State Rep. John Litz (D-Morristown) announced Friday that 2010 will be his last year as a state legislator and that he will retire from the Tennessee House of Representatives. "It has been one of my greatest honors serving the people of Morristown, Hamblen County and the people of Tennessee as a state representative," said Litz. "I want to thank all of my supporters, especially those that voted for me, and let you know that I look forward to continuing to serve you in new ways." Litz says he expects to make a formal announcement about his future plans in the coming days.

John Litz is a valuable member of our Democratic Leadership Team. He has represented the people of Morristown and Hamblen County with Honor and he will be Missed by me. He has made a personel family decision and will again serve the people of Hamblen County. We have known since January of John's decision and have found a great candidate for that district and I look forward to the announcement.

House Democratic leader Gary Odom, who would normally break an arm to jump in front of a camera, failed to show today for his party caucus' weekly news conference. He had an appointment that he just had to keep, his top minion, Skip Cauthorn, told the press.

Rep. Mike Turner, the House Democratic Caucus Chairman, and Rep. John Litz of Morristown sat down with reporters to give a new timeline, one that leaves Odom almost completely out of the picture. In this version, Litz begins asking around about a Republican candidate who could play the foil to Rep. Jason Mumpower. By the second week of December, Williams comes to Litz to see if the Democrats can deliver, but Litz only tells "Speaker Naifeh and one other individual that day," according to a timeline he released. Odom, who says Naifeh was out of the loop, is mentioned once in Litz's timeline: The two speak during a caucus meeting, during which Odom "informed me that he had spoken to Rep. Williams and mentioned the Speakership to him around Thanksgiving." Litz says at that point he and Naifeh decided to keep the Williams Plan quiet until the day of the vote. Turner said in today's interview that Litz's timeline was not meant to contradict Odom, but it's obvious that House Democrats are quickly coming to the defense of Naifeh, and at the expense of Odom.

Would I donate money to a friend of mine from the other side of the aisle? Absolutely not - not unless they weren’t really on the other side of the aisle. I have some good friends - people that I love talking with and with whom I have lots in common other than political views - that I would never, ever, want elected to public office. Why? Because I am so vehemently opposed to their political world views. Friendship has nothing to do with it. I’m “friends” with David Davis, and I’m sure we agree on some issues, but I’m not going to vote for him much less give money to his campaign…so what gives?

Williams turned to criticizing the lawmakers who criticized the donation, saying about Reps Chris Crider, Eric Swafford and Mike Bell that, "they haven't accomplished very much in their home districts. It's people like this who are killing our Republican Party ... I dare say that if a Democrat introduced legislation to give every one in the state a goose that laid the golden egg, these three would vote against it."