As it turned out, John Wilder did less blinking in the eyeball-to-eyball
confrontation with state Senate Republicans than they did. Having gained
reelection on Tuesday as Senate speaker (and, therefore, as Lt. Governor)
despite their one-vote majority in the chamber, Wilder deigned on Thursday not
to honor an on-again, off-again commitment to give the GOP majority status among
committee chairmen nor in the membership of two key committees.
At the end of the day Democrats still headed five of the body’s nine
committees– the same ones as before, in fact. Most importantly, Finance and
Commerce, the two blue-chip committees, remained in Democratic hands, chaired by
Doug Henry of Nashville and Jerry Cooper of Morrison, respectively. Finance and
Commerce also retained their previous Democratic majorities. The sole concession
made to the Senate Republicans by Wilder was to give them majority status on the
remaining seven committees.
Wilder had won reelection with the aid of two Republican votes– those of
Micheal Williams of Maynardville and Tim Burchett of Knoxville. Williams had,
late in the game, become a lateral substitution of sorts of Memphis senator
Curtis Person, a longtime Wilder loyalist who voted with the majority of his
partymates Tuesday to name Ron Ramsey of Bluntville to the speakership. Person
contended that Wilder had reneged on a pledge to appoint across-the-board GOP
majorities, and Wilder more or less confirmed that fact. Person retained his
chairmanship of Judiciary, all the same.
Two newly appointed Republican chairs are Mark Norris of Memphisw,
Transportation, and freshman senator Jamie Hagood of Knoxville, Education.
Hagood had been the subject of much pre-session speculation as a possible
reserve GOP vote for Wilder.
The complete list of Senate chairs announced Thursday by Wilder is as
follows.
á
Commerce – Chairman Jerry Cooper,
D-Morrison.
á
Environment and Conservation – Chairman David Fowler, R-Signal
Mountain.
á
Education – Chairman Jamie Hagood, R-Knoxville.
á
Finance – Chairman Douglas Henry,
D-Nashville.
á
General Welfare – Chairman John Ford,
D-Memphis.
á
Judiciary – Chairman Curtis Person,
R-Memphis.
á
Transportation – Chairman Mark Norris,
R-Collierville.
áá
Government
Operations – Chairman Thelma Harper, D-Nashville.
á
State and Local
Government – Chairman Steve Cohen, D-Memphis.
