Senate Democrats picked their leadership for the next two years on Monday, and Sen. Jim Dabakis, D-Salt Lake City, was ousted from his leadership position.
There are only five Democrats in the Senate to fill four leadership slots, so somebody had to be the odd man out. The top three Democrats in the leadership ladder remain the same: Sen. Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake City, retains his position as Minority Leader. Sen. Karen Mayne, D-West Valley City, is the Minority Whip, and Sen. Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, remains as Assistant Minority Whip.
In 2014, Dabakis was selected to be the Caucus Manager, which is the lowest of the four offices, but he lost to Jani Iwamoto, D-Salt Lake City, this year.
While it may just seem like shuffling the chairs on the deck of the Titanic, Dabakis losing his leadership slot will be a major blow to his public profile and clout on the hill.
Dabakis, to say the least, is one of – if not the major – thorn in the side of the GOP-controlled Legislature.
As a member of Senate minority leadership, Dabakis had a seat on the two most powerful bodies: Executive Appropriations and Legislative Management.
This past legislative session, House GOP leaders decided to pay back the often critical House Minority Leader Brian King, D-Salt Lake, by passing a rule that put an extra vote on both the House side and the Senate side of the Legislative Management Committee (which had been equally balanced between majority and minority members).
Dabakis – who as the minority caucus manager (kind of small time job, it’s true) sat on Legislative Management and Executive Appropriations.
In that position – Dabakis sits in the last seat on the Senate side of the committee rooms – Dabakis has, at times, been especially critical of something the majority Republicans were trying to do.
As a member of the Stewardship of Public Lands Commission, he (along with Rep. Joel Briscoe, D-Salt Lake, threatened to sue the commission over the two co-chairs’ decision not to share private conversations the chairs had with the commission’s hired out-of-state attorneys. Dabakis has been particularly vocal in his criticism of the majority Republicans over this issue.
If there was a TV camera in the room, you could count on Dabakis making some public statement on a subject – whether on the commission or in the budget and management committees.
Now, out of minority leadership, Dabakis will not sit on those two important committees, he is still on the lands commission, and so will not have the media visibility that they afford.
While internal leadership election patterns are often hard to decipher, it would not be out of the realm of possibility that some GOP leaders went to their more accommodating Democratic counterparts and asked if Dabakis could be kept out of leadership over the next two years. Thus, he would not be on those two committees, and available to grandstand, or whatever you wish to call it, thereby angering Republican leaders.
With only five Democrats in the Senate, and with four minority leadership posts, it would be relatively easy for three “reasonable” Democratic senators to decide all of the minority leadership slots – just vote as a bloc, and it’s done.
It’s well known among Capitol insiders that Davis and Mayne are not fond of Dabakis’ attention-grabbing antics, preferring to work more collaboratively with Republicans. It’s entirely possible that those two could band together, with just one more (perhaps Iwamoto) and push Dabakis out.
Senate sources tell UtahPolicy.com that the rest of the Senate Democratic caucus has grown increasingly frustrated with Dabakis and his antics, so it’s not surprising he’s out.
Over the years, Davis, especially, has been accommodating to Republican senators and rarely has Davis – even as the official leader of the Democrats – used harsh language to criticize the majority Republicans.
Whether GOP leaders were involved in the minority leadership decisions, or whether three Senate Democrats were tired of Dabakis’ grandstanding, or a mix of several reasons, for the next two years Dabakis will be housed not in the Capitol with the rest of leadership, but in the Senate office building. And, he won’t have a seat at Executive Appropriations and Legislative Management where his voice will NOT be missed by the majority Republicans.
