williams had agreed to vote for Rep. Deberry.

Whether it was a part of any “deal” Democrats made with Speaker Williams, I don’t know, but when his name was finally called, Speaker Williams “broke the back” of the proverbial Republican camel, voting for the strongly partisan and pro-choice Deberry. Technically, Speaker Williams did not break his public commitment to “vote for a Republican Speaker” since he voted for himself – though many Republicans no longer consider him one. In fact, word is the Republican state executive committee, or at least some members of it, have already been on the phone to discuss making his non-Republican perception a reality per the rights they hold, under their by-laws, as to who can “represent” the Republican party. And as the dejected and angry Republican faithful left the balcony at the end of the day, many said to each other, “See you again in 2010 in Rep. Williams district” … and it was not to campaign for him. Stay tuned on those developments..

Be that as it may, what soured folks even more was that in voting for Rep. Deberry, Speaker Williams had broken his “commitment” to vote for a Republican for Speaker Pro Tem. Breaking your word with your first vote as Speaker is not a good beginning, and it will no doubt put much doubt in the minds of Republican colleagues as to whether his word should be trusted going forward. Time will tell.

I’ve droned on long enough. But the day ended with a few parting words, on the record, between Rep. Brian Kelsey (R-Germantown) and the new Speaker. We hope to have a clip of that exchange on our website by Thursday.

In case you are wondering, the election of Speaker Williams, as Speaker, is final. What is not final are the appointments to the various committees and the naming of the committee chairs. He has now said, publicly, that he will split the chairmanships between Republicans and Democrats, a Wilderesque move (not that the other 49 loyal Republicans were interested in “sharing” after being shut out for so long). Speaker Williams said he’d be bipartisan. He’s said he’d make sure SJR 127 gets to the floor. He also said he’d “vote for a Republican Speaker Pro Tempore.”

Lastly, there is the question of the Constitutional Officers who may be voted on today (Wednesday). These are important positions. Will Speaker Williams vote for Republican Constitutional Officers as a show of goodwill to his now estranged party with the hope he can smooth ruffled (understatement) feathers? Will he continue to align himself with the Democrats who gave him power? Time will tell.