Bryant's special session idea not very popular

House Speaker Billy McCoy is saying no thanks to Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant's idea of a special session.

From this DJ article:

"Why call a special session in October?" McCoy asked in a prepared statement. "Simply wait two months and we'll be back in regular session at no additional costs."

It gets better over at the C-L, where McCoy drops this line:

"Seems like (Bryant) is fast moving into the governor's position. ... But he's not governor yet," McCoy, D-Rienzi, said, referring to widespread speculation that Bryant will seek the office in 2011.

Even some of Bryant's top supporters are less than enthusiastic about the idea:

Sen. Terry Brown, R-Columbus, said, "If I'm called, I'll show up. But we've been in enough special sessions already."

Now that it is clear that some sort of tobacco tax is likely, the fight will be centered on what how to use the money:

Bryant told reporters that a debate over what to do with the revenue could be postponed until January. But an argument over how much to tax tobacco also appears likely.

State Rep. George Flaggs, a Democrat who has authored several bills to increase tobacco taxes, said he'll push for a $1 hike and split the revenue to pay for Medicaid and services in the general budget. Flaggs' last bill would have hiked the tax by 44 cents.

But Bryant's spokesman said the lieutenant governor disagrees with using a tobacco tax hike as part of a long-term funding solution to Medicaid.

Why would Bryant compromise when he can try to get everything his way?