After less than 24 hours of rumors and uncertainty, Rep. Tammie Wilson has struck a truce and is back with the Democrat-led majority in the House.
As of last night, she had quit that caucus, but hadn’t found a landing place. This morning things were smoothed over, and any rancor was undetectable.
The dust-up is due to the soft-on-crime legislative maneuvers of Rep. Matt Claman. He’s been gutting the governor’s rollback of SB 91, and Wilson is a proponent of the governor’s legislation. SB 91 is blamed for a major crime wave across the 49th State.
Wilson convened the House Finance Committee today and was present in the House floor session, and there were no signs of the breakdown that occurred last night in the majority.
If she had quit the caucus, Rep. Jennifer Johnston would have become co-chair of Finance, and also on the conference committee that will negotiate a final budget with the Senate.
From the Administration’s perspective, the Dunleavy camp would likely prefer Wilson to remain on Finance, since she is considered more fiscally conservative than Johnston. Wilson on the conference committee would be more likely to strike a more conservative budget deal with the Senate.
Eight Republicans have joined the caucus led by Rep. Bryce Edgmon, and they have the numbers even without Rep. Wilson. The majority has 25 members, and the Republican minority has 15.
[Read original story: Tammie Wilson walks out on Democrat caucus]
