Inside Baseball: How Roger Bedford almost turned the legislative session on its head

I’m just going to come right out and say it: Roger Bedford is good.

Did he deserve the distinction of being named one of Yellowhammer’s Top 5 Tax & Spenders in the legislature? Yes.

Do I disagree with him on essentially every major issue that comes before the state legislature? Sure.

Does he personify everything that is wrong with the incestuous, self-serving culture that has existed in Montgomery for decades? Absolutely.

But Senator Bedford is one of the savviest operators in the State House.

His unique skill set was on full display last Thursday night in the Senate where he came pretty close to single-handedly turning the entire legislative session on its head.

Before I get into exactly what Senator Bedford did in the Senate Thursday night, it’s important to understand that Senate rules make it possible for a very small number of Senators to grind the process to a halt. While it is true that the Republican super-majority can pass any legislation on which they unanimously agree, all it takes is a couple of defectors — or absentees — to stop most legislation.

As we’ve seen since Republicans passed the Accountability Act, an angry minority can slow Senate operations to a crawl. Deal making is often necessary to keep the wheels turning, so it’s a smart play to occasionally appease the minority when opportunities present themselves.

Peace broke out Thursday evening after a group of Senate Democrats cut a deal with Senate Pro Tem Del Marsh to get one of their bills up for a vote. Marsh agreed to allow the bill to get an up or down vote, and in return, Democrats would immediately let him get the mic back and allow Republicans to continue passing bills without filibustering.

A bill sponsored by Senator Billy Beasley (D- Clayton) passed without any trouble and Senator Marsh proceeded to carry one with Senate business. But the mic was yielded to Senator Bedford, who immediately began filibustering.

It was about 9 p.m., and the Senate was sent into chaos.

Senator Bedford made it clear that he had not been privy to any deal between Republicans and Democrats to allow Senate business to continue. In spite of the pleas from his colleagues on both sides of the aisle, Bedford said had no intentions of honoring an agreement he had nothing to do with.

Normally this would only mean that Republicans would have to invoke cloture to get Bedford off the mic. Cloture requires three-fifths of the members present to vote for it. With thirty-five members of the senate, that means twenty-one votes would meet the three-fifths threshold. There are twenty-three Republican Senators.

Unfortunately, after Republicans and Democrats had reached a temporary peace agreement earlier in the evening, at least five Republicans had left. The Senate was now at the mercy of Senator Bedford. His timing could not have been any better.

The twenty-sixth day of the legislative Session is the last day Senate bills can be sent to the House without unanimous consent. Because the legislature works Tuesday-Thursday, this coming Tuesday was set to be that day. But if Bedford and his cohorts retained control of the mic until 12:01 Friday morning, Friday would suddenly become the twenty-sixth day of the session, and therefore the last day Senate bills could be transmitted to the House without every senator agreeing.

Serving in the legislature is a part-time job, so almost all legislators work their “regular” job Mondays and Fridays during the session. So several Republican legislators would not have been able to come on Friday. This would have left Republicans without enough votes for cloture on Friday, meaning many of the GOP’s top legislative priorities would not have been passed the Senate in time to go down to the House for final passage.

Bedford had the GOP right where he wanted them.

Phone calls were made and Senate Republicans who had left earlier in the evening were told to make a mad dash back to the State House before midnight. Senators from as far as two and a half hours away jumped in their cars to try to beat the clock.

In the end, in order to get Senator Bedford off of the mic, Republicans had to agree to stop for the day and not proceed passing bills that had come up from the House — which is what the earlier agreement between the two sides was allowing Republicans to do.

Senator Bedford was stopped short of completely derailing the end of the session, but roughly 230 House messages (bills, resolutions, etc.) were left untouched Thursday night because Senators Bedford successfully hijacked the process.

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