Details of the corrupt bargain in Tennessee emerge
We now probably know most of the terms of the deal (aka, the corrupt bargain) that Kent Williams cut in order to make himself the Speaker of the House.
The Democrats must have been desperate. They couldn’t get a Republican to break ranks and vote for Naifeh. They faced the prospect of having the tables turned on them completely. If the Republicans treated the Democrats exactly the way the Democrats had treated the Republicans for the past 140 years, then the Democrats would lose their hold on power. No matter what the election result last November, we couldn’t have that!
The Democrats dilemma – How to salvage half-a-loaf from the loss of control of the house?
Answer: Find a Republican Rep. so anxious to be speaker that he would give the Democrats half of their power back.
Rep. Odom brokered the deal, which it now appears went something like this: “We’ll make you speaker, if you will promise to let the Democrats keep the chairmanship of half of the committees AND if you will promise to let the Democrats keep half the seats on every committee.”
The alternative, of course, was for the Republicans, as the majority party to have a majority on the House Committees. Horrors! Couldn’t have that, could we.
And so, the corrupt bargain was agreed to on both sides.
The Democrats agreed to make Rep. Kent Williams the new Speaker of the House.
Kent Williams agreed to give the Democrats half the seats on all the committees and the chariman’s slot on half the committees.
Yep, that’s certainly what the voters of Tennessee indicated that they wanted last November.
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