To the surprise of many, today Speaker James Amann (D-Milford) announced that he will not run for re-election. Amann has been a member of the House of Representatives for 18 years. Amann was elected Speaker of the House in 2005 and has since developed a strong committee chairman rule. Unlike previous speakers, Amann has the authority and the decision making power over his committee chairs, in only one instance last session did he not follow his rule despite some pretty chaotic moments on issues related to campaign finance reforms, ethics reform, state contracting standards review and universal healthcare coverage.

Last session during a heated fight over the state of the energy industry, Speaker Amann chose to side with the Senate leadership and asked a deputy leader to introduce the compromise amendment to the chamber, which became law. Energy Chair and Vice Chair were both opposed to the direction the legislation was taking and proposed their own amendment to refocus the direction. After hours of debate, Speaker Amann and 121 members of the chamber approved the bill.

Following the announcement today, Majority Leader Chris Donovan told Amann that "you have a heart so big you let everybody in and I thank you for that." Some members of the House had tears in their eyes as they heard the news. We think this surprise announcement will have an impact on several other members of the Democratic House that may have considered retiring, but have hung on this past session. We will not be surprised in the next couple weeks to see other long term legislators decide to return home to their districts and focus on family, work and friends.

Of note heard on the grapevine, Speaker Amann is expected to continue his race for the Governor's office. Today officially he did not comment on whether he would consider a run for Governor in the future.

Who says there are no surprises in the hall of state government? They were wrong today! We'll keep you updated as further details emerge.