Posted on 01/10/2009 8:11:30 PM PST by SmithL
The session, which officially begins at noon Tuesday, will be devoted largely to Republican moves to transform the election victories that provided the party a shaky 50-49 majority in the House and solid 19-14 advantage in the Senate into governing power.
They may have some problems in the process.
The state faces an estimated $1 billion budget deficit. Monthly tax revenue figures have been lagging, with December numbers more than $80 million lower than expected
Gov. Phil Bredesen says the mounting shortfall will mean a 15 percent cut in most departmental budgets.
Tentative plans call for the Legislature to go into a three-week recess after this week, then return Feb. 9 to officially get the bad budget news in the governor's "State of the State" speech.
In the interim, officials hope, Congress will move toward enactment of a national economic stimulus package that may provide states with some budget-balancing help, though Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz says no "silver bullet" solution to Tennessee problems is likely.
Power shift benefits ET leaders in GOP
The first order of business Tuesday will be election of speakers of the House and Senate. Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey of Blountville is assured of another term presiding over the Senate. In the House, Republican Leader Jason Mumpower of Bristol will replace Democrat Jimmy Naifeh as speaker if all 50 Republicans are present and vote as a bloc.
Mumpower said last week he is "very, very comfortable" about winning the speaker's position, though Naifeh said he remains optimistic ...
(Excerpt) Read more at knoxnews.com ...
Better get that football team working first...
;)
Obviously, they're not very swift on history. The Independent, a bizarre old man iconoclast from West TN, refused to vote for either the Democrat or Republican. A Black Knoxville Democrat broke the logjam and voted for Jenkins. Heaven forbid they'll mention that.
Why that brother was racist against his own people obviously, they must shield the public.
I’ve seen you post about Jenkins before.
Do you have any background on the old coot and the black dem? I imagine the latter was...’dealt with’.
end tenncare
The old guy was a freshman Independent (I can’t recall if he ran on Wallace’s “American” Party ticket). He had this long beard that looked like if he were 20 years younger he could’ve been a member of ZZ Top. Nobody in the legislature looked as wild as he did, like a grizzled Civil War vet transported 100 years in the future. What was quite peculiar was that there was no bio information on him in the TN Bluebook of the time, only his hometown in West TN. He served his term and vanished into the ether.
The Black Democrat, name of Booker, IIRC, didn’t appear to be punished, he was reelected in 1970, though I’m blanking at the moment, I think he may have tried to move up to the State Senate and failed in ‘72. I’d have to double-check. He’s still alive, but he never switched parties like a future Black Dem that held his seat in the ‘80s (although he eventually switched back when he failed to win office as a Republican and Independent).
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