There was a surprising result in the vote for Speaker yesterday as a Republican, Clay Schexnayder, won the job with the majority of his support coming from Democrats.
Political analyst Bernie Pinsonat says it was a good day for Governor Edwards, who looked set to start his second term with a lot more Legislative opposition than in his first term.
“He lost the Senate, and they really were only two Republicans short of having a supermajority in the House, and yet the group of Republicans that won didn’t win with Republicans, they won with a majority of Democrats,” says Pinsonat.
Pinsonat says that gives the Governor additional leverage for legislative influence.
It’s a blow to Senator John Kennedy and AG Jeff Landry, who pushed all Republicans to vote for the Speaker who received the most Republican support. Pinsonat says it’s a loss, but not a defeat for the two’s statewide political ambitions.
“Will Kennedy and Landry sit idly by? Probably not, they can obviously raise a lot of money, they have a lot of power,” says Pinsonat.
Albany Rep. Sherman Mack was defeated by Schexnayder 60-45.
The move temporarily boosts the short term political prospects of moderate Republicans who backed Schexnayder, but Pinsonat says it’s likely damaging to their long term political careers.
“If any of them set out to run statewide, it will be easier for a challenger to point out that they sided with Democrats versus the United States Senator, the Attorney General, and Republicans in general,” says Pinsonat.
