Schweitzer says quick work at Legislature was a ‘group effort’

HELENA — Gov. Brian Schweitzer shared the spotlight Friday with top lieutenants and legislative party leaders, a day after pushing school funding and pension fixes through the special session.

‘‘I had a small part in this,’’ he said at a news conference outside his office. ‘‘I was a good observer. As you know, I sat in that room there on the second floor and chewed sunflower seeds ... and from time to time had conversations with members of the Legislature.’’

Schweitzer heaped praise on House Democratic Leader Dave Wanzenried, Senate Majority Leader Jon Tester and administration staffers.

The governor said the quick work was a ‘‘group effort, a lot of people pulling together.’’

The governor had a strong presence during the special session, often visible in the halls, meeting individually with lawmakers, and giving pep talks to hold together Democrats who found themselves locked in a 50-50 tie in the House.

Schweitzer was adamant during the session that Democrats in the House weren’t being ‘‘taken out to the woodshed’’ if they wavered from his plan.

Republicans criticized their Democratic colleagues, saying they are blindly following Schweitzer.

House Republican Leader Roy Brown, unsuccessfully fighting Schweitzer’s plan for education funding, said Democrats were turning the Legislature into a ‘‘rubber stamp’’ for the governor.

Democrats pointed out the GOP was never able to put a plan together that even most Republicans could support.

‘‘There were opportunities for any legislator to bring forward a proposal to make the governor’s proposal better or one that would stand alone,’’ Wanzenried said. ‘‘If they didn’t bring any ideas I would say they were devoid of ideas or perhaps didn’t have any ideas in the first place.’’

Wanzenried said it wasn’t hard to keep Democrats on the same page.

House Republican Floor Leader Michael Lange of Billings said it was very upsetting that Republicans had no say in an outcome pushed by Schweitzer from the ‘‘bully pulpit.’’

‘‘I feel a lot of the Democrats will regret this when their constituents start to figure out how fast this happened,’’ he said. ‘‘I really felt the Democrats did not step up to the plate and use their majority and put forth a bill that the governor would have had to look at, a bill that was a good bill. The Republicans would have supported that.’’

Lange predicted Republicans will make electoral gains and take back the House in next fall’s elections because Democrats are simply hoping to ride the governor’s coat tails.

‘‘The governor worked hard to put himself in a position where he had that much clout in his caucus,’’ he said. ‘‘It will be interesting to see what comes in the next year.’’

Schweitzer had a different take, saying Democrats can now tout millions more in education spending with no new taxes.

‘‘I believe good ideas, good leadership, kind words, will mean that there will be more Democrats in the 2007 session than there were in this one,’’ he said.