Everybody called him by his title "Governor." They used it deferentially too for over 30 years. Who was that man? He was an icon in the General Assembly--first in the House of Representatives for only a short
time in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Then as a State Senator and Speaker of the Senate from District 26 which is in West Tennessee--Fayette County to be exact. He's a lawyer, banker, and cotton gin owner.

His name is John Wilder and at 87 just recently had his pilot's license canceled.

When he was in the State Senate he regularly flew from Fayette County in southwest Tennessee to Nashville.

Governor Wilder served 18 consecutive terms as Speaker of the Senate and as such was Lt. Governor.

He is retired now from politics, having decided not to run for re-election in 2008.

Toward the end of his tenure, he appeared to be losing some of his mental faculties. He was prone to laying back in his Speaker's chair in the Senate and stealing a nap.

He frequently mused that the "Senate was the Senate" and that things came from the cosmos.

He was first in line to succeed the Governor should it be necessary.

It almost did. Governor Bredesen was taken ill during the halfway mark of his first term and couldn't carry out the duties of his office for several months.

The General Assembly became concerned that a possible senile man was poised to take over the Executive Branch of Government.

On January 5, 2007, Governor Wilder's term as Speaker of the Senate
and Lt. Governor came to an end when Senator Rosalind Kurita (D) crossed the aisle to vote for Ron Ramsey (R). Governor Wilder had held his position for 36 consecutive years by cobbling together a curious mix of Republicans who voted for him as Speaker after which he appointed them to Senate Committee chairs.

He allows that the Senate is now a partisan political body.

One political party is trying to destroy the other one and visa-versa. But, he
says partisan politics began in 2006.

He blames it all on former U.S. Senator Bill Frist, saying that Frist had to get involved.

He had to do what they told him to do. Who's "they"? He says that Frist was responsible for Ramsey's election to the Senate Speaker's position.

He's sure of it, but he won't identify publically those those who voted against him. Sounds like sour grapes after some 36 years.

Steve Moore contributes this column and the thoughts and opinions are his and do not necessarily represent those of ucdailynews.com or the parent company UC Media Group, LLC. If you have an opinion or opposing viewpoint to Steve or have an opinion on anything else, we welcome you comment. Just click e-mail in the top menu bar and send us you thoughts.