Rep. O'Brien of Philadelphia elected speaker (PA Dems elect a Republican)

[Freddie Stubbs]

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

By Tom Barnes and Tracie Mauriello, Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau

HARRISBURG -- Philadelphia Republican Dennis M. O'Brien has been elected speaker of the House.

Mr. O'Brien, who has served in the House for nearly 30 years and chaired the House Judiciary Committee in the last session, received 105 votes over Republican John Perzel's 97.

This sets up the unusual situation of having a Republican speaker in a Democratically controlled House.

Democratic Rep. H. William DeWeese nominated Mr. O'Brien, a longtime rival of incumbent Speaker John Perzel, also a Philadelphia Republican.

more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07002/750660-100.stm

The Harrisburg patriot-News is reporting that O'Brien may switch parties:

http://www.pennlive.com/newslogs/patriotnews/index.ssf?/mtlogs/penn_patriotnews/archives/2007_01.html#220880

[xultar]

1. hummm that's different. I can't wait to see how this plays out. It could be

a brilliant move or the kiss of death.

[LynneSin]

2. What kind of crack were those democrats smoking

:grr:

[Freddie Stubbs]

4. I guess they figure that he is better than Perzel

Obviously they didn't have the votes to elect DeWeese.

[Junkdrawer]

9. Read this earlier thread. It was all the Dems could do due to a traitor...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2671332&mesg_id=2671332

[Pab Sungenis]

3. It's not as bad as it sounds.

O'Brien is a lot better than Perzel would have been, and the Democratic Minority Leader is someone who really deserves to go away.

[wisteria]

5. Well, lets hope O'Brien does switch his party to Democrat. n/t

[CANDO]

6. Brilliant maneuver! This is after a Democrat promised to vote for R. Perzel.

There must have been some major maneuvering going on behind the scenes on this one. What an awesome move if this guy switches parties.

[hogwyld]

7. The only problem with these guys switching

Is that there will be a tendancy to pull the entire party over to the right. Besides, maybe this guy would have been more than happy to stay R if his party was still in power, and this could be nothing more than a pure bandwagon move.

[Freddie Stubbs]

10. Would you prefer a Republican Speaker, a Republican majority, and

a more left-leaning Democratic Caucus (which has little or no power)?

[Junkdrawer]

8. K&R

[Generic Brad]

11. Is there a precedent for this in American history?

I have never heard of anything like this happening before.

[Gman]

12. ...totally unrelated to this thread...

re: your pic

I can just hear Dana Carvey right now doing Ross Perot: YOU'RE NOT LISTENING! YOU'RE NOT LISTENING!