Drama in Tennessee follows national trend

As many of you know, Democrats -- suffering a one-seat deficit in the state Senate after November's elections -- engineered a coup of sorts.

Tuesday started out joyful for Tennessee Republicans.

As the 106th General Assembly convenes at noon today, there will be the customary backslaps and handshakes, as well as the stories and pranks, that accompany the giddy start of every legislative session.

But one thing will be different this year: Republicans will be in charge of both chambers, a historic shift that will bring many changes to the legislature, particularly in the House, where everything from committee chairmanships to lawmakers' offices is likely to turn over.

But then, the state was rocked to its core.

Republicans finally got a Speaker of the House, but not the one they wanted on Tuesday afternoon. Republican Kent Williams of Carter County voted for himself and got the support of all 49 Democrats to hold off Rep. Mumpower, who was the expected choice.

Republicans booed as the votes were tallied and they realized that Democrats, under former longtime House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, had engineered the surprise maneuver.

All 50 Republicans, including Rep. Williams, had signed a pledge agreeing to vote for a Republican for House Speaker.

As shocking as these developments were, they're not the first time Republican wingnuttery has led to loss of chambers hard-right Republicans should've otherwise controlled.

Texas, 2009

AUSTIN – With a promise to end partisan clashes, newcomer and moderate Republican Joe Straus of San Antonio is poised to become the new Texas House speaker after toppling 40-year veteran Tom Craddick of Midland.

In a meteoric rise, the two-term lawmaker won overwhelming support from 72 Democrats and 16 Republicans who said they were seeking a less combative atmosphere in the Capitol. Straus released a list Sunday night of 88 lawmakers – out of the 150 House members – who have pledged to vote for him when the Legislature convenes Jan. 13.

Montana, 2008

In the Montana Legislature, the balance of power is so exquisitely delicate that a single person can change it, and on Friday, a veteran state senator who was re-elected last week as a Republican did just that.

The senator, Sam Kitzenberg, a former high school teacher, filed papers with the secretary of state to become a Democrat, thus swinging what had been an evenly divided chamber, with 25 seats for each party, into Democratic control.

“I’m 59 and I’ve been a Republican since I was in high school, and 12 years in the Legislature,” Mr. Kitzenberg said in a telephone interview.

He described himself as a moderate who had felt increasingly out of step in recent years with his party’s more conservative bent.

“It’s kind of like a family, it’s kind of hard to leave,” Mr. Kitzenberg said. “But I didn’t leave them — they left me.”

Alaska, 2006

An unusual Senate coalition formed to control that body of the state Legislature is moving ahead, with committee chairmanships announced Tuesday. But Republicans outside the group say they are skeptical about the operation on a number of levels.

The majority organization is a mix of five Republicans and all nine Senate Democrats. If it holds, it will go to work when the new Legislature convenes in January.

Wasilla Republican Lyda Green has been tapped for the powerful role of Senate president. Overall, the 12 leadership posts are split evenly, with six Democrats named to chair committees.

Despite predictions the coalition wouldn't hold, it did.

While the motivations were different in each state, and national extrapolations are worth little, the bottom line is that we have four legislatures that should've been Republican or deadlocked today, that instead are in either Democratic hands or in power-sharing status because Republicans are incapable of wielding power without becoming insufferable assholes. And the more radicalized and out-of-step they become with their constituents, the more saner Republicans emerge willing to buck their party for their state's common good.

Back in Tennessee:

Republican Party officials moved swiftly to strip Williams of his GOP membership. Eighteen members of the party's executive committee challenged his status as a bona fide member within hours of his election.

Speaking to reporters this morning, Williams said, "In my heart, I'll always be a Republican." But he reiterated that he would leave the GOP without a fight if the party says he's no longer a member.

If I was a Republican, I wouldn't want him around. This is worse than anything even Lieberman ever did to Democrats. But Williams should make his clean break, and become an independent or Democrat. He's cast his lot with the good guys, might as well fully embrace it.