Posted on 01/29/2007 7:34:32 AM PST by SmithL
NASHVILLE - State Senate Republicans have decided against disrupting most Democrats' office assignments for the 2007 legislative session, but they are taking a disproportionate number of committee seats.
Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey acknowledges that to assure Republican control of all Senate committees, most Republicans will serve on three committees. Most Democrats will serve on only two.
"That's just the way the math is," said Ramsey last week.
The Senate has nine major committees. Most have nine members, though the Finance Committee and Government Operations Committee have 11 each.
Republicans have a 17-16 majority in the Senate. As Senate speaker, Ramsey does not serve as a regular member of any committee - though he has a right under Senate rules to appear at any committee meeting and cast a vote on any bill.
For committee assignment purposes, then, there is effectively a 16-16 balance with Republican Ramsey off to the side.
In that situation, Ramsey said that he had to give Republicans more committee assignments per member to assure GOP control of all panels.
"Control is not just fair. It's a given," Ramsey said. "We won, remember?"
Senate Democratic Leader Jim Kyle noted that Sen. Rosalind Kurita, D-Clarksville, who crossed party lines to vote for Ramsey as lieutenant governor, is one of the three Democrats who did get three committee assignments each. Ramsey also named Kurita as Senate speaker pro tempore, the No. 2 position in the official Senate hierarchy.
"With Senator Ramsey saying he wanted to bring in a bipartisan era, that's interesting. It is not bipartisan," said Kyle. "In the math? If you want to maximize your political importance, that's true. That wasn't the case in the Wilder era, but now that's gone."
Last session, former Lt. Gov. John Wilder, a Democrat, gave Republicans numerical control of all committees except the Finance Committee, considered the most powerful. They had the same 17-16 majority at the time.
Democrats will hold two committee chairmanships under Ramsey compared to five under Wilder.
The only Republican with just two committee assignments is Sen. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, who is chairman of the powerful Finance Committee.
Though they are losing committee clout, most Democrats will be keeping their office spaces in the Legislative Plaza during the 2007 session with Republicans remaining in the adjoining War Memorial Building.
The most notable exception is Ramsey, who has taken over Wilder's former Plaza suite and ordered some modest remodeling.
Perhaps predictably, Democrats and Republicans offer different interpretations of the decision against evicting Democrats - at least for now.
"They're very used to being able to work in the shadows, and I think they wanted to stay in the shadows," said Kyle.
Most legislative activity is conducted in the Plaza, including all committee meetings, and that is where media attention is focused, Kyle said. Some media outlets, including the News Sentinel, also rent cubicle space in the Plaza.
"Up there (on the third floor of War Memorial Building), meetings and gatherings can be called on quick notice, and they don't have to worry about things like pesky reporters," said Kyle, who recalled previous Republican comments about enjoying "third-floor camaraderie."
"Camaraderie is a code word for staying in the shadows," he said.
Senate Republican Caucus Chairman Diane Black of Gallatin scoffed at Kyle's contention.
"I don't think this is a shadowy place up here at all. There's lots of light," she said, speaking from her third-floor office. "Our location is well known to the media."
Black said she and Senate Republican Leader Mark Norris surveyed all GOP caucus members - finding some "very adamant" and even emotional on both sides of the moving issue - then made the decision to stay for practical reasons.
The Plaza offices, she said, did not provide "functional space," and to make it functional, "there was going to be a need to, possibly, knock down walls and that sort of thing."
"Number one, we did not want to spend a lot of taxpayer dollars. Number two, we had a limited amount of time," she said. "We recognized (staying on) the third floor as faster and more cost effective."
Still, she said there might be a "facilities evaluation" of legislative office space in the future - after the 2007 session - that could eventually mean Republican senators will join Ramsey in the Plaza and relocate the Democrats.
The Democrat-controlled House will resume meetings this week, starting with a floor session today. The Republican-controlled Senate, on the other hand, is taking the week off and will not return to session until Feb. 5, when Gov. Phil Bredesen delivers his "state of the state" address to a joint session of the House and Senate.
We ought to banish the rodents to the basement of the nearby Municipal Auditorium.
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