State Sen. Jim Preuitt said Wednesday he is optimistic about working with Senate Republicans and a handful of Democrats to find an alternative to Sen. Lowell Barron’s leadership when the Legislature returns to work next year.Democrats hold a 23-12 majority in the Senate after last week’s elections, but six Democrats, including the Talladega senator, announced last week that they were in talks with the dozen Republicans to create an 18-vote majority to elect a new Senate president pro tem. Barron, D-Fyffe, has held the powerful position for the past eight years, but his margin of victory has always been slim: 18-17 eight years ago and 19-16 four years ago.
The new Senate will meet in January to elect its president pro tem and decide how to appoint committees and pick committee chairmen for the next four years.
Preuitt said he’s hoping to bring more unity to the Senate. Barron has been considered a divisive figure by many.
“I think the Senate ought to be working together in a bipartisan effort,” Preuitt said. “It’ll probably make things smoother.”
Barron's group started having some defectors during the last four-year term, and the group grew last week when six Democratic senators announced they were open to forming a coalition with the 12 Republican senators.
The six Democrats were: Preuitt, E.B. McClain of Midfield, Larry Means of Attalla, Phil Poole of Moundville, Jimmy Holley of Elba, and Tom Butler of Madison.
Preuitt said the situation has been developing over the past year. Barron “has problems with a lot of different senators,” he said.
“I think I and most members of the Senate believe Sen. Barron, it maybe would be tough for him to be re-elected pro tem,” Preuitt said. “I think if you interviewed a majority of the Senate members they’d say that.”
The Senate president pro tem has the power to assign proposed bills to committees or leave them to languish. Barron has been accused by some of using this authority to block moves he opposes, including the nomination of several candidates to the Auburn University Board of Trustees, while he was himself a trustee.
Preuitt has also been in an agenda-setting leadership role as chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, which can determine what legislation reaches a floor vote. Despite their differences, he and Barron can cooperate, Preuitt said.
“Sen. Barron and I have worked together to make the process work over the last 12 months,” Preuitt said. “I’ll work with anyone. I’m not trying to be derogatory.”
Preuitt said there has been “some discussion” of nominating him for the Senate’s top position, but there remains a long time until leadership elections in January, and his focus is on “reorganizing” the Senate for smoother operations.
One of Barron's allies, Senate Majority Leader Zeb Little, said Friday the situation is fluid, and he is optimistic his side will secure the leadership role when the new Senate meets in January.
"This is like the first quarter of a football game," Little, D-Cullman, said Friday.
Little said he expects Democratic Lt. Gov.-elect Jim Folsom Jr. "to be an integral part of helping the Democrats come together" to lead the Senate again.
Republicans were optimistic about the chances of new leadership.
"It's been our goal all along to organize the Senate around a coalition of Republicans and conservative Democrats ... I think we are going to move forward with it," Senate Minority Leader Jabo Waggoner, R-Vestavia Hills said.
Sens. Steve French, R-Birmingham, and Del Marsh, R-Anniston, said Republican Gov. Bob Riley is talking to some Democratic senators who have supported Barron in the past in hopes of getting them to join the other six Democrats.
If it works, they predict the new Senate leadership would be a mix of Democrats and Republicans.
Marsh said the Senate Republican Caucus has asked the six Democrats to lay out how they would see a bipartisan leadership working, and the caucus anticipates a proposal next week.
French and Little, while on different sides, agreed on one thing: Similar battles over the organization of the Senate occurred after the 1998 and 2002 Senate elections. And in each case, some Democratic senators started out on one side and switched to the other. The two sides didn't become firm until shortly before the vote for president pro tem.
They expect similar movement until senators vote on Jan. 9.
"It will gel and then there will be erosion and it will gel again," French said.
Leadership of the House is not as fluid as the Senate. Democrats hold a 62-43 lead in the new House, and Speaker Seth Hammett, D-Andalusia, has predicted he will be elected to a third four-year term.
—The Associated Press contributed to this report.
