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Home / TN: Former Speaker’s New Title Angers GOPTN: Former Speaker’s New Title Angers GOP
Last Updated on Wednesday, 21 January 2009 12:11 Written by rslcpol Wednesday, 21 January 2009 11:32
Somebody call Hollywood – this has the makings for an excellent TV drama…or sitcom…it’s hard to tell just which. This could be the West Wing’s successor! From The Tennessean:
At the House speaker’s suite Monday night, light spilled from the open doorway, where two highway patrol officers — one assigned to Speaker Kent Williams, the other for former Speaker Jimmy Naifeh — waited outside.
Though Williams is speaker, Naifeh temporarily has kept his security detail, an officer who also serves as his driver, a perk for speakers of both the House and Senate. While no longer speaker, Naifeh’s profile on the legislature’s Web site now lists him as “Speaker Emeritus,” a position never used before.
Williams’ startling election last week, achieved with support of all 49 Democrats and his own vote, upended the chessboard of political power in the House and created new questions about Naifeh’s role in that uncertain environment.