GOP open to Williams return after amends

For Tennessee House Speaker Kent Williams to get back in the good graces of the state GOP will be tough, but not impossible, party chairman Chris Devaney said Monday.

"Kent Williams figured out how to become speaker of the House," Mr. Devaney told the Hamilton County Pachyderm Club. "He can figure out how to get back into the Republican Party."

In January, Rep. Williams, R-Elizabethton, voted with 49 Democrats and against 49 other Republicans to get himself elected House speaker. In February, then-party chairwoman Robin Smith and the GOP executive committee barred Rep. Williams from running again as a Republican.

Mr. Devaney told the local Republican group that Rep. Williams must do an assortment of things -- not just raise money for 2010 candidates -- to regain the party's favor, but didn't specify what those were. He said the decision is up to the state executive committee.

Mr. Devaney said he told the House speaker that, "Your hurdle is high."

Rep. Williams said Monday he's not exactly sure what he can do to get back into the party but if he doesn't, "It's not the end of the world." He said he knows he is a Republican whether the state party acknowledges it or not.

Rep. Williams said the issue of the speaker election is "water under the bridge" and the GOP should focus on getting Republicans elected next year.

He said he's supporting Republican candidates and raising money for the GOP through a political action committee.

In recent months, Rep. Williams has gained the support of some House Republicans. Gubernatorial candidates U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., and Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam also have made overtures, according to news reports.

Mr. Devaney said he doesn't agree with what Rep. Williams did, but plans an "open-door policy" toward the speaker.

Also Monday, Mr. Devaney said he saw 10 state House seats as "attainable" in next year's elections. As an example of changing waters in Tennessee, he cited Republican Pat Marsh's victory in a special election last week in a traditionally Democratic House district in Bedford and Lincoln counties.

He said voters in the 2010 election will be motivated to vote by "an ever-encroaching federal government."

"This was the first chance for people to say, 'I don't like the direction of this country,'" Mr. Devaney said.

Chip Forrester, chairman of the Tennessee Democratic Party, said he did not believe national politics played a role in the District 62 special election and that the race "was not a harbinger for 2010."

Mr. Forrester said he believed national issues will affect the 2010 legislative elections, but the votes should lean in Democrats' favor because of President Barack Obama's economic and health care efforts.