No Speaker in the NC House, Day 2

Raleigh News-Observer ^ | 1-30-2003 | LYNN BONNER, AMY GARDNER, AND DAN KANE

[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

[fieldmarshaldj]

Summation of today's events:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/832900/posts

[Torie]

Willie Brown would have purchased and/or blackmailed several Pubbies by now if he were leading the Dems. Obviously, his talent is unavailable down in the Tarheel state.

[Constitution Day]

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?

1) Slim.
2. None.

[viaveritasvita]

Please remove my name from your ping list. Thanks!

[fieldmarshaldj]

Done.