Vote set for House speaker

The state House of Representatives is scheduled this week to designate a new speaker to replace Rep. Davy Carter.

The 100 House members are to vote by secret ballot and elect a speaker-designate Wednesday after the legislative fiscal session adjourns.

Seeking the position are three Republicans - Jeremy Gillam, Kim Hammer and Matthew Shepherd - and one Democrat - Fred Love.

According to House rules, the person selected is the intended speaker for the next legislative session, but he is not guaranteed the position until he is officially selected by House members during the next legislative session.

Rep. Darrin Williams, D-Little Rock, was elected speaker-designate in 2012 by a Democratic-led House. But when control of the House flipped to the Republicans for the first time since Reconstruction in November of that year, House members chose a Republican to lead the chamber.

By a vote of 52-45, Carter defeated Rep. Terry Rice, a fellow Republican from Waldron who had lost the speaker-designate race to Williams. The result was a rift in the House.

The 100-member House has 51 Republicans, 48 Democrats and one Green Party representative.

With the margins between the parties so close, some Democratic members are wondering whether to delay Wednesday’s vote until after the elections in November.

House Democratic leader Rep. Greg Leding of Fayetteville said his party’s caucus would meet sometime before the Wednesday afternoon vote to decide whether to seek a delay. He said with control of the House “up in the air,” it would be prudent to avoid another “contentious” speaker selection and postpone the vote.

He added that it was unlikely that the House would elect a Democrat on Wednesday with Republicans now in control of the chamber.

Leding said it would take two-thirds of the House membership to change the rules regarding the speaker-designate selection, but only a majority of the quorum Wednesday to delay the vote.

Leding’s Republican counterpart in the House, Rep. Bruce Westerman of Hot Springs, said he didn’t know of anyone in his party who would want a delay, which he said would be counter to the “rules and tradition of the House.”

“I have heard a little bit of talk about that, but I don’t see a reason to do it. We elected one [in 2012] and obviously the majority-minority status changed and we elected a speaker that was different from the speaker-designate,” Westerman said.

Westerman said there are “three good Republicans” in the race but that he wasn’t endorsing any of them because he is the leader of the party in the House.

Carter said he had heard some discussions about a delay, but that it was up to the House membership to decide when to hold the vote. He said he was staying out of the speaker’s race and had not endorsed anyone.

The speaker wields considerable influence in the House, selecting which members serve as committee chairmen, what committees bills get assigned to and who is allowed to speak for or against bills.

All of the speaker candidates are seeking their third terms in the House in November, and all are running unopposed in the primary and general elections.

The three Republican candidates all said they support voting on Wednesday and that they felt they had enough support to win.

Love, D-Little Rock, said whether he wins depends on how many Republicans he can get to vote for him.

Love, 39, is a grants administrator for Pulaski County and serves as the chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus. Love is also chairman of the House Insurance and Commerce Financial Institutions Subcommittee and is vice chairman of the Joint Budget Committee Claims Subcommittee.

Love said he is prepared for a vote Wednesday but that it wouldn’t necessarily be a bad idea to delay the vote. He said things would be “settled” in November and that this week’s vote would be moot if control of the chamber flips again.

“I saw the strife and the fractures that it created in the body as a whole, and I think that it would possibly be in the best interests of the upcoming session to possibly delay it,” Love said.

Hammer, R-Benton, said there have been discussions since 2012 about postponing the vote. He said it was important that whoever is elected realizes that the seat requires final approval after November.

“Whoever’s selected just needs to live with the idea that just because you’re selected in the spring doesn’t mean you’ll be serving in the fall,” Hammer said.

Hammer, 55, is the hospice chaplain for Saline Memorial Hospital. He serves as co-chairman of the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee and as vice chairman of the Legislative Council Litigation Reports Oversight Subcommittee.

Gillam, R-Judsonia, is a farmer who serves as chairman of the Arkansas Health Insurance Marketplace Legislative Oversight Committee, the House Judiciary Courts and Civil Law Subcommittee and the House Management Committee.

Gillam, 37, said he thinks there is “pretty good logic” behind holding the vote on Wednesday.

Shepherd, R-El Dorado, is an attorney and chairman of the Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development Committee. Shepherd, 38, said he was ready for the vote whenever it happens.

“There’s probably pros and cons both ways. The bottom line for me is whenever the vote is held I aim to win it,” Shepherd said.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 03/17/2014

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