House delays vote on speaker selection

State House speaker-designee Darrin Williams (right), D-Little Rock, confers with Rep. Terry Rice, R-Waldron, the man Republicans want to be the new speaker, as other House members draw numbers by lot to determine seating arrangements.
State House speaker-designee Darrin Williams (right), D-Little Rock, confers with Rep. Terry Rice, R-Waldron, the man Republicans want to be the new speaker, as other House members draw numbers by lot to determine seating arrangements.

— Arkansas’ state representatives will wait for the resolution of a contested House race before members vote whether to replace the Democratic House speaker designee with a Republican, outgoing Speaker Robert S. Moore Jr. said Friday.

New and returning House members met at the Capitol on Friday to decide seniority, choose seats in the chamber and select the committees they want to serve on.

But who will lead them in the 2013 legislative session could still change.

Republicans apparently have won a majority of seats in the House of Representatives for the first time in 138 years.

According to unofficial results, Republicans will hold 51 seats in the 2013 session, Democrats 48, and Green Party representative Fred Smith of Crawfordsville will hold the 100th.

But Democrats have asked for a recount of the results of the District 52 race, which Republican John Hutchison of Harrisburg leads with 44 votes. His opponent is Democrat L.J. Bryant of Grubbs.

If that race is overturned, Republicans would have 50 votes, Democrats would have 49, and the Green Party representative, a former Democrat, would be the wild card.

Friday, Moore, D-Arkansas City, scheduled a vote to reconsider who will become the next House speaker for next Thursday at noon, in anticipation that the recount will be complete.

“We want to get this one little dangling issue ... of the election recount out of the way because it would be somewhat counterproductive to come in and have an election with an assumed majority and that majority turn out not to be because an election was overturned,” Moore told reporters.

The district covers parts of Craighead, Independence, Jackson and Poinsett counties.

Craighead County began recounting votes Friday. The Jackson and Poinsett county clerks each said their recount will begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

Independence County Election Commission Chairman Cathy Drew said the recount will take place Nov. 15 at 9 a.m. in the county courthouse.

Democrats have controlled the state House since shortly after the Civil War.

House rules call for the election of a House speaker designate at the end of the session. The Legislature then officially elects the speaker, commonly confirming the speaker designate, on the first day of the session.

But the transition of party control has left a Republican majority with Democrat Darrin Williams of Little Rock as the speaker designee. Republicans say they want to replace him with one of their own, Rep. Terry Rice of Waldron.

To do that, they are using a 39-year old-law, Arkansas Code Annotated 10-2-107, which states that 50 or more “members of the House of Representatives who will serve at the next-following regular session of the General Assembly” can file a petition with the current speaker stating that the members believe the formal election of the new speaker of the House of Representatives is in doubt.

House Republican leader Bruce Westerman of Hot Springs said on Friday that 51 Republicans signed a petition calling Williams’ election into doubt and asking for a new vote.

He said Rice is the only person he is aware of who will seek the House speaker position, but “anybody in the House is eligible to run for speaker so I’m not going to speculate.”

Twenty-two Democrats also signed a petition calling for a new election if Republicans retain the District 52 seat and hold a majority, House Democratic leader Greg Leding said.

“The law clearly states the process for this type of situation. We don’t want to hold that process up, so we are going around getting signatures from appropriate Democratic House members to try to move this process forward,” Leding said.

He said the law is not clear whether the signers need to be returning lawmakers, so to be safe he asked lawmakers who are returning for another term to sign the petition.

Moore said he has received both the Republicans’ and Democrats’ petition seeking to determine whether the House speaker designee is still supported by a majority of representatives.

“Reasonable minds have prevailed, I understand on both sides, that we need to get that resolved, and I think reasonable minds on both sides also know our math. And if it turns out 51-48 plus one [Green Party representative], there’s a new majority, and we’re prepared to avail ourselves to the process of the law to determine if it is the will of the new majority to elect a new House speakerelect,” Moore said.

Democrats and Republicans would have to develop some type of power-sharing agreement if neither party held a majority (51) seats, Moore said. If Bryant is declared the winner, leadership may also depend on how Smith, the Green Party member, chooses to caucus, Moore said.

“Let’s wait and see what happens rather than speculate all the different things that could happen,” Moore said.

“It’s phenomenal that it came down to a one-vote majority and then the one vote is challenged, then we’ve got the Green Party, that we don’t know, and it’s just, wow, how could politics get any closer than this?”

Smith said he hasn’t decided which party he will caucus with. Smith served as a Democrat in the House for less than a month before resigning his seat because of a felony conviction.

The conviction has been expunged. The Democratic Party of Arkansas took Smith to court in an attempt to keep him off the 2012 ballot.

“I’ve moved forward, I’ve forgave,” Smith said Friday. He said in his heart he will always be a Democrat, but the Green Party gave him a chance to redeem his name and reputation.

Smith said he has been approached by Democrats and Republicans about caucusing with their party but is staying outside the fray for now.

“God allowed me to stand in the middle, and that’s where he wants me to be,” Smith said.

Moore, who is term-limited and will not serve in the 2013 Legislature, said lawmakers may need to address in rules how to address situations when a speaker designee has been chosen and party control changes.

“Obviously, if Republicans get that majority they’re going to be working hard to retain it. Democrats will be working real hard to get it back in two years. So I certainly think this will give some impetus to the body,” Moore said. “This thing could flop back and forth here several times or who knows in the future, so we need a good process that is clear on what happens if this occurs.”

Because the House speaker selects committee chairmen and vice-chairmen, and that position is still unclear, committee leaders were not chosen Friday.

Members divide into caucuses based on which congressional district they live in and choose by seniority which standing committees to serve on. Each member serves on one A committee and one B committee, and each of the four caucuses select five members for each A and B committee.

Republicans hold a broad majority in the Revenue and Taxation Committee (15 of 20 seats) and State Agencies and Governmental Affairs (13 of 20 seats.)

Republicans hold a one- to two-seat majority on the Education and Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs committees.

Democrats hold 12 of 20 seats on the Insurance and Commerce Committee and 13 of 20 seats on the Judiciary Committee.

Democrats hold a one or two seat majority in Public Health, Welfare and Labor; Public Transportation; and City, County and Local Affairs committees.

The Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development Committee has 10 Democrats and 10 Republicans.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 11/10/2012

Upcoming Events