The Republican takeover of the State Senate got one step closer today with the announcement that Senator Curtis Person would not seek re-election to the District 31 seat that he has held since November 1968.
Person, who served two years in the House as a Democrat prior to switching parties and running for the Senate, is a close ally of Lt. Governor John Wilder, something that has gotten him in trouble with his GOP brethren in the past. He was reportedly threatened with primary opposition if he hadn't voted for Sen. Ron Ramsey (R-Blountville) for Speaker prior to the 2005 session.
He voted for Ramsey, but not before making sure there were at least two GOP votes for Wilder in the form of Senator Mike Williams of Maynardville and Senator Randy McNally of Oak Ridge.
Person, who may run for Juvenile Court judge if his friend Kenneth Turner decides to step down, will no longer be there to help his friend Wilder. And it is a given that NONE of the candidates listed in the CA story linked in the title will vote for Wilder, who the Republicans have been trying to remove for years.
As for Williams and McNally, they may well receive the same pressure that Person got last winter; only this time, there's no room for error and Wilder might well be toppled. Should that occur, don't be surprised if Wilder were to abruptly resign his seat; after 36 years as Lt. Governor, the longest unbroken term in the country, he may well pack it in and go home to Mason. If Wilder leaves, the seat would almost certainly go GOP and that, my friends, would be that.
This would almost certainly cause Shelby County to take yet another hit in power, as Steve Cohen (if he's not in Congress by then) would lose his chairmanship of State and Local Government. That on top of the loss of John Ford would be a punch in the gut for the County.
Do you see NOW why there is a brawl over the seating of Ophelia Ford? This is about far more than Ford, it's about preserving what little power the state's largest county has left in Nashville. Given that the rest of the state has never forgiven us for the Crump years, Shelby County may soon get the Ned Beatty treatment from a GOP-led Senate.
3 comments:
Haywood and Crockett are Democratic, but look at what else he's got:
Fayette (R), Hardeman (?), McNairy (R) chester (R), Hardin (R) and Wayne(R).
That's why I'm worried......
Sarge,
The Jackson Sun hints at this in this story:
http://www.jacksonsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060203/NEWS01/602030312/1002
On a prior subject in your post, Kenneth Turner is not running for reelection...take it to the bank.
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