[Analysis] Rep. Gene Taylor Gets Ovation for Pelosi Vote
In an excellent column about Nancy Pelosi’s positive messages for women in politics, our friend Bill Minor tells a fun story about Congressman Gene Taylor:
Obviously she didn’t please some House Democrats such as Mississippi’s 4th District Gene Taylor, who in 2001 and 2003 voted for his “Blue Dog” colleague, John Murtha of Pennsylvania, for minority leader. That’s why this time when the conservative Taylor voted for Pelosi as speaker, his party colleagues gave him a standing ovation. “Just teasing me,” Taylor said later. Significantly, in December when House Democrats selected a new majority leader, Pelosi backed Murtha instead of Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland who won the post. Pelosi said she supported Murtha (some pundits called it a misstep) out of loyalty to Murtha, a decorated Vietnam War veteran and staunch defense backer. His call a year ago for the U.S. to begin disengagement in Iraq started a shift of public opinion against the war and helped Democrats on Nov. 7.
Gene Taylor, by the way, got a choice committee assignment out of Pelosi: chairman of the House Armed Services subcommittee in charge of shipbuilding, a plum for him, since the huge Northrup-Grumman (Ingalls) shipyard is a major employer in his district.
Posted by ladd at 02:37 PM in MS Newspapers, Analysis, National, US Congress | Email this entry
Comments:
OK, there’s a mistake somewhere. That same column is in The Clarion-Ledger today, bylined Bill Minor.
The Desk will update this as soon as we know for sure who wrote it.
Posted by on 01/12 at 03:44 PM | #
It was Bill Minor. If you scroll down to the bottom of the “Joe Rutherford” version, it says:
Bill Minor is a syndicated columnist who has covered Mississippi politics since 1947. His address is Box 1243, Jackson, MS 39215.
One hell of a non sequitur if he didn’t writeit. But the $64,000 question is: Why did they put “Joe Rutherford” in the byline?
Cheers,
TH
Posted by Tom Head on 01/12 at 07:08 PM | #
