For the second question put to the panel, John Becker asked about the "tone" of the session, noting that a story had just moved on the wires that Rep. Brian Kelsey had offered to back off attacks against Speaker Kent Williams in exchange for a committee chair. Becker noted that the story captures the tone moving into the current session, i.e. a lack of trust and ill will between Democrats and Republicans.

Sen. Overbey: "Well, I think it was a good time to move from the House to the Senate." He won't comment on the current controversy, but he agrees with Rep. Lois DeBerry that "you can't make this stuff up." Over his eight years in the house, he's seen the partisanship increase. Historically the General Assembly had operated in a bi-partisan manner, with a few on either extreme but with most members in the middle, and he would like to get back to that. "We run on party labels, parties are important because they reflect our overall philosophy, but when we take the oath of office and get down to work we leave that party label at the door of the chamber." The problems aren't Democrat or Republican problems, they are Tennessee's problems that we should face together and work on together. We should work together in a civil manner and the public wins. When we start playing partisan games the public loses.

Rep. Haynes: We've got problems. We've got a billion dollar budget shortage. We have education problems, we've got mental health issues. That first day wasn't fun for anybody. We've got problems and we have to work together. Playing games is not in our best interest. One of his goals as a freshman is to get to know everybody. Everyone from both parties, and especially the Knox Co. delegation with Harry Brooks and Joe Armstrong, have been wonderful and he was surprised how everyone cares for each other. On Wednesday mornings they have a Bible study with Democrats and Republicans ("believe it or not") and we sit down and pray together. "That's what Tennesseans want to see us do and that's what I intend to do."

Rep. Brooks: If the entire House of Representatives worked as well together and cooperated as well together as the Knox Co. delegation, we would accomplish a great deal. We are in a unique delegation here. That's the model we should use.

Rep. Dunn: Even if everyone decided to get together, there will still be a fiasco because the Speaker does not have the institutional wisdom or the preparation to run the House. Suddenly on Tuesday you had a person up there with the gavel who didn't know how to conduct the floor session. House members still haven't been told where their office would be or who their staff would be. This will delay things more than partisanship.

Rep. Tindell: "I'm the only Democrat here and the only one who voted for the Speaker." He thinks Speaker Williams will grow into the job and that change will be good. The same forces, the same people who come from all walks of life and all points of view, those are all still there and we will solve the issues the way we always have. It will all work out. Similar to when there's a house fire and the media comes out to cover it, some people in Nashville are starting fires to get on the news. Not everyone is doing that, and once the session gets started things will work out. There will still be some fun things to cover and sensationalism and some theater related to all the changes and the closeness of the margins. So it will be a fun time for reporter to come to Nashville to cover the legislature. In hindsight, people will be surprised by how well it all works out.

Sen. McNally: We went through a similar thing in 1986 in the Senate when Republicans supported Wilder, and two years ago when [Sen. Kurita] voted for a Republican for Lt. Governor, and it's disruptive and gives the media something to do, but over time people realize they are sent there to represent their constituents. It takes time, and as we get towards the end of the session things will be a lot better.

Sen. Burchett: Politics is a contact sport. But in America we have civil discourse and even though we have disagreements the system works. Humans are not perfect and they make mistakes and, if they didn't, your job (the media) would be pretty boring. He went to Speaker Williams and said "look, you've got two choices. You can continue firing back and this can go on forever, or we can do the people's business." He told the Speaker he'd just learned that 600 people would lose their jobs at U.T. and the state is $1 billion in debt. The politics and sensationalism are going to be over pretty quick, and when folks start losing their jobs and they see that billion dollar deficit, and we're still fighting over politics, the average citizen isn't going to follow that, they're going to follow the bad things going on in our state while we're fighting.

PREVIOUSLY:

• ETSPJ 106th General Assembly preview

• Part I: Legislative priorities