Legislators who have Served as Speaker and Top Senate Leader

by Karl Kurtz

An article yesterday in nola.com (New Orleans Times-Picayune) reports on Gov. Bobby Jindal's endorsement of Sen. John Alario as the next president of the Lousiana Senate, an event usually tantamount to election to that position according to the traditions of Louisiana politics. Alario served as speaker of the House as a Democrat during the governorship of Edwin Edwards. He has served in the Legislature since 1971 and switched from Democrat to Republican 10 months ago.

The article goes on to quote me on the history of legislators serving as speaker and top senate leader:

If Alario is elected Senate president, he would be the second Louisiana lawmaker in modern times to preside over both chambers.

The first was the John Hainkel, a New Orleans Republican, who served as speaker from 1980 to 1984 under the state's first modern-era GOP governor, David Treen, and as Senate president from 2000 to 2004 under Gov. Mike Foster.

At the time, Hainkel was the first legislative leader in the nation to serve in both capacities, said Karl Kurtz, a researcher at the National Conference of State Legislatures, a clearinghouse for legislative issues. Alario would be the fourth lawmaker in the nation to hold both presiding offices.

Well, I was wrong--on more than one count!

The three other top leaders of two chambers that my colleagues and I thought we could remember were Hainkel, Bill Harris of Ohio and Elizabeth "Libby" Mitchell of Maine. Once I did some fact checking (after talking to the reporter), though, it turns out that, while Harris of Ohio was widely believed to be in line to become speaker in 2000, he never actually assumed that office because he was appointed to fill a Senate vacancy. He did go on to become president of the Senate. Strike one for my memory.

Strike two came when Tyler Bridges, a former reporter in Florida who had read the Louisiana story, e-mailed me to say that Mallory Horne had been the top leader in both chambers of the Florida Legislature before John Hainkel pulled off that trick in Louisiana. Horne served as speaker of the Florida House, 1963-64, and as president of the Senate, 1973-74.

In my defense, I had told the Louisiana reporter that our information was what we could remember during our time working with state legislatures. Horne's service as speaker in the 1960s was before the time of any of us on the NCSL staff, but I did know him when he was Senate president, knew that he had been speaker and should have remembered him.

So here's what belated fact checking reveals: Horne of Florida, Hainkel of Louisiana and Mitchell of Maine are the three legislators that we know of since 1970 who led both chambers in their state legislatures. Alario will become the fourth--and the first and the second after Hainkel to do it under two different party banners--if he is indeed elected president by his fellow members. [Correction, 1/7/12]

If anyone wants to deliver strike three (it's World Series time after all) by coming up with other legislators who have served as speaker and president, we would welcome the information. Send us an e-mail or offer a comment below.

Photo credits: Richard Alan Hannon, The Advocate via AP at nola.com and Wikipedia.

Comments

[Karl Kurtz]

Washington Senate staff sent this comment:

"Washington State has had two Speakers later elected to preside over the Senate. In the case of J. G. Megler, it was reversed. He was elected President Pro Tempore in 1901 and later elected to the House and became Speaker in 1905. Howard Taylor was President Pro Tempore in 1913 after serving as Speaker in 1911 & 1913.

"The caveats: Speakers in Washington prior to the 1930s and 40s were essentially ceremonial and power was wielded from the floor by what we now call the majority/floor leader. Rarely did the Speaker hold the gavel for more than one session as it was passed around to whomever was deemed next most deserving of the honorific. The majority leader began assuming the Speaker’s chair in the 1950s and, unless a compromise candidate was elected, leadership has since been consolidated with the office.

"The history of legislative power on the Senate side is remarkably reversed. While our Lt. Governors serve as Presidents of the Senate, the President Pro Tempore prior to the 1950s was the recognized leader of whatever faction controlled the Senate. The Presidents Pro Tempore in this era were apparently, like LA in present time, named by the Governor to serve as the voice of the Senate - the history of this process is a little vague - to his (we only had male governors to this point) office and then elected to the office by the body. In the 1950s we began recognizing Majority Leaders and the President Pro Tempore, while still part of the leadership team, the office became ceremonial much like the Speakership had been in our early history.

"So, technically, not a strike three. More a long foul, you’re still in the box."

I agree with the “long foul” analogy on the basis of these cases being pre-1970 and my careful use of “top senate leader” instead of senate president because of the variation in senate leadership positions from state to state and from time to time within states. And, as this comment points out, the position of speaker has not always been the top spot in houses of representatives.

[Karl Kurtz]

This note came from Jerry Bassett, director of the Alabama Legislative Reference Service:

"Hello from Alabama. Pre-1970, Albert Brewer was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives in Alabama at age 34 in 1962 and served from 1962 until 1966, when he was elected Lt. Governor. The Lt. Governor is President of the Senate (which back then was the real leader of the Senate, ie. appointed committee members and chairs, assigned bills, presided, etc.). He became Governor when Lurleen Wallace died in 1968."

Great info, Jerry. It's another foul ball for me, though, because it's a pre-1970 case. I'm still at bat until the next reader proves me wrong.