The Gully Washer

by Brian Weberg

It has been a few years now since I have been down into the canyons of southern Utah to explore the wonders hidden deep in the tributaries of the Escalante River.  It's a wondrous place rich in history, remarkable in geography and unpredictable in behavior.  If you have not traveled U.S. Route 12 from Torrey to the town of Escalante, well, I can only recommend you do it when you can. 

One thing you learn early (or better learn) is that things can change fast down in the slots that carve their way to the river.  Hurricane Wash probably owes its name to this fact.  Sometimes rain can start to fall miles and miles up-canyon, building onto the flats above and funneling together from a thousand small trickles into a torrent that rams down through the narrow canyons, taking everything with it except the ubiquitous tamarisk that bend downstream but do not break, resembling the back of a porcupine with quills all pointed one way.  Hiking upstream against them can be backbreaking, tedious work.  My colleague Tim Storey can elaborate if you want more illustration. 

Now comes a trickle of a different sort, but one that may build into streams to become a real gulley washer for state legislatures.  As Karl Kurtz reported in a previous post to The Thicket, the old guard staff are beginning to leave.  The leading edge of the baby boomer generation is entering retirement.  Witness the departure at the end of 2007 of John Olsrud, long-time director of the Legislative Council in North Dakota.  He was in that job when I started at NCSL over 27 years ago.  And in Vermont, they currently are hiring to replace retiring Bill Russell, Legislative Counsel and director of the nonpartisan staff there for decades.  He was there when I started here, too. 

John and Bill represent a unique moment in the evolution of state legislatures.  They come from the great legislative reform movement of the 1960s and 70s which elevated the concept and practice of nonpartisan staffing to an almost religious cause.  And they also embody the idea (somewhat novel a few decades ago) that legislative staffing could be a great, life-long career--one both professionally satisfying and personally meaningful. 

The nonpartisan workplaces that John and Bill are leaving are peculiar and unique in the world of work.  Believers voluntarily check their passions at the door, guided by a philosophy that places their work product and the legislative institution above their own interests.  In essence, they sacrifice part of themselves to something larger.  The institution.  The process.  The law.  Gather with a group of veteran nonpartisan staff and get them talking about the value of their nonpartisan status.  Feel the almost religious fervor of these followers.  Feel the dedication and the loyalty.  Nonpartisanship is the prime directive; the legislative institution is the master.      

But what now?  Will the next generations believe?  Who will replace the Olsruds and Russells and their legion of followers?  What will happen when the gulley washer hits?  Are we ready?  Indications are that Gen X and Gen Y employees have different ideas about work and about their legislative careers.  Will they make the sacrifice?  Will they believe?  What can legislatures do now to recruit and retain the dedicated people they will need on board in five or ten or 15 years?  Who will lead?  Will nonpartisanship survive?  Or is it an idea born of the last reform movement but not part of the coming one?

When you backpack down into the canyons of the Escalante it's important to pick a campsite each evening in a place with an escape route to higher ground.  Some faint lightening or distant thunder can keep you up at night, listening for the sound of rushing water.  It's also helpful to have a map covering alternate routes because the path you plan may not be the path you get to take.  For many state legislatures, the distant thunder is audible.  The gully washer is predictable.  Time to get out the maps and head for higher ground.

Photo by the.voyager, courtesy of Flickr.

Comments

[Tim Rice]

On a tangential note, Brian, the Nov./Dec. 2007 issue of National Geographic Traveler has an article on Scenic Byway 12 (sorry, can't find a link to it online).

As for the point of your post, I wish I knew. I've worked for the same legislative agency for 28 years. I came here because I needed a job, and I didn't intend to stay more than a couple years. There was no sense of public service, no real knowledge of the legislative institution and certainly no concern for it. I ended up staying for reasons that had little to do with the job itself.

So, I wasn't a believer, and I would have scoffed at the idea back then. However, time and knowledge and experience have been shaping me. I'm not ready to retire, but the possibility is on the horizon, and it has me thinking about the questions you ask. I wonder if the staff we hire now and in the future will stay around long enough to let it become more than a job for them. I wonder who will follow me, and I wonder how to best mentor them.

Maybe we should convene a subcommittee....