Pope versus Morgan - Chapter 4 - The Purge

Carter Wrenn posted on May 04, 2006 16:44

The usual way to eliminate an opponent, politically, is to defeat him in an election. A simpler way – when the legislature redraws its districts – is to put him in someone else’s district.

After he was elected Co-Speaker, Richard Morgan took Leo Daughtry out of his district and put him in a district with Republican Representative Billy Creech. He did the same thing with three other Republicans who had opposed him. And he moved four other Republicans into districts that favored Democrats (where they were later defeated).

Then Morgan announced he was targeting several additional Republicans who had opposed him in their primaries.

As Co-Speaker, Morgan was, politically, in a much stronger position than his opponents. He could raise the money to fund campaigns to defeat his opponents – and no individual legislator could match him. One major reason he failed was former State Representative Art Pope.

Before the 2004 primaries, Pope endorsed the legislators Morgan targeted for defeat. Then he – and members of his family – contributed to their campaigns. Then, along with several other Daughtry supporters, Pope set up a ‘527’ group – an ‘issues advocacy group – and helped fund it with $400,000 of his own money. Then the group began running ads criticizing Morgan’s supporters – and Morgan – in their districts. Subsequently, four of Morgan’s allies were defeated in the primaries – and Morgan only won reelection by 250 votes.

In 2004, Richard Morgan did not question Art Pope’s use of a ‘527’ group to debate issues during the election. In fact, Richard set up his own ‘527’ group, funded it with corporate money and ran ads of his own.

But that was about to change.

In the fall of 2004, the Democrats retook control of the State House, and, with a Democratic majority, Jim Black no longer needed Republican votes to be elected Speaker. But Morgan decided to continue his ‘alliance’ with Black by running for – with the support of House Democrats – Speaker Pro Tem, the number two position in the House.

The office is largely ceremonial, and powerless, but Morgan’s decision sent a clear message to other Republicans; he was continuing his ‘alliance’ with Jim Black and even if Republicans elected a majority in 2006 to retake control of the House – Morgan could again form a coalition with Black to return to power.

So, in primaries this year, Art Pope again targeted Richard Morgan and his allies for defeat.

To be continued tomorrow…Chapter 5 – “The 2006 Republican Primaries”

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