Jeff Smith Counters that McCoy Has Spoken Too Soon on Commitments
Yesterday the Speaker of the House, Rep. Billy McCoy, released a list of 62 names of members of the 2008 Legislature that he claimed were pledged to vote for him for re-election as Speaker.
“I have collected a list of supporters who have given me oral or written pledges that they would vote for me for Speaker of the House in 2008,” said Smith. “In collecting my list I promised those members that I would not release my list until I had over 61 names. Some of the names on the McCoy list are the same as on my list. Some of the names on the McCoy list are of people who told me (after the McCoy list was published) that they were still uncommitted and did not give permission to have their name on the McCoy list.”
It is apparent that the McCoy list was released to give the appearance to the members of the Legislature, and the public, that Speaker McCoy has a majority of the votes for re-election. This was probably done to create a feeling of inevitability so that other members of the Legislature would go ahead and pledge support to Speaker McCoy and allow him to collect a real majority. But, the list was false so any decisions based on the statement that Speaker McCoy had a majority yesterday make those decisions unreliable. It was a despicable act to try to trick members of the House to make a decision based on false information.
Rep. Smith continues to have conversations with the people on the Speaker McCoy list and they continue to say they have not committed to Speaker McCoy and are either committed to Rep. Smith or are uncommitted until they say so publicly.
Smith for Speaker.com
11/8/7
Magnolia Tribune
