Beth Harwell is New TN Speaker of the House

Well, not officially, but it is a done deal. On Twitter, Chas Sisk says that the Republican caucus will not release the breakdown of the votes. My question is, "why not?" Do they fear the Tea Party and the gun rights advocates? Are they concerned that if word got out of who voted for her, Tea Partiers and gun rights advocates would target them in primaries?

Well, thanks Republicans for showing no transparency at all. This is an important vote and you are hiding the ball. WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO HIDE? I want to know if my representative represented my interests. So, man up, Scotty Campbell. Tell us how you voted. Or are you stuck under a oath of secrecy? My guess is, considering Mr. Campbell's relationship with the disgraced former Republican Kent Williams, that he supported Harwell. That will be my assumption unless he tells us otherwise.

Here's a message to you if you get too far off track: We are watching you. We have the Internet. We will not forget. The chickens will come home to roost. If you get too far off the reservation, we will work our butts off to see you out of office in a couple of years. We don't care about your party.

Kent Williams to Support Beth Harwell for Speaker

Well, it's official that Kent Williams won't be running for speaker of the Tennessee House. He says he is going to support Beth Harwell. Ah, Kent won't run because he knows he'll get spanked, so I naturally must inquire about his reasons for supporting Beth Harwell.

It seems the two have quite the history. She moved to get the ethics complaint against him dismissed (an ethics complaint which, according to the blog post, was "for telling Rep. Susan Lynn that he’d give a week’s pay to see her naked"). She opposed Williams' removal from the Republican party, to no avail. But more offensive to me, she voted against overriding the governor's veto of the law that allows concealed handgun permit holders to carry their guns in restaurants that serve alcohol. On top of that, she has "supported" Democrats in recent election. That is no way to advance a conservative agenda.

Sounds to me like Beth Harwell is a bad idea for Speaker of the House. The support from Kent Williams is enough to make me doubt her, but when you look at the rest of the story, it is certainly troubling. You know full well that Kent Williams' support is all about Kent Williams. My guess is that he is thinking that if he supports her, she will bless him with a nice committee assignment. It wouldn't surprise me if he already had a "back room" deal with her. After all, his election to Speaker came as a result of a "back room" deal with Democrats. Without someone like Harwell to scratch his back, he will be powerless and ineffectual in Nashville, as he should be.