The Thicket at State Legislatures

Someday Soon: A Facebook President?

By Michelle Blackston

They rocked the vote in 2008, but will they come out again in 2010? While the answer remains to be seen, state legislators can gain some insight on the politically astute, younger generation of voters that is credited with sweeping President Obama and Democrats into office on a platform of change.

Just this week, the Pew Research Center released its findings of a three-year survey of young adults in America. Called “Millennials: A Portrait of Generation Next,” the report compares the values, attitudes and behaviors of 18 to 29-year-olds with that of their older counterparts. Millennials, born between 1980 and 1992, are among the largest voting bloc in the United States next to their Baby Boomer parents. 

At a meeting in Washington, moderated by PBS Newswoman Judy Woodruff, policy experts, social science researchers and representatives from a cross section of business, nonprofit and political action groups were all ears to learn more about these Millennials. The briefing of the Pew report included representatives from Google, the New York Times, MoveOn.org and the conservative-leaning New America foundation. 

Study authors and other researchers shed some light on this Internet-savvy, connected generation. And if you weren't there, you could follow along via Twitter, Facebook and a video web stream of the meeting.

Millennials, it turns out, vote differently than their older counterparts: They tend to be more liberal and vote Democratic than even their nearest age cohort the Generation Xers.

British Tradition Coming to Arizona Legislature?

by Jan Goehring

The Arizona Legislature is considering a measure that would require the governor to come to the floor of the Legislature every two weeks to answer questions. Such a "question time" is tradition in the British Parliament. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved SCR1012 on February 22, according to the Arizona Capitol Times. During the question time, the public would have the opportunity to see the interaction between the governor and lawmakers. The provision amends the state constitution and is subject to voter approval.

In a previous Thicket post, Karl Kurtz wondered why no state had ever adopted a parliamentary system of government. He reports that Minnesota used to have the option to call the governor to the Legislature for a question time, but that provision ended in the late 1990s. Perhaps Arizona will establish a new tradition.   

Legislative Internships Surviving--Some on Shoestrings

by Karl Kurtz

How many legislative internship programs have been cut because of the current budget situation?  This was a recent information request that led me to survey state legislative internship coordinators--a list that includes both legislative staff coordinators and university-based coordinators. 

I received 22 responses to the survey from 18 states.  Thirteen states reported no change in their internship programs, four said that they had cut either the number of interns or the stipends they are paid, and one reported an increase in stipends in a university-based program.

Five of the respondents commented that student interest in their internship programs was up in recent years, presumably because of the difficulty of finding jobs and the recognition that internships can provide a leg up in getting a job.

Of the 13 programs that reported no changes, three of them said that it was because they don't pay any stipends to interns, so there is nothing to cut.  My favorite comment in this category came from a university professor who runs an internship program on a campus that is about 90 miles from the state's capital:

My interns never have received a stipend, so the budget situation is irrelevant for them.  Indeed, they pay a fee so I can rent vans from our motor pool to get them to the capitol.  If anything, member interest in having these interns is up a bit.

That's true dedication, both by the professor who drives the interns to the capitol two days a week and the students who have to pay a fee to volunteer their services to the legislature.

Life Without the Possibility of Parole

 by Sarah Hammond

In 2005 the United Stated Supreme Court ruled to abolish the juvenile death penalty in Roper v. Simmons. The high court cited recent studies on adolescent brain development showing the difference between the brain of an adult and the brain of a child, ultimately ruling that it was cruel and unusual punishment to execute juveniles under the age of 18 for their crimes because they lacked the requisite culpability.

  Hear from NCSL's Sarah Hammond 
 

Juvenile sentencing laws are once again being examined by the high court. There are currently two cases before the Court, Sullivan v. Florida and Graham v. Florida. In both cases, the juveniles were convicted of serious crimes, but non-homicides, at a young age and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Now, both of their lawyers argue that the sentences are cruel and unusual punishment for juveniles, stating that the sentence does not take into consideration a juvenile’s capacity for rehabilitation and citing the brain research used in Roper v. Simmons.

Policy on juvenile delinquency continues to struggle with the appropriate balance of concern over the healthy development of children and adolescents who violate the law, and a public desire to punish criminals. Over the years, the pendulum has swung dramatically back and forth, and the tension between them remains strong today.

Demographics of California Redistricting Volunteers

by Karl Kurtz

Two years ago California voters approved creation of a unique commission made up of 60 citizens to redraw state legislative district lines.  The state auditor was charged with selecting 20 Democrats, 20 Republicans and 20 unaffiliated citizens from among those who volunteered to serve.  Yesterday was the deadline for Californians to volunteer for the panel.  From the Sacramento Bee:

Nearly 31,000 Californians have applied to join a first-of-its-kind citizens commission that will draw political districts – but the pool of applicants tilts heavily toward white men.

By Tuesday's deadline, 70 percent of the applications had been filed by whites, far higher than their 41 percent share of the state population.

Margarita Fernandez, spokeswoman for state Auditor Elaine Howle, said the large pool of applicants eases any diversity concerns.

"We're confident that we can find 60 of the most qualified that are diverse, like California," Fernandez said.

The story goes on to compare the demographics of the redistricting commission volunteers to those of the general population of Californians and to registered voters of the state, concluding that women, Latinos, Asians and those under the age of 45 were heavily underrepresented in the applicant pool and only African Americans were overrepresented in relation to the population as a whole.

However, what struck me about the numbers for the volunteers was that they looked very similar to the makeup of the California Legislature as I remembered it.  Since the Bee did not make this comparison, I decided to go to NCSL's handy-dandy online demographics database to see how the numbers match up:

New Study of Women's Routes to State Legislatures

by Karl Kurtz

A new study, Poised to Run: Women's Pathways to the State Legislatures, highlights differences between men and women in the routes that they follow to become state legislators.  Highlights of the report (from the executive summary) include:

• Women need to be encouraged to run for office. Women are more likely than men to run for office because they were recruited rather than deciding to run on their own.
• It is critical that women candidates attract party support. Women who reach the legislature usually do so with the support of their parties.
• Organizations are encouraging women to run for office, but they have not been the most important source of encouragement for women's candidacies. Organizations, including women's organizations, could be more active in candidate recruitment.
• The pool of women candidates is larger than is commonly believed.
• More funding and training can help women win.

The report, written by political scientists Kira Sanbonmatsu, Susan Carroll and Debbie Walsh at the Center for American Women in Politics, is concise (27 pp.) and well-written.  It draws on surveys of the recruitment of male and female legislators in 1981 and 2008 and helps us to understand not only who runs for office but why they run.  One of the most interesting aspects of the study to me is that there appeared to be little change between the early 1980s and today in the factors affecting the pathways of women to the state legislature.

Biennial Legislatures

by Meagan Dorsch

How often does your state legislature meet?

Does the question sound confusing? Are you surprised to find out that not all state legislatures meet annually? And what do these legislators do when they are not in session? 

The answers to these questions and more can be found in this edition of The Buzz. We sit down with Angela Andrews, a policy associate with The National Conference of State Legislatures, to talk about biennial legislative sessions.

Find out from Angela how many states meet biennially, which of them have a limited scope session and learn what state most recently moved from a biennial to an annual legislature.

Listen to the podcast (4:41) and log onto NCSL for more information.

 

An Extreme Expulsion

In followup to our posting, "New York Senator Expelled," and our previous listing of historical records of expulsions of lawmakers from state legislatures, we received this remarkable story from Larry Barish of the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau:

An interesting postscript to Brenda's list of legislative expulsions was a tragic incident which occurred during the February session of the 1842 Wisconsin Territorial Legislature. In what has to be the ultimate violation of legislative conduct, James Vineyard shot and killed Charles Arndt on the council (upper chamber) floor, effectively ending a bitter debate over the nomination of a county sheriff. By all accounts, the two council members had been close friends, even rooming together during the session. Vineyard was expelled and was indicted for manslaughter but was ultimately acquitted on the grounds of self defense. Vineyard followed the gold rush to California where the voters apparently did not hold his past against him and elected him to the Legislature.

This story combines an "ultimate violation," an extreme form of removal from office and a seemingly odd decision by California voters!

Are there any other instances of murder of one member of a legislature by another while in chamber?  If so, please add a comment below or send an e-mail message to the.thicket@ncsl.org.

A rose from The Thicket to Larry Barish!

Snowpocalypse or Snowmageddon, All Politics is Weather

by Michelle Blackston

In a town where it's all politics, all the time, what happens when a snow storm freezes the debate?  Well, the political rhetoric just heats up! And politicians and reporters are throwing out weather metaphors by the (snow)shovel-full. 

Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank leaves no politico unscathed in his column, "Snow can't shut down the political parties' election machines:"

Rep. Eric Cantor (Va.), the No. 2 Republican in the House, mentioned that "Democrats are trying to do whatever they can politically and just can't seem to get the traction they want."

Ha! No traction -- get it?

Just a day earlier, President Obama expressed his view that Americans are "tired of every day being Election Day in Washington." He's right about that. But neither snow nor rain nor white-out on the Beltway stays the political parties from their appointed rounds.

And the self-described conservative voice, the Washington Times, calls global warming a "snow job" in their editorial:

Record snowfall illustrates the obvious: The global warming fraud is without equal in modern science.

Man-made global warming theory isn't backed up by science; it's a hoax. The fact that the world has been asked to spend tens of trillions of dollars on global warming solutions without being able to evaluate the data upon which the claims were made should have been the first warning that something was seriously wrong.

With the federal government mostly shut down and public transportation closed to commuters, the newspaper Politico says the snow effectively froze the Democrats agenda:

Back-to-back blizzards have not only paralyzed Washington but also put an already troubled Democratic agenda on ice for another week.

Virtually every hearing has been postponed by the snowstorms — including one on global warming — giving the usual warming skeptics a chance to make jokes about climate change.

So while many of us in the Washington area who remain shut-in for too long start to experience cabin fever, USA Today warns against being bored. It can kill you!

In a commentary to be published in the International Journal of Epidemiology in April, experts say there's a possibility that the more bored you are, the more likely you are to die early.

Yikes! I'd better get outside and start shoveling my driveway. Or I can read all of the political ramblings online. In any case, it will take more than a few days of sunshine to melt the icy conditions in Washington, DC. And there are more storms in the forecast.

Photo credit: Linda Davidson/the Washington Post

Who's the Boss?

by Bruce Feustel

At a recent workshop in Cape Town, South Africa conducted by NCSL for members and staff of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament and several other South African provincial parliaments, the participants struggled with the issue of whether the member is the boss in the relationship between legislators and staff.

I began a session on member/staff relations with the American legislative perspective that the member is the boss.  We often hear legislators say that staffers should not make the mistake of thinking they are the legislators.  “We are the ones who got elected, so the staff  have to serve us, not the other way around.  We make the decisions, not them.” 

I explained that this relationship should be based on respect and understanding of each other’s roles, but that the staffer’s job is to help the members achieve their goals and objectives, not to pursue their own agenda.  Our NCSL faculty--Senators Leticia Van de Putte (Texas) and Spencer Coggs (Wisconsin) and NCSL staff Peggy Kerns and Maggie Lamborn—explained some of the legislators’ obligations in this “boss” role, including providing clear work assignments, using staff member’s talents, showing appreciation and helping them develop professionally.

In the discussion that followed, various South African staff members expressed frustrations that were familiar to an American audience on the same subject.  But then one man (photo center), the head of legal drafting, raised his hand and began a lengthy and passionate statement with: “I deeply resent your characterization that ‘the member is the boss.’  We are all equals as human beings.  I cannot serve at the beck and call of a member.  If we are not equal in power, there is no respect.  If I do not receive respect from a member, I will go toe to toe with him.”