Off to the Dungeon
Sen. Mike Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, has discovered the consequences of challenging the king and losing. Waddoups reportedly came within one vote of unseating Senate President John Valentine, R-0rem in the Senate leadership elections held shortly after the general election last month.
But lose he did and now he gets the thanks for trying to upend the apple cart. Committee assignments have been made in the Senate and guess who no longer is Rules Committee Chairman? Waddoups has been replaced in that powerful spot by Sen. Bill Hickman, R-St. George. But Waddoups does get to be co-chair of the Executive Offices and Criminal Justice Appropriations Committee. Big whoop.
The consequence of Waddoups' big fall is that Salt Lake County now has no member is a key leadership position in the Senate. Valentine and Majority Leader Curtis Bramble, R-Provo, are both from Utah County, and Majority Whip Dan Eastman, R-Bountiful, and Assistant Whip Sheldon Killpack, R-Syracuse, are from Davis County. On the House side, the only Salt Lake County representative in a leadership position is Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy.
Cheers,
Paul Rolly
But lose he did and now he gets the thanks for trying to upend the apple cart. Committee assignments have been made in the Senate and guess who no longer is Rules Committee Chairman? Waddoups has been replaced in that powerful spot by Sen. Bill Hickman, R-St. George. But Waddoups does get to be co-chair of the Executive Offices and Criminal Justice Appropriations Committee. Big whoop.
The consequence of Waddoups' big fall is that Salt Lake County now has no member is a key leadership position in the Senate. Valentine and Majority Leader Curtis Bramble, R-Provo, are both from Utah County, and Majority Whip Dan Eastman, R-Bountiful, and Assistant Whip Sheldon Killpack, R-Syracuse, are from Davis County. On the House side, the only Salt Lake County representative in a leadership position is Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy.
Cheers,
Paul Rolly
11:46 AM
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2 Comments:
This is a real loss - I have not always agreed with Senator Waddoups, but he has always listened to me, and one time, he went out on a limb for a bill I was supporting, and literally helped raise it from the dead. Senator Hickman, on the other hand, has never really listened to anything I have to say. He does kiss my hand a lot, acting very courteous while telling me, very politely, that there's no way in hell he'll ever support anything important to me.
Re: Senate Leadership Elections
11 votes (out of 21 caucus members) constitutes a majority. In Senate Leadership races we count until we reach eleven votes and then stop.
I was one of only three people in the room when we counted those ballots and can verify that we stopped at the magic number and left remaining ballots uncounted. In this race no one knows the final count, not even us.
I don't blame you for writing what your source told you ("Waddoups reportedly came within one vote of unseating Senate President John Valentine ...."), but I want to make it clear that NO ONE is privy to that information, not even those who physically counted the ballots.
Best,
RC
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