Al Haig, meet the Deputy

Most readers here will remember when President Reagan was shot and wounded outside a hotel in Washington. Some will also remember this:

His most famous sound bite came the day Reagan was shot. Haig entered the White House briefing room and announced: "I am in control here." He never recovered from the imagery of a military man seeming to commandeer the government as his commander-in-chief was close to death. 

Al has nothing on the Deputy. Amy's body was still warm when this was issued:

Susan Closmore
New Media Specialist
Senate Republican Caucus 

See below for a message from Sen. Geoff Michel.

Members, 

With the resignation of Sen. Koch as our leader, I want to update you on the process for selecting a new leader.

Our caucus bylaws provide for a process for succession after the Caucus Leader resigns. Section 2.7 provides that “In the case of the resignation of the Leader, the remaining Leadership Team shall select one of the Assistant Leaders to act in the Leader’s place temporarily until a succeeding Leader is elected.”

Additionally, Section 2.8 provides “In the case of a vacancy in the position of Leader, a Caucus Meeting must be held within two weeks of the sending of the letter of resignation for the purposes of electing a succeeding Leader.”

In accordance with these bylaws, our Leadership Team met this evening and selected me to serve as Interim Leader.

We will be calling for a caucus election to elect a new leader. That election must take place by December 29. Please note that section 3.3 of our bylaws does not allow for voting by phone or proxy voting. It states “All Caucus members desiring to vote must be present to vote. No proxy voting will be allowed at any Caucus Meeting.”

We understand this is a busy time for everyone, and will try to accommodate your schedules as much as possible. Please notify Maureen Watson if you are unable to attend any of the dates after Christmas and before the 29th of December.

Sincerely,
Geoff Michel

Not "Gee, Amy, thanks for your service," or even "Sadly, now we have to begin the process of replacing our caucus leader."

Nope, just an overweening "I'm in charge!"