Jackson Jambalaya

"COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) - State Senator Terry Brown (R-17) of Columbus is likely to become the next Senate President Pro Tempore.

According to sources close to Lt. Governor-elect Tate Reeves, Brown is his choice to take the position, now held by Sen. Billy Hewes.

While not official, since Brown must be elected by the majority (GOP) party caucus and confirmed by the entire senate, it appears, with the backing of the Lt. Governor-elect, that he'll move into the spot when the senate reconvenes in 2012." Article

Supposedly it came down to Dean Kirby or Terry Brown. The other gentleman from Columbus made good after all. ;-) No word yet on what the chairmanship assignments will be. One little question speculated about by insiders is what do do about Hob Bryan. You see,he is considered soooooo much smarter than most of the Senate. There is one school of thought that he should be given a committee, you know, bring him in the fold, keep him happy sort of thing since he can be such a dangerous opponent. Then there is the other school which is treat him like any other Democrat and put him out in the cold.

My advice? Yes, he is very smart, yes, he has a great deal of procedural and institutional knowledge that enables him to run rings around his opponents. Yes, he can be very vindictive. However, the Lieutenant Governor-elect should put him on the outside. The Bryant team played the get along game last year and for their troubles they got to see Mr. Bryan dominate Terry Burton and the rest of the redistricting committee to the point where Phil had to fight to kill his own committee's plan. A source of no small embarrassment to the Republican Party. They can engage in detente with Mr. Bryan all they want. They give him a chairmanship and engage in other acts of so-called smart politics. All to the applause of most of the media. The problem is Mr. Bryan is very mercurial and well, will get his panties in a wad over a real or imagined slight and turn on his Republican benefactors in a heartbeat. They will regret the day they decided to be statesmen. Better to treat him as the rest of the Democrats. Treat him with respect, treat him as a fellow Senator, but make him earn any favors before he receives them. If statesmen the new leadership wants to be, there are better Democrats appoint.