The Interocitor

Speaker-Picking by the Minority

Glenn Reynolds links to an idea by Rich Galen regarding the possibility of Republicans throwing a wrench into the speakership battle by all voting for some other Democrat like Hoyer, hoping that Hoyer would be able to come up with 15 other votes. I don't think it's close enough (232-203) to work since a failure would catastrophic for the defecting Democrats, but the idea worked rather well in California in 1994.

In addition to gaining control of both houses of Congress for the first time since 1954, the Republican Party retained the California governorship and succeeded in gaining a razor-thin 41-39 seat majority in the California assembly. The Republicans expected to elect the speaker, an enormously powerful position in the assembly, enabling them to topple their longtime Democratic nemesis, Speaker Willie Brown. However, due to the casting of one Republican vote for the Democratic candidate for speaker, the assembly was tied and eventually, through further political maneuvers, Willie Brown was reelected to the speakership

Republicans launched two recall drives, one against the Republican who voted for Brown, Paul Horcher, and the other against Democrat Michael Machado, who the Republicans claimed had promised to vote against Brown. The Horcher recall easily succeeded, while the recall against Machado failed by a wide margin. However, the Republicans troubles did not end there. In what the New York Times referred to as "a stunning display of political power," Brown succeeded in getting another Republican, Doris Allen, to switch, he had Allen elected speaker, and himself named speaker emeritus. Allen, not respected by either side, was quickly recalled and voted out of office. Before the recall of Allen took place, Allen gave up the speakership in favor of another Republican, Brian Setencich. The Republicans then managed to oust Setencich through parliamentary means and finally elect their new choice, Curt Pringle, as speaker.

And by 1996, the Democrats were back in power, having neatly blunted the Republican majority for almost the entire two years. Of course, the atmosphere in the Assembly is poisoned to this day.

Epiphanies

The editors of the New York Times and other mainstream media will shortly discover:

• The long history of Congressional leadership in foreign and domestic policy.
• The anti-democratic nature of the filibuster, and its reactionary history.
• The need for courts to defer to Congressional judgment.
• The stabilizing effect of gerrymandered carefully balanced electoral districts, and the need for early reapportionment to achieve better balance.
• The need for a vigilant Congress in overseeing the executive, and the renewal of the special prosecutor statutes.
• Improvements in electoral procedures, which made the tabulation of the 2006 elections so accurate.
• The traditional role of earmarking, pork-barrel spending, and other rewards to one's political supporters.
• And, lastly, the need for further regulation of electoral speech (the established media excepted), especially the "blogger loophole."