Petition Act of Desperation: Speaker Williams Seeks Out Carter Co. Non-Bona Fides for GOP Creds

Petition circulating to reinstate Williams in party
http://www.starhq.com/news/html/news/articles/articles.asp?day=Friday&article=nw-kentwreinstate.html

By Steve Burwick
Star Staff
sburwick@starhq.com

A petition is currently being circulated by Tennessee House Speaker Kent Williams' campaign committee to have him reinstated as a bonafide member of the state Republican Party.

After Republican Representative Williams of Carter County was elected as Speaker of the House by the unanimous vote of the Democratic members, plus his own vote (50-49), Williams was stripped of his state party membership.



Speaker Kent Williams
Carter County Republican-Elizabethton
District 4 — Carter County
http://www.capitol.tn.gov/house/members/h4.html

Tennessee Republican Party Chairwoman Robin Smith made the decision to oust Williams from the party following an uproar over Williams' election to House Speaker over the Republicans' choice of Jason Mumpower of Sullivan County.

"Why did it make a difference to them who the Speaker of the House is, as long as it was a Republican, unless there was an ultimate agenda there that they're not willing to disclose?" said Williams' sister, Judy Veeneman, who helps manage his campaign. "The other problem is that with 60 or 80 some executive members of the Tennessee Republican Party, and one person has the ultimate decision to kick somebody out of the party, it ought to be unconstitutional because the people of Carter County voted Kent in as a Republican. If the people of Carter County don't want him to be a Republican, then the people of Carter County should vote him out. I think it takes away the rights of the voters."

Veeneman said it should not matter whether those who sign the petition provide proof that they are registered Republicans.

"The representative for Carter County or any other district is charged with representing the whole district," she said. "It doesn't matter what party affiliation you have. And as Speaker of the House, Kent is charged with representing every citizen in the state of Tennessee, so therefore we have petitions that are just for Carter County citizens and we have petitions that say 'I'm a citizen of the state of Tennessee,' for that reason. They should all have a say."

Veeneman indicated the petition is being widely circulated.

"We've sent the petitions to a lot of people, and we just ask for original signatures," she said. "They can mail them to us, they can drop them by the office or we can pick them up. Anybody that is eligible to vote and is a resident of Tennessee can sign the petition."