Frustration With Sen. Williams Will Get Sen. Denton Nowhere
There is much to be said about Senate President David Williams.
We have praised him for using his leadership to stop tax increases and control spending. We have criticized him when he has failed to do so.
He routinely scores in the middle of the Senate on our scorecards for two reasons. First, he generally protects the taxpayer through his control of the schedule -- bad bills aren't even considered and we have no vote to weigh in our scorecard. Second, he generally governs by the consensus of the Senate -- even the 'controversial' things he does allow through pass with 30 to 34 votes in favor. Both of these issues make the Senate difficult to score.
What is clear regardless of the policy he pursues is that he is the force of Frankfort. As Ryan Alessi recently pointed out, Greg Stumbo was elected Speaker in large part because his caucus felt that Jody Richards was unable to stand up to President Williams:
Knocking off an incumbent legislative leader - especially one at the top - is rare.
House Speaker Greg Stumbo achieved it in 2009 with a narrow victory over Jody Richards, who had the distinction of the longest-serving speaker.
In that case, Stumbo mounted a campaign about how Williams had gotten the better of House Democrats in budget negotiations and other legislation over the years.
This year, Stumbo was shown to be just as ineffective as Richards, as he stubbornly forced a special session of the Legislature to pass a budget, yet still got rolled by Williams.
Now we learn that Sen. Julie Denton is frustrated with Williams' effective control of the process and, in an act of comedy, has declared herself a candidate for Senate President.
If a Speaker with a super-majority in his own house of the legislature can't beat him, what chance does a single, frustrated legislator have?
