Nashville: House speaker's wife 'crashes' GOP Caucus

NASHVILLE — House Republicans’ closed door-caucus meeting had two unexpected spectators today with one of them being Betty Anderson, the lobbyist wife of Democratic House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, who said she unwittingly crashed the meeting.

“Oh God, it’s just a comedy of errors,” said Ms. Anderson, blushing and giggling, when asked about the incident by two reporters.

Ms. Anderson explained she and fellow lobbyist Brandy Bivins had initially gone down to the House Democratic Caucus where members met to discuss upcoming issues as lawmakers seek to wind down their annual session.

Democrats’ meeting was initially closed to the public, but when reporters complained, leaders, who usually keep the proceedings open, let reporters listen to the sometimes stormy proceedings.

Ms. Anderson said she and Ms. Bivins left, got on the elevator “and these two guys who were on the elevator, I guess they were going to go store boxes. So they pressed ‘B.’”

Level B happens to be the balcony of the Legislative Library. It usually requires a key to access the balcony. The library was where House Republicans were secretly discussing the upcoming floor session.

“I don’t have a key. I’ve only been up their once,” Ms. Anderson said, shooting a glance at Ms. Bivins. “Brandy said why didn’t we just watch it (GOP meeting) from the balcony. We didn’t know (it was closed). By the time we got off, she looked over there, and she said, ‘Gosh, there’s nobody (press) down there.’”

“About this time,” Ms. Anderson said, “there was this young guy ... came over and said, ‘Who are you. Are you press?’ I said no. He said, ‘Who are you,’ and we said we’re just lobbyists. And he said ‘you know this meeting is closed.’ We said no, we didn’t know. He said ‘well it is,’ and we said fine. We’ll leave.”

“It wasn’t a spy conspiracy or anything like that,” she said.

Following the GOP Caucus meeting, Minority Leader Jason Mumpower, R-Bristol, could be seen conversing with Ms. Anderson.

“I think she got off the elevator on the wrong floor,” said Rep. Mumpower, who did not offer an explanation for why the meeting was closed to the public.

Earlier, a staffer barred efforts by a Times Free Press reporter to enter the library. The GOP Caucus, which often complains how Democrats run the House, routinely closes its meetings.

GOP Caucus Chairman Glen Casada, R-College Grove, said Wednesday’s meeting was closed so members “could talk freely and not say something that will get themselves in trouble.”