Tomorrow Republican John Boehner will be elected Speaker of the House of Representatives. I commend all Sacramento legislators to watch the ceremony. No, not because I want you all to see the fruits of a big GOP victory nationally last November. I want you all to watch it because of the process. I want you all to note that while the Republicans will put forward their candidate for Speaker, John Boehner (whose election is a formality as Republicans have a healthy majority in the new Congress), Democrats will put forward Nancy Pelosi as their candidate for Speaker, and cast their votes for her.
Note that Boehner will not be "upset" that Democrats voted for their candidate for the top spot, and Pelosi will be gracious in the process. But pride is maintained. Democrats shouldn’t vote for a Speaker who doesn’t share their priorities, nor should Republicans.
This process should serve as an example of how the election of the Senate President in the State Senate, and a Speaker in the Assembly should take place. Each party’s caucus puts forward their candidate with the outcome of that election a foregone conclusion. But preserve the pride of every member. To my Democrat friends in the majority, it may be fun right now to humiliate Republicans by insisting on the current process of unanimous votes, but God-willing someday you will be in the minority, and when you are, you wouldn’t want to vote for a Republican to be Senate President or Assembly Speaker.
’nuff said.
January 4th, 2011 at 12:00 am
As the general at Battle of the Bulge said:
NUTS!
January 4th, 2011 at 12:00 am
I think you are wrong. First, in the California legislature, numerous Speakers and President’s Pro Tem of the Senate have been elected as fusion candidates with supporters and opponents in both parties. I think overall, that is a good thing. But more than that, I think the vote for leaders reinforces the idea that everyone is an American first and that is something that will always rank above political partisanship. Lastly it reinforces Jefferson’s point (which I suspect Jon disagree’s with) that parties are there to help candidates and that we vote first for the individual.
January 5th, 2011 at 12:00 am
Confirming Mr. Fleischman’s theory, 19 DEMOCRATS refused to vote for
Nancy Pelosi today when John Boehner was elected Speaker! So why
would California Republicans feel obliged to vote for Democrat leaders
in Sacramento?
BTW, to Mr. Kaptain, is my memory right that the last time a “fusion’
candidate won a leadership post in Sacto was 1980….31 years ago?
January 5th, 2011 at 12:00 am
Agree most certainly. The Republicans in CA should just go ahead and put up their votes for the leaders they want, even if it is ceremonial and the results stapled onto Perez’ nose or printed on a whoopie cushion to be placed on his chair.
January 18th, 2011 at 12:00 am
Stapled to is nose is a metaphor for using using medical adhesive tape which causes no pain or damage to the recipient. The point is to deliver attention to the message.