Independent Speaker To Piss Off Everyone, Hopefully

Newly elected State House Speaker/professional soul stealer Denny O’Brien is in an interesting position: He’s the Republican Speaker of the House, but the Democrats hold a one-seat edge.

As you may remember, ex-Speaker — and current “Speaker Emeritus,” a new title somebody made up to make him feel better — John Perzel had a naked, sex-crazed legislator agree to vote for him so he could stay as Speaker. But then the Democrats came up with a trick of their own and randomly nominated Denny O’Brien as Speaker, getting some Republicans to vote for him instead of Perzel and giving the Democrats a chance to still have some power.

Of course, this leaves O’Brien in a tough position. He’s a Republican, so he’s not going to defer to the Democrats too much, I assume, or else the party will find someone to run against him in Northeast Philly (or something). But if he defers to the Republicans too much, the Democrats will just find somebody else to put in that spot. And if he’s totally 100 percent independent and fair, both parties are going to be begging for John Perzel to be back by the summer. (If both parties are pissed, you know he’s doing a good job.)

He tells KYW 1060’s Tony Romeo, though, he’s going to go the independent route:

“So those who see only weakness in the speaker model, do not confuse independence with ineffectiveness. To those who seek only to preserve the status quo, the public has spoken and continues to speak loudly: no more.” [Do you really think the public speaks in such angry, simple, vapid terms? Wait, that makes sense. —ed.]

O’Brien says his role as a speaker of the minority party represents a “paradigm shift” in House governance, one where the speaker will not give up authority but instead will administer it fairly across the board.

Administer it fairly across the board, eh? I give him six months until both parties hire a pack of wild dogs to tear him apart.

New Pa. House Speaker Highlights His ”Independence” [KYW 1060]