Posted on 01/30/2003 12:04:50 PM PST by fieldmarshaldj
Thursday, January 30, 2003 11:58AM EST
State House still deadlocked on speaker Members are split between 3 men
By LYNN BONNER, AMY GARDNER, AND DAN KANE, STAFF WRITERS, Staff Writers
At mid-morning, the state House remained deadlocked over the election of a new speaker of the House. With the House evenly divided 60 to 60, Republicans had to essentially filibuster because one of their members, Rep. Cary Allred of Burlington, wasn't there. That gave Democrats a temporary 1 vote advantage. But Republicans successfully used procedural moves to delay a vote on the speaker until Allred showed up an hour late.
"Phone calls. Phone calls, you know," Allred said when asked about his absence. "I couldn't get out of my bathrobe. I had a call from an employee from down at the DOT garage in Graham. I had to listen to my constituents."
Several Republicans crowded around Allred when he arrived. "You've got to hang with us," Rep. Ed McMahan, a Republican from Mecklenburg County, told Allred.
Then, when a sixth ballot was held, the results were the same as Wednesday: 60 Democrats still united behind Rep. Jim Black; 55 Republicans behind the party's nominee, Rep. George Holmes; and five dissident Republicans voting for Rep. Richard Morgan of Moore County. A majority of the House is needed to elect the speaker. With all 120 House members in attendance, a majority would be 61 votes.
The House then recessed until 2 p.m. Both Democrats and Republicans went behind closed doors.
Behind the scenes, talks continued about how Democrats and Republicans could share power in the House. The outcome of the speaker's race is likely to hinge on some type of power-sharing agreement.
The last time it took more than one ballot to elect a speaker was in 1866. "The theater continues," said Rep. David Miner of Cary. "We haven't seen the final curtain come down yet. It may not until another day or two."
Staff writer Lynn Bonner can be reached at 829-4821 or lbonner@newsobserver.com
DemocRAT translation: It was so much easier to do this from 1870-1960 when we had a corrupt one-party dictatorship in NC.
I actually think this is a good thing, they can't do any damage or raise taxes any more while they are tied up in this mess.
What I'd like to know is why do they have an even number of house members anyway?
MKM
Let me know if I've got this straight. If one member from one party or the other is out for the day, the other party can then vote as the majority and elect the Speaker. Except if the Republicans have 5 dissidents voting for someone else, 6 Dims have got to be out for the Republicans to elect the Speaker? The Pubbies better get their act together before another member gets in a traffic jam or can't get out of his bathrobe.
Looks like the odds favor the Dims.
Studying the Speaker SquabbleDaily Journal for January 30, 2003
By JOHN HOOD
"As recently as September, Decker told Winston-Salem radio station WSJS-AM that Speaker Black was a poor leader who had led the House into chaos and had helped lead the state into fiscal meltdown. Now, the 18-year veteran says that Black is the best man for the job. Perhaps that is debatable. It is obvious, however, who is not up to his job."
There were 5 members who refused to sign a pledge to support only GOP candidates for Speaker. Allred was one of them, although I believe he did end up voting for Holmes on Tuesday. He did receive a load of phone calls and mail/e-mail from all over the state.
The problem with the 5 who are voting for Morgan is coming from Brubaker and Morgan.
WE
Really. What do ya suppose are the chances of any decent legislation coming out of this session, if they're still knocking heads over the election of the speaker?
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