The Political Life of Kent Williams

Some people do not know the story of Kent Williams.  They have not followed the whole story of the past 2 years or so.

Back in August 2006, Kent Williams challenged and defeated incumbent Republican State Rep. Jerome Cochran for the Tennessee Legislature seat for Carter County.

Early in the 2007 session, Kent Williams joined seven other GOP legislators in voting to retain Speaker Boss Hogg (aka Jimmy Naifeh) as the Speaker of the Tennessee House.

On April 2, 2007, Adam Groves of Tennessee Politics Blog broke news that Rep. Kent Williams was facing a possible ethics complaint…

Read More at the Arrowood Dispatch

http://www.joshuaarrowood.com/blog/archives/168

Speaker Pro-Tempore Causes Worry

The Republican Party took everyone by surprise by going against the stream in electing a majority to the State House this November.  Democrats were making big gains just about everywhere else, but our Republican Party took forward a conservative message that resonated with the citizens (except for the dead voters in Memphis) of Tennessee.  Now, it seems that the Republican Party is already losing its way. 

(Future Speaker of the House?) Jason Mumpower saw a chance at controlling the Tennessee House of Representatives.  He needed to make sure that the Republicans stuck together to give him (or another Republican) the 50 votes to remove the tyrannical Jimmy Naifeh from the House’s top spot.  I have no problem there when you have most of the self-serving “Naifeh Republicans” still hanging around.  Mumpower brought the Republican Caucus to Nashville where each and every Republican signed a statement saying they would vote for a Republican Speaker of the House.  Robin Smith, Tennessee Republican Party Chairman, has stated that the members of the Republican Caucus could face political excommunication from the Republican Party if they do not vote with the party on certain votes. 

Fast forward to earlier this week…  The Republican Caucus got together to choose the high ranking, though mostly ceremonial position of Speaker Pro-Tempore.  Two candidates went head to head.  On the one hand, you had former Sundquist crony, pro-income tax, “Naifeh Republican,” Steve McDaniel.  On the other hand, the party had a choice of the conservative Frank Nicely.  Sadly, at least half of the “Republicans” voted for…

Read More at The Arrowood Dispatch