The Southern Legislative Conference has unanimously named Alabama Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard as Chairman.
This comes after Mississippi state Rep. Billy Broomfield (D), in line to assume the chair, did not attend the event.
Broomfield, who was not named a delegate by Mississippi Speaker of the House Philip Gunn (R), had received permission to attend SLC by the House Management Committee.
In May, Broomfield attempted to chide the Speaker and Lt. Governor Tate Reeves at the end of the 2012 legislative session for not raising the hundreds of thousands of dollars needed to host the annual SLC conference in 2013 on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Both Gunn and Reeves were not made aware of the need for funds in adequate time to achieve the goal, an effort Broomfield had known about for quite some time.
Given the political and ideological shift in the Mississippi House following the 2011 elections, Broomfield’s lack of appointment to the SLC as a delegate was not surprising. Such moves are typical when new leadership assumes the reigns; delegates are chosen by leadership to represent the state in a manner that best reflects the overwhelming majority view.
SLC naming Hubbard to the chairmanship is an example of how organizations composed of elected officials adjust to the changes in leadership imposed by voters. Had Mississippi Democrats retained the majority in the Mississippi House, Broomfield would surely have been named a delegate and conceivably would have been named Chair.
But thankfully, Mississippi voters shifted their House to the right and now the SLC has a Republican in Hubbard as chair.
