December 18, 2006

A Coalition to Oust Wilder?

A.C. Kleinheider has a round-up of information and links about the rumor that state Sen. Joe Haynes, D-Goodlettsville, is quietly trying to mount a challenge to Lt. Gov. John Wilder's continued hold on the position of Speaker of the Senate, which puts Wilder a heartbeat from the governor's office. Republicans hold a 17-16 numerical advantage in the state Senate, but one of the 17 Republicans, Michael Williams, is likely to vote for Wilder for Speaker again.

Can Haynes pull it off? I don't know.

But rumors are rampant that some Democrats in the state Senate aren't comfortable with giving the aging and increasingly frail and loopy Wilder another two years as leader. My suggestion: They should look to Alabama, where a group of Democrats in the Alabama state Senate decided to form a coalition with Republicans to oust their leader and replace him with another Democrat. You can read that news story here.

I'd prefer Sen. Williams just voted for Ramsey, and Republicans took control of the state Senate just as the voters of Tennessee intended for them to do. It doesn't look like that's going to happen. But just because Williams votes for Wilder doesn't mean Wilder has to win.

The choice doesn't have to be Wilder or Republican Sen. Ron Ramsey. If Williams indeed plans to vote for Wilder, then Democrats uneasy with Wilder could - and should - offer to form a coalition with Republicans to get 17 votes for a different Democrat, or a different Republican, to be speaker. Whichever party contributes more votes to the coalition would get the majority (by one) of the committee chairmanships, including the chairmanships of the Finance and Judiciary committees. Put the deal on the table that way and I suspect you would see a rush of senators from both parties to join the coalition. In the end you might have 16 Republicans and 15 Democrats voting for Someone Other Than Wilder, and two senators - Williams and Wilder - picking Wilder.

Wilder would have been ousted years ago by Democrats but he kept power by forming a coalition with Republicans. It would only be right for a coalition of Republicans and Democrats to, finally, put him out to pasture.

Are there at least 17 votes in the anti-Wilder caucus - 17 senators willing to come together to do what's right for Tennessee? For the good of Tennessee, one would hope so. If Williams won't vote for Ramsey and Ramsey can't find one Democrat to back him, then a power-sharing coalition that ousts Wilder is the next best option, for Republicans and for the state of Tennessee.