Naifeh wins again in surprising House speaker vote

Outgoing Democratic House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh showed today that his years of corrupt leadership of that chamber still had legs, enough to elect what the Commercial-Appeal outrageously has called a "moderate Republican" to head the House.

Moderate is not the word I would use for this fella who I won't even bother to identify. Most Tennesseans don't even know him.

I would instead confer the title of "Naifeh-puppet" and "handpicked successor", which bodes ill for freeing the House from the kind of corruption that led to the Tennessee Waltz FBI sting.

The further retention of House Speaker Pro Tem Lois DeBerry in that leadership position simply means there will be little of the change voters demanded at the ballot box Nov. 4. DeBerry's primary responsibility has been to do Naifeh's dirty work to benefit the few at the expense of the many.

It is as if Operation Tennessee Waltz never happened. You can't do anything about this travesty now. But you can prepare to give the Republicans more of a majority in the House to keep Naifeh from winning again.

And now you can also know better next time when it comes to other lawmakers, such as Democrat Gary Odom who nominated Naifeh's puppet to be speaker. As former Rep. Frank Buck, a Democrat, told me, Naifeh always had about six Republicans in his back pocket if his power was ever threatened. And so he needed to only pull one out today. It will be up to GOP lawmakers to reveal the other five and work for their defeat in 2010.

Odom had threatened to run for speaker before the Democrats' supposed Waterloo Nov. 4. He must had a change of conscience since then. But one first must have a conscience to change. It is apparent the Democrats in the House, still beholden to Naifeh, likewise lack what is needed within to represent the people.

To be a Democrat in Tennessee is not to be like the ones nationally. To be a Democrat here is to be someone who tries to cheat the system that is called the ballot box and following the will of the people.

Today was another shameful day for Tennessee, in which Naifeh, Bredesen and their lackeys won at your expense once more.