Tennessee: Ramsey says Speaker Williams should quit GOP

NASHVILLE — Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey said he recently told the new House speaker, Republican Kent Williams, that he should quit the GOP and become an independent instead of waiting to get booted by the state party.

“I sat down and talked with Kent Williams about this in my office, and to be honest, I think it'd be better for him if he was independent,” Lt. Gov. Ramsey, R-Blountville and Senate speaker, told Tennessee Press Association members and The Associated Press on Thursday. “I think it would be better if he made that choice instead of being kicked out of the party.”

House Minority Leader Gary Odom, D-Nashville, said Rep. Williams, of Elizabethon, is welcome to join Democrats if he likes.

“If the Republican Party wants to remove him, I would welcome him on my side of the aisle. I'd like the title of majority leader instead of just Democratic leader,” Rep. Odom told TPA members.

Many Republicans are demanding that Rep. Williams be ousted from the state party after he added his vote to those of all 49 House Democrats on Jan. 13, giving him a 50-49 victory over Majority Leader Jason Mumpower, R-Bristol.

Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Robin Smith is expected to announce Monday her decision on whether to bar Rep. Williams from running again as a Republican. State GOP executive committees were to have notified the party earlier this week whether they support a resolution banning Rep. Williams from running again as a Republican.

Party officials won’t say what the vote was, but the resolution notes that there were 30 challenges to Rep. Williams’ GOP “bona fides” by executive committee members. There are 66 executive committee members, but the decision is ultimately up to Mrs. Smith, who is from Hixson.

Rep. Williams on Wednesday repeated earlier statements that, while he still considers himself a Republican, the state party need only ask him to stop affiliating himself with the party and he would do so.

He declined to address the Tennessee Press Association.

Rep. Mumpower sidestepped the issue of whether Rep. Williams should resign from the party but said, “I’m going to watch very closely the decision the party makes and be supportive of the decision they make.”

Lt. Gov. Ramsey said he thinks “the whole situation would work better” if Rep. Williams were an independent, and he believes Rep. Williams realizes that.

During an earlier TPA panel discussion, former Sen. Bob Rochelle, D-Lebanon, said he thinks Republicans will give the boot to Speaker Williams.

“Never underestimate the ability of the Republican Party to screw things up,” Mr. Rochelle said.