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Tennessee House speaker wants return to GOP before next legislative session

Published November 7th, 2009 | 0 Comments

KNOXVILLE — House Speaker Kent Williams wants to be reinstated into the Republican Party before the next legislative session begins in January.

Several Republican colleagues have been working on his behalf to urge for a quick decision, Williams told The Associated Press at a fund-raiser for his new political action committee Friday night.

“I just want to know where I stand,” the Elizabethton restaurateur said.

Williams was stripped of his Republican credentials earlier this year following his upset election as House speaker in which he banded together with all 49 of the chamber’s Democrats to beat the Republican nominee by a single vote.

His ouster was spearheaded by Robin Smith, the state party’s former chairwoman who later left the position to run for Congress. Smith’s successor, Chris Devaney, has not ruled out an eventual Williams return, but said he has heard of no plans to reinstate him.

“His actions were never appreciated, and there have to be consequences to those,” Devaney said. “But this kind of event is a positive thing, it’s encouraging to see he wants to help Republican candidates.”

Williams’ fund-raiser was attended by U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, Knoxville mayor and gubernatorial candidate Bill Haslam and several Republican lawmakers.

Alexander, a former two-term governor, said he supported Williams’ efforts to raise money for Republican candidates but said he would leave it to GOP lawmakers and the state executive committee to determine the speaker’s future status.

“My suggestion was they all might remember the parable of the prodigal son, which had a happy ending because the son came home and he was embraced,” Alexander told reporters after a brief speech. “I think that’s about as far as I’ll go.”

Haslam said he’ll also defer to party officials, but added “I’d like to see it worked out” for Williams to return. The state executive committee next meets on Dec. 5.

Following his election, Williams divided House committees evenly between the narrowly divided parties and shepherded through gun rights and anti-abortion measures that had long been pent up by his Democratic predecessor.

Rep. Frank Nicely said he was among those upset by Williams’ election, but noted “it’s not unusual for a man to make power plays in politics.”

The Strawberry Plains Republican called Williams’ ouster premature.

“That was a knee-jerk reaction, and I think a lot of them regret it now,” he said. “And I think if they had a secret ballot, he’d be back in.”

Not all those in attendance supported an immediate reinstatement for Williams. Rep. Gerald McCormick, who had some high profile blowups with Williams during the session, said Williams shouldn’t be allowed back into the party until after standing for re-election next year as an independent.

“I don’t think we’re making a concerted effort to defeat him,” said McCormick, R-Chattanooga. “But I don’t think he’ll be the nominee (for speaker). If he is, we’ll support him.”

Williams said he should have a good chance of being re-elected to another two-year term as speaker in January 2011.

“I hope I’m judged on my performance,” he said. “If you do a good job I think you should be rehired.”

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