Tate Reeves and Philip Gunn embrace Democrats
Republican leaders Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves and Speaker of the House Philip Gunn have reached out to Democrats, naming several to head legislative committees.
Reeves named Democrats to head 18 of the Senate’s 40 committees. Gunn named Democrats to head 10 of the House’s 43 committees.
You might ask why there are so many committees. When I served in the 1980s there were 26. If someone can give you a reasonable, good government answer for so many, please send it to me.
But if you start thinking about this, you may end up asking why there are so many legislators in our small state – 52 in the Senate and 122 in the House. Speaker Gunn has considered this question. In 2010 he introduced a constitutional amendment to reduce the number of house members to 104. He also introduced bills to limit terms and reduce salaries.
Bill Crawford
1/24/12
