The undeniably biggest story of week one of the regular session was House Speaker Jim Tucker’s decision to unseat committee members who may have switched their votes in the election of Speaker Pro Tem Joel Robideaux of Lafayette, who has no party affiliation and was backed by Tucker, R-Algiers. Some lawmakers who voted for the opposition, Rep. Noble Ellington, D-Winnsboro, are on the outs, and others who supported Robideaux have new assignments. It has become strikingly obvious that the Easter break did little to soothe nerves regarding the shake-up in House leadership and even less to bury the story.
Robideaux, Ellington and Tucker urged the House Monday to move on and put the controversy in the past. But noticeably absent from the House proceedings was Rep. John Schroder, R-Covington, who supported Ellington and lost his seat on the House Appropriations Committee, arguably the most influential panel in the Legislature. Sources close to Schroder say he took the holiday weekend to actually consider resigning from the House.
Schroder has not spoken publicly about the incident yet, and some comments—his and others’—are expected from the floor this afternoon when the House convenes at 4 p.m. Schroder will “reflect on his frustration at being called a liar by Speaker Tucker,” the source says, referring to the disagreement over whether Schroder originally promised his vote to Robideaux. In short, the Big Story from week one may very well bleed over into week two. —Jeremy Alford
