In West Virginia
politics, it can be helpful to look backward for a better understanding of what
may happen moving forward.
Take 2007, for example. Things were different.
Gus Douglass
showed no signs of slowing down, the food tax was worth complaining about, Gov.
Joe Manchin was celebrating the
state's recent privatization of the workers' compensation system, the state's
first class of Promise scholars had recently graduated from college, the idea
of a U.S. Senate without Robert C. Byrd
was just a faint fear, and the House of
Delegates had 72 Democrats and 28 Republicans.
Bob Kiss, a
Democrat from Raleigh County, had just wrapped up nearly 10 years as speaker of
the House, and Rick Thompson,
D-Wayne, who was first elected to the Legislature in 1980, had risen above the
speculation of new leadership to become the 55th speaker of the House of
Delegates.
Rumors swirled at that time about whether the long-time
leadership team in place would assume the next steps or if the sometimes
criticized "closed-door" style the House had known for years would be
re-assembled.
Familiar Rumors
As the dust settles from the 2012 General Election, a cycle
when Republicans made a monumental gain of 11 seats in the House of Delegates
narrowing the divide to 54 Democrats and 46 Republicans, the political rumor
mill is making familiar turns, sending up smoke signals of SOS for Thompson's
reign as speaker.
Several names of potential future speakers have been bandied
around the Capitol and the Capitol City
by political gadflies and others. Some of those names include long-time members
of the Chamber as well as newer members who are seen as more moderate than
Thompson or others within his leadership circle. Some people also are talking
about Republicans teaming with moderate Democrats to elect a conservative
Democrat as speaker
"I think, initially, when there's a gain in an election like
there has been for the Republicans, there's some jockeying for position — some
asking to see and testing the waters, if you will," said Wyoming County
Prosecuting Attorney Rick Staton
during a phone interview Nov. 13.
Staton spent 16 years in the House of Delegates as a
Democrat from Wyoming County
and was the House Majority Leader under Kiss for three sessions.
"Ultimately, people see two things: they are well-suited
with the current leadership, and it's not in the interest of the party to try
to have infighting at a time when Republicans have made gains," Staton said.
Staton said he remembers a few times during his time at the Legislature when a few people said they
would go up against Speaker Kiss, and even before his time, former Speaker Chuck Chambers. But those people always
decided in the end not throw their hats into the ring.
"This is an outside observation, but Thompson's inner circle
seems to be strong," Staton said. "I look to see more changes in the
Legislature as they approach policy matters as opposed to the way they will
approach leadership."
A Former Speaker's
Memories
Kiss said in a Nov. 14 phone interview he could only recall
one challenge to leadership during both his and Chambers' time as speaker
combined.
"Everybody loves to talk about it, I guess," Kiss said. "The
dynamic is definitely different this time; it's a much closer situation."
Kiss, an attorney with Bowles
Rice, said the decisions about leadership are made in closed-door meetings,
and although it's easy for the public and the press to speculate, the only
people who know what will happen are those who are directly involved.
"Once the caucuses are determined, they will get in there
and put forward the speaker candidate, and I recall a couple of instances where
a few delegates would abstain and refuse to vote … but that's rare, and I don't
recall anyone ever crossing lines," Kiss said. "One other thing I would say
that gets lost here, and I've often told people, a lot of people think they can
influence the speaker's race, but it's an unusual dynamic.
"It's a closed, party function, not a public function, and
it's difficult to influence that from afar."
Kiss said he saw a lot of jockeying for leadership positions
during his time as speaker, and it's one of the most important functions of the
speaker.
He also pointed out that strong relationships are formed
within the party during election season. Kiss said there was a separate,
Democratic caucus when he was in office that had the goal of electing more
Democrats to the Legislature. He said he and his leadership team traveled to
other areas of the state to attend campaign events for other candidates and
often gave their own surplus campaign funds as legal donations below the $1,000
limit to other candidates.
"Assuming they've done something similar to that, … going to
other members' districts and raising money for them and actually giving them
money in a proper way … creates a dynamic and a cohesion," Kiss said. "They may
want to talk about conservative and liberal Democrats, but that creates a
dynamic of the team sticking together."
Kiss said while the press enjoys discussing the different
leadership possibilities, a change could be a possibility this time, but other
problems would arise.
Speaker selection is
simple math
"It's a simple math equation," Kiss said. "Obviously as the
number gets closer and closer, you could see the possibility of a couple of
people switching, but you wind up with a bunch of other issues.
"With one party, if several people are disgruntled and they
switch, what's the end result going to be? Are they going to be voting for the
other party's candidate for speaker?"
Kiss said if Republicans vote for a Democratic speaker, then
the speaker will be saddled with deciding the chairmen for committees.
"It gets difficult to get through all that without having
the whole thing collapse," Kiss said.
One man who was on the bottom during the Kiss years is
former Minority Leader Charlie Trump
who served in the House as a Republican from Morgan County and now practices
law in Berkeley Springs.
"During the 14 years I served in the House of Delegates, we
never had anything like the numbers they have now," Trump said during a Nov. 13
telephone interview. "But I can say this, going from a much lower number to 46
members for a minority party changes lots of things everywhere, or it at least
has the potential."
Trump said he can't even imagine what it would be like to
look around the House Chambers and see such a large number of fellow
Republicans, but he's eager to observe what the balance will bring.
"I like to say that neither party has a monopoly on good
ideas, nor does either party have a monopoly on crazy ideas, and if you have a
majority and a minority who are fairly well balanced, I think it can provide a
good check to prevent bad ideas from coming into existence."
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