Rep. Lawerence Denney plans to gather his 57-member Republican caucus this week to make amends for his botched attempt at firing Dolores Crow, a woman he calls “an institution.”
“I’ll probably just apologize if I made any of them uncomfortable and explain kind of what I did and why,” the House speaker told me Thursday. “That’s probably about it.”
The Midvale Republican’s misstep is by no means the first in a six-year reign. The blowback has been more intense because it included revered former Gov. Phil Batt, who said Denney sullied the redistricting process by introducing rank partisanship to a reformed system approved by voters in 1994.
But there’s a far greater force at play than a publicity snafu over trying to force Crow from the redistricting commission.
Lawerence Denney is playing King Lear. Instead of three daughters he can’t figure out, he has three ambitious men who aspire to the throne and don’t want to wait until 2014 to be crowned. House Majority Leader Mike Moyle of Star, Assistant Majority Leader Scott Bedke of Oakley and GOP Caucus Chairman Ken Roberts of Donnelly seek to rise after the 2012 election.
“They’re all ambitious, and I can’t fault them for that,” Denney said. “That’s part of who they are. That’s part of why they’re here.”
Distinguishing treachery from love — a task that drove Lear to madly rage through English storm and shrubland — leaves Denney sounding resigned to his fate. He intends to run for a fourth term as speaker in December but sounds OK with losing and returning to service as an ordinary representative.
“I’m not here to be somebody,” he said. “It might actually be kind of good because I haven’t had an opportunity to work on legislation. I’m not real comfortable any more being on the floor presenting a bill. If I’m wrong, and the caucus thinks I’m totally wrong, I’m willing to accept that.”
That may sound weak, but Denney’s passive style has long been an anomaly in a House accustomed to dominating speakers like Tom Stivers, Tom Boyd, Mike Simpson and Bruce Newcomb, who holds the longevity mark for speakers at eight years.
Denney’s hangdog attitude should spare him when he faces his peers behind closed doors. My guess: They’ll warmly accept his contrition.
But this miscalculation has the feel of a last straw, freeing Denney’s underlings to openly flash their ambition.
Bedke made a point of telling reporters he wasn’t consulted about the plan hatched by Denney and outgoing Idaho GOP Chairman Norm Semanko to can Crow and another former House member, Randy Hansen.
Bedke spoke minutes before the Idaho Supreme Court rejected Denney and Semanko’s gambit. “If I had been, I would have expressed some reluctance about going down this road.”
Roberts, also left out, said, “In hindsight, it would have been better to have had more communication with our caucus.”
Roberts protested that he’s not part of any court intrigue: “Don’t play the card that I want to be speaker. I mean, someday down the road.”
Moyle was the second member of leadership aware of the plan, having attended meetings with Denney and Semanko. Denney explained that Moyle “just happened to be here,” while Bedke and Roberts “weren’t here,” a perfect example of Denney’s ad hoc style.
Moyle defended Denney for trying to jettison Crow. To hear him tell it, it’s not the story of hamhandedness we’ve heard. Moyle said Crow didn’t keep the speaker apprised of the commission’s work in October, when it wrote a legislative map later rejected by the Supreme Court. “If you have people that are doing harm to the whole, then you replace them,” he said.
After 24 years in the House, a lifetime as a GOP activist and a fabled foe of tax hikes, Crow was immune to claims she abandoned her party. “Dolores is the most Republican of Republicans,” said Rep. Mack Shirley, R-Rexburg. “Good grief!”
Shirley, passed over by Denney as Education Committee chairman, may harbor resentment. But Rep. Steve Thayn, R-Emmett, a key vote in making Denney speaker six years ago, also is critical, saying, “I wouldn’t have handled it that way.”
In our talk, Denney was gracious and open. Though still miffed at Crow, he said, “I would hope that after this is all over we could still be friends.” Crow still sounds angry, saying she never heard from Denney, either. Denney said he left a verbal request with Hansen to have Crow contact him, but Hansen said he doesn’t recall the request.
After 14 years in leadership, Denney admits to wonder at his rise. “I didn’t aspire to be speaker or even in leadership. I’m probably the least likely of all four of us to get out there and be the hard pusher to be speaker.”
Denney’s office walls are hung with animal pelts, while a portrait of his grandkids rests on the carpet. “My wife thinks I should redecorate, take the hides down,” he mused. “My grandkids sit on the floor while I got hides on the wall.”
Denney’s larger family of Republicans may well have a more ambitious makeover in mind — to depose a king of the House who has too often, like poor Lear, played the fool.
Dan Popkey: 377-6438
