BOBBY HARRISON: Resilient Robert Johnson doesn’t give up

BOBBY HARRISON: Resilient Robert Johnson doesn’t give up

In January 2008 on the opening of the legislative session, Rep. Robert Johnson, D-Natchez, entering his second term in the Mississippi House, went head-to-head with Rep. Ed Blackmon, D-Canton, a legislative icon, and lost.

Blackmon was the choice of Rep. Billy McCoy, D-Rienzi, to serve as the temporary speaker. Johnson was the choice for the post of Rep. Jeff Smith of Columbus, who was favored by the then-House Republican minority to be the new speaker in 2008.

Smith hoped to siphon off enough Democratic votes to win the speakership. And the vote for of the temporary speaker was in reality a proxy vote for the real speaker.

Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
3/4/13