Bounds’ switch changes nothing in Mississippi House
Rep. Scott Bounds’ switch to the Republican Party earlier this week has been much ballyhooed in many quarters, but in reality does absolutely nothing to change the balance of power in the Mississippi House.
Almost any action of the House, including change of party affiliation by a member, eventually gets put in the context of what it means for the next election for speaker, which will occur in 2012 after the 2011 elections.
The Philadelphia legislator has been as consistent a vote for the Republican Party as there has been ever since his first year in the state House in 2004.
From a symbolic standpoint, it is nice to hit the magic number of 50 – as in the most Republicans in the 122-member House since Reconstruction. But the Republicans’ strength in the House is far more than 50 because of other Democrats, who like Bounds, consistently vote with them.
nems360.com
5/12/10
Magnolia Tribune
