Shock value on the political landscape in Mississippi is pretty difficult to achieve after the last 45 days.
However, in what can only be termed as a bombshell, Representative Jeff Smith announced today that Representative Robert Johnson (D – Natchez) has joined the Smith for Speaker Leadership Team and will serve as Smith’s nominee as temporary Speaker of the House when the House convenes next week.
Since Mississippi has not had a hotly contested Speaker race in some time, even many political insiders are surprised to learn that it is not just a simple matter of the House members voting for their guy. The Secretary of State, in this case Eric Clark, will preside and call the House session to order. He then will take nominations from the floor for Temporary Speaker. That interim officer will preside over the temporary rules, Speaker nomination and vote, and any other matters of any urgency. When the new Speaker is elected, the temporary Speaker steps down.
On multiple occasions, current Speaker Billy McCoy has tried to keep the Legislative Black Caucus voting block in line. On October 7, McCoy published a list that drew the ire of many legislators on the list in behind-the-scenes conversations. In the 62 votes he claimed, Robert Johnson’s name was on that list leaving him only now with 61. That, of course, assumes he has held on to the others he has claimed. Later in October, the LBC passed a resolution (though not apparently unanimously) that said that they would not support Jeff Smith. State Rep. Reecy Dickson (D- Macon), head of the LBC, held another presser on 12/20 trying to hold the unanimous line. If you assume that everyone that wasn’t on McCoy’s October list was committed to Smith, Johnson’s affirmation of support for Smith is a knife to the heart of McCoy holding that seat.
Now that the dam of support in the LBC has been breached, several behind-the-scenes watchers believe that others will come on board with Smith not wanting to be left on the wrong side of the fight. This will also put the Legislative Black Caucus in the impossible position of voting against one of their own for a leadership position, albeit temporary. There are also others like Representatives Bennett Malone (D-Carthage) and Tracy Arinder (D-Morton), whose support for McCoy was questioned at certain points, who may choose to move over to Smith’s side if they feel the votes are there.
If Smith’s support holds, he will have shown himself to be a master tactitian. He has touted signed pledge cards that he has held in hand. Despite many calls from the press to release a “list”, like McCoy has errantly done on several occasions, Smith has opted to take the heat and hold his coalition together and private to minimize political pressure that would result from publishing a public list of supporters.
Knowing the history in politics in Mississippi, Robert Johnson would have to be listed as a profile in courage by voting for what he believes is right in spite of the dumbfounding amount of political pressure that he knows is about to be unleashed upon him by Billy McCoy, what’s left of the Legislative Black Caucus, and the Bennie Thompson machine. From my perspective, it would be a shame if McCoy & the LBC resort to labelling or name calling in order to belittle Johnson in voting for the change he believes in.
Magnolia Tribune
