Are House Democrats starting the coming legislative session in disorganized disarray? It’s been three weeks since the election and newly-crowned House Speaker Mark Ferrandino has yet to appoint anyone to head State House committees.
After the 2010 elections, Republicans had committee chairs in place only 8 days after the election. What’s causing the hold up this time around?
Sources inside the Capitol share accounts of discord as Democrats jockey and backstab for committee chairmanships. In fact, the Peak has heard that Ferrandino will increase the number of House committees to placate unruly Democrats.
Liberals in the Democratic Party have made no secret of their disdain for Ferrandino when he gave the finger to big labor bosses by supporting GOP efforts to bring much needed reforms to our public education system in the form of Senate Bill 191 in 2010. Besides, as minority leader, Ferrandino was consistently rolled by his caucus, so why should his nascent rise to fame be any different?
If Ferrandino capitulates to the liberals in his caucus on committees and chairmen, we shouldn’t expect much in terms of bipartisan leadership from him, and Guv Hick should be concerned enough to keep his veto pen close by.
Truth is this: Who Ferrandino appoints as chairmen will say a lot about whether he will take a hard liberal turn, or whether he’ll buck his caucus and strike a more moderate tone. Will he appoint labor shills to head key committees on business and education, or will he appoint education reformers and small business people to head them?
If Ferrandino is smart and shows courage and leadership, he’ll buck the liberals who rule his caucus and strike a new tone of common ground within the Democratic Party. He wont placate hard-liners by creating new committees, and he’ll reject hard-left ideologues in favor of appointing mainstream moderates to head key committees.
Truth also is this: he’s running out of time before the mainstream press begins to catch on. Day 21 and still nothing.
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