“I moved up in there in that little hole, that’s what I call it,” said Williams, an independent from Carter County. Granted, the mail is no longer being delivered to that ground floor office in the War Memorial Building, which is attached to Legislative Plaza where most public meetings take place. Postal services have moved to the basement of the plaza during the legislative off-season. But Williams’ new digs are pretty lonely. His closest neighbor is a fellow former House speaker, Rep. Jimmy Naifeh, D-Covington, and the rest of the floor is mainly occupied by staff offices.

“For the second consecutive year the Tennessee General Assembly website has received an award for being the best legislative website in the nation,” said Speaker Kent Williams. “These awards demonstrate the hard work which went into our redesign has paid off, and also exhibit the transparency our website provides to the citizens of our state.”

State Representative and House Majority Leader Jason Mumpower (R-Bristol) announced Thursday that he will not seek re-election this November to the 3rd State House District. In a statement to the Tennessee House of Representatives on the House floor Thursday morning, Mumpower expressed his gratitude to the people he has represented in the 3rd District during his 14 years of service in Nashville. He was only 23 and was a recent graduate from King College when he won his first term two-year term as a state representative. “I am so grateful to the people in Sullivan and Johnson Counties for their support of me,” Mumpower said. “It has been an honor to serve them, and I have thoroughly enjoyed the challenge. I’ve lost a lot of hair and put what I can only guess is more than 270,000 interstate miles on my cars driving from Bristol to Nashville to serve the 3rd District. I have made many, many friends, and I thank all of you for those friendships.” In 2008, Mumpower led House Republicans to the first ever House Republican majority in the history of Tennessee. He was elected by his colleagues in December 2006 to serve as Republican Leader, and was re-elected to the position in 2008. Mumpower was first elected to the Tennessee House in 1996. “Jason Mumpower is my representative, my longtime friend, and my ally,” said Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey. “I’m proud he led the House to its first Republican majority in history. I have been proud to call him my representative for these past years.” In his remarks to the House, Mumpower told the story of an interview with Bill Watterson, the creator and writer of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. At the height of its popularity, Watterson simply stopped writing Calvin and Hobbes without explanation. Fifteen years later, in a rare interview when Watterson was asked why he stopped, he replied, “It’s always better to leave the party early.” “Leader Mumpower has led the caucus with distinction for four years,” said House Republican Caucus Chairman Glen Casada. “He has held together this caucus through some very difficult times. I have been fortunate to be able to work alongside him and to call him a friend.” Mumpower said he looks forward to the rest of this session of the 106th General Assembly. He added he “looks forward to the challenges ahead,” after his current service comes to a close. “The benefit of having been first elected at the young age of 23 is that I could serve for 14 years here at the legislature and still be able to start a new phase in my career before I turn 40,” Mumpower said. Mumpower will serve out his term through the end of 2010. A new representative for the 3rd House District will be elected this November.

According to sources, House Speaker Kent Williams, acting at the request of Democratic leaders, already has dismissed the intern, who has been identified as Blake Graves who was working in the office of Rep. Karen Camper, D-Memphis. "It was offensive to Asians," says our source, just to mention one of the pictures. Democrats think they can claim the upper hand in this little contretemps because their staffer has been fired, unlike the Republican offender, Sherri Goforth, who was merely reprimanded.