Don’t hate the player, hate the dame… er, game.

State Senator Thelma Harper’s boo-hooing over comments the Lieutenant Governor made about his decision to replace Senator Harper with a Republican Chairman on Government Operations Committee, where she served for eight years. According to the article:

Asked if he would have any Democrats serving as senate committee chairs this year as he did in the last session, Ramsey said “No.” The only Democratic member still in the legislature who has served as a committee chair for him was Nashville State Sen. Thelma Harper. Ramsey said the reason that she was not being retained as a chair was because Republicans had a mandate from Tennessee voters and another reason was “she had spent a lot of time in Clarksville.”

Undoubtedly, Ramsey is referring to Harper’s trips with colleague Beverly Marrero to campaign for Tim Barnes, who lost the Democratic Primary in August but replaced Rosalind Kurita on the ballot in November due to political wrangling by the state Democratic* Party (* – not very democratic).

I was there the day she campaigned with Barnes at the Election Commission (I worked for Rosalind Kurita, if you recall.), and I overheard her pandering for Democratic votes when she said something to the effect of it’s never been so bad in the Senate as with Ramsey as the Lieutenant Governor, obviously paraphrasing, but she clearly expressed her disdain for the way Ramsey does things.

Let’s see how you like it when you don’t even have a chairmanship. Tough luck. I have no sympathy for Senator Harper.

Kleiny-poo covered it from another angle.