Reps. Griffith, Bright in first test of "independence"

Both fail.

From the Huntsville Times:

Within an hour or so of officially becoming a congressman, [Rep. Parker] Griffith [D.-Huntsville] cast two votes: One to retain Nancy Pelosi of California as speaker of the House and one to pass the Pelosi-proposed rules package that does away with term limits for committee chairs and limits the minority party's ability to offer some legislative motions. Both votes quickly drew criticism from Republicans, who enacted the term limit on chairmen 12 years ago.

The selection of speaker was handled by a voice vote, and Griffith - he was sitting beside Republican Congressman Robert Aderholt of Haleyville - stood and pointed as he called out his vote for Pelosi.

And the Montgomery Advertiser:

[Rep. Bobby] Bright's [D.-Montgomery] first vote Tuesday was to re-elect Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., as speaker of the House. He also joined most other Democrats to support a bill to change several House procedural rules, including making it harder for Republicans to delay votes on bills and not re­quiring tax increases or funding cuts to offset the cost of emergency bills.