(Columbia-AP) -- House Speaker David Wilkins criticized a House member from the floor Wednesday morning in the wake of a heated exchange that nearly came to blows last week.
A frustrated Representative Jerry Govan went to House Judiciary Chairman Jim Harrison's office after a bill didn't get out of a subcommittee. Harrison said Govan grabbed him and others had to
separate them.
Wilkins said he had questioned eight people about the incident and was confident that he knew what had happened.
Wilkins said - quote - "Never, never, is there any excuse for a member of this body to mistreat, abuse or physically accost another member, period" - end quote.
He told House members he is considering options that include taking Govan off the Judiciary Committee and wants the House to give him more authority to handle similar incidents in the future.
Wilkins did not mention Govan by name, but said the offending member had been asked repeatedly to apologize publicly. Wilkins said he took the floor after that member refused to publicly apologize. |
