The Thicket at State Legislatures

Legislative Dress Makes the News in California

by Karl Kurtz

From the Sacramento Bee:

Bad news for bare shoulders.

While mercury soared to triple digits Wednesday, Assembly sergeants-at-arms began notifying women that a new policy requires them to wear a coat or sweater to enter the chamber.

The new policy is squishy, unwritten and still developing, but the goal is to fill in the gaps of a longstanding rule requiring visitors, credentialed media and legislative aides to wear "appropriate business attire" on the Assembly floor.

"This is the chamber of the Assembly, this isn't a barn," said Ronald Pane, Assembly sergeant-at-arms.

For years, Assembly guards had not rigidly enforced the "business attire" rule, but Majority Leader Charles Calderon, D-Whittier, recently began a push to spruce up decorum in the 80-member lower house.

A recent memo by Calderon, Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez and other Democratic and Republican leaders specified that appropriate attire for men is a coat and tie.

No specifics were given for women – until Wednesday.

Pane said appropriate business attire for women should mirror that of elected assemblywomen, which he characterized as basically including a coat or sweater, with some discretion for alternative business wear....

Tony Beard,  Senate sergeant-at-arms, said the upper house also has a "business attire" rule. It requires men to wear a coat and tie, but does not specify what women must wear, he said.

Assemblywoman Lori Saldana pointed out that short sleeves, cap sleeves and scoop necks have become the norm in women's professional attire trends. The San Diego Democrat said female lawmakers already conform to an unwritten agreement to avoid sleeveless dresses and tops.

"I'm old enough to remember when I had to wear a dress to school," Saldana said, "so when I heard this could be happening again my response was, 'Do we have to break out the burqas?' "...

This story made me wonder about how other states handle dress codes. As usual, my intrepid colleague Brenda Erickson has the answer. She did a survey of state legislative dress codes in 2006. About a third of the chambers had something in the formal rules at that time about dress. Most of the others said that they don't have formal rules but that there are traditions or informal guidelines about dress that prevail.

Bad Social Science but Good Politics

by Karl Kurtz

Following up on "The Sometime Governments Revisited," one-time Pennsylvania legislator and now long-time staffer Michael Cassidy recently sent me a 2003 speech by former  Speaker Herb Fineman (photo) about Pennsylvania's efforts to strengthen its legislature in the late 1960s and early 70s. Fineman's speech is good and worth reading but far better is Cassidy's own commentary on the speech published in Commonwealth starting on p. 91.

Cassidy sets out in rich detail both the national history of the legislative strengthening movement and organizations involved in it and the Pennsylvania experience with reform. One of the best parts is his description of leaders' reactions to the "The Sometime Governments'" rankings of the states and a conversation between Rutgers University Professor Alan Rosenthal and the Citizens Conference on State Legislatures director Larry Margolis. 

Pennsylvania, with its reforms only partially complete at the time of the study, ranked 21 among the 50 states. On individual criteria, Pennsylvania ranked 37 on Functionality (penalized in part for the legislature's large size), 23 on Accountability, 23 on Informed, 5 on Independence and 36 on Representativeness.

Predictably, these rankings were highly controversial and hotly contested in state legislatures across the country. Speaker Fineman and other state legislative leaders railed against the rankings when they were released. He argued then, as he did years later in his remarks before the PPSA [Pennsylvania Political Science Association] panel, that the best equipped legislature is not always the best performer. During the PPSA panel discussion, Alan Rosenthal reflected on the controversy. He said he had told Margolis that the rankings were" indefensible social science." Rosenthal reported that Margolis replied, "if you don't give them a number, no one will ever remember it." With the advantage of hindsight, Rosenthal says that the ranking system was "terrible social science. It was stupidity. But it was political brilliance." Fair or unfair, the numerical rankings were a great motivator for state legislative reform efforts.

I have heard Rosenthal tell this story before but have never seen it in print.

A rose from The Thicket to Michael Cassidy.

Common-Core Standards Blind to the Need for Education for Democratic Citizenship

by Karl Kurtz

I don't pretend to know a lot about the common-core standards for math and English/language arts recently released by the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association. But I care deeply about the cause of educating Americans for their role as citizens in a democracy. Thus, I was disturbed by an online commentary, "Dangerous Blind Spots in Common Core Standards," in Education Week by University of Georgia Professor William G. Wraga. It begins:

The final version of the common-core standards  for math and English/language arts, released in June by the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association, contain two educational blind spots that, if ignored, can undermine not only the quality of public education, but also the strength of our democracy. The standards devote insufficient attention to the need for an interdisciplinary curriculum, and represent a contracted view of the “common core” that disregards the role of schools in preparing students for citizenship.

And concludes:

Arguably, education for democratic citizenship is the historic national goal of education in the United States. Thomas Jefferson asserted: “Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves therefore are its only safe depositories. And to render even them safe, their minds must be improved to a certain degree.” George Washington implored: “Promote … as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.” Preparation for citizenship in a democracy must be a substantive, expressly signified component of the common core for all students in the United States.

The CCSSO, the NGA, and other groups leading the common-core initiative must immediately withdraw and revise the standards, in order to promote interdisciplinary curriculum and instruction and to embrace a broader vision of the purpose of education in the United States, one that makes central the preparation of future citizens to participate in democratic governance.

NCSL's policy position on the common-core standards focuses more on staving off adoption of the standards by the federal government than it does on their content. The September issue of State Legislatures magazine has an article on the common-core standards, "For the Common Good?".

A Second Life for a Voting Machine?

by Tim Storey

Many legislatures spent time studying new voting equipment in the wake of the 2000 election meltdown in Florida and the subsequent passage of the federal Help America Vote Act in 2002. This law required many states to buy new voting equipment in order to receive money from Washington to help modernize the elections infrastructure. Then, policymakers had to re-engage the topic when critics questioned the security of electronic voting machines.

A colleague recently forwarded us a link to a YouTube video that offers an amusing post-script to the whole debate. It appears (one can never know for sure with a You Tube video) to show that a voting machine has been re-programmed to play the classic arcade game, Pac Man. I enjoyed the comment below the video from someone called "thepro7us" who says, "I probably would've voted if I got to play the game after my vote was cast."

If you have 60 seconds to squander on a Friday, watch this video of a voting machine that has been re-purposed: Voting Machine Pac Man.

A rose from The Thicket to Gary Wieman.

 

Gov. Bobblehead Election in California

by Karl Kurtz

Most politicians only have to worry about primary and general elections. But today gubernatorial candidates in California have to worry about a bobble-off.

Minor league baseball teams often come up with creative marketing and attention-getting ploys. The Sacramento River Cats have turned to politics for a clever promotional gimmick, as reported in the Sacramento Bee:

Candidates often get accused of wobbling on the issues. Now they're bobbling.

With roughly 10 weeks until the November election, the Sacramento River Cats are testing the field by holding their very own Governor Bobblehead Election.

Fans arriving at the 7:05 p.m. baseball game Friday against the Iowa Cubs may cast a ballot for either Democrat Jerry Brown or Republican Meg Whitman by picking up a free bobblehead figurine modeled after their pick for governor.

The candidate whose pint-sized likeness runs out first will be the official winner.

Raley Field's gates open at 6 p.m. We wouldn't be surprised to see droves of campaign-gear sporting fans getting there early to boost the chances of their big-headed candidate of choice.

After all, what campaign wouldn't want to brag about its dominance both on and off the field.

Click on the jump to see the results of the contest.

James J. Kilpatrick, NCSL and Horse Manure

by Karl Kurtz

The death of the prominent conservative columnist James J. Kilpatrick this past weekend reminds me of a story about the earliest days of NCSL. Kilpatrick was the featured speaker at a state dinner at the 1974 joint meeting of the National Legislative Conference (NLC) and the National Conference of State Legislative Leaders in Albuquerque, where those two organizations merged, along with the National Society of State Legislators, to form the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).

In those days, the state dinner was a formal affair: The members of the executive committees of the two organizations and their spouses dressed in gowns and tuxedos. They marched into the hall one by one under a spotlight to be introduced and seated at a grand two-tiered head table for about 60 people.

The dinner that night was delayed and as a result both the executive committee members and the crowd had spent too long at the reception beforehand. More than a few had consumed too much alcohol. The audience was unruly and impatient.

There were lengthy preliminary speeches while waiting for the food to arrive. Memorably, a U.S. Senator from New Mexico was roundly booed when he said, "Unlike the other states, we in New Mexico take care of our Indians." When the senator continued on at length, people started banging their empty plates with their forks and drowning him out.

Late in the evening Kilpatrick finally got his chance to speak. It was just a few days after the resignation of President Richard Nixon, so naturally that was the focus of his speech. In his erudite and literate way, Kilpatrick drew analogies between Nixon and several of Shakespeare's tragic heroes: "Nixon was Hamlet.... He was MacBeth...." When Kilpatrick reached his climax comparing Nixon to King Lear, a tall Montana rancher in tux and cowboy boots--the husband of a state senator on the executive committee and a rock-ribbed conservative--had had enough. He rose from his seat at the head table, threw his glass of red wine at the white-jacketed Kilpatrick, and shouted, "Nonsense, it was the press that did Nixon in!" He then stomped out of the hall.

Kilpatrick paused for just a moment, picked up a napkin to wipe his face and jacket, said simply, "Horse manure," and continued with his speech.

New Study of Youth Attitudes Toward Incivility

by Karl Kurtz

Young people today, compared to their older counterparts, are "less likely to believe that civility is possible, less ashamed about recent incivility, but more supportive of compromise and more optimistic about higher education’s role in promoting civility."

That's the conclusion of an interesting new report by Melissa S. Kovacs and Daniel M. Shea published by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE). The report begins:

Concerns about partisanship are as old as the American Republic, but many citizens and reporters detect rising levels of acrimony today. Political rhetoric on television and radio programs seems especially shrill. In the wake of the summer town hall meetings of 2009, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman pondered “whether we can seriously discuss serious issues any longer and make decisions on the basis of the national interest.” A few months later, a Republican congressman shouted, “You lie!” during a presidential address, and a Democratic congressman warned sick people that Republicans “want you to die quickly.”

Brookings Institution scholar Darrell West has suggested we have entered an “arms race of incendiary rhetoric, and it’s quickly reaching the point of mutually assured destruction.”

In a recent report entitled, Nastiness, Name-calling & Negativity: The Allegheny College Survey of Civility and Compromise in American Politics, the authors found that average citizens are upset about incivility, although they differ by ideology, gender, and media use. (For example, those who listen to talk or news radio are much more likely to perceive incivility than those who read a newspaper.) This report focuses on the newest generation of voters. We find that they differ from their older counterparts, being less likely to believe that civility is possible, less ashamed about recent incivility, but more supportive of compromise and more optimistic about higher education’s role in promoting civility.

Here's one of many interesting charts from the report about age differences in attitudes toward incivility showing that young people believe that higher education should play a key role in promoting civility:

Who Should Take a Lead Role in Making Politics More Civil?

Governors' Races 2010

Today's New York Times has a good run-down on gubernatorial races with a special focus on six states in the Midwest. The story emphasizes the importance of governors' elections for redistricting. (If you're wondering when the Times will do a similar story on state legislative elections, for the same reason, we know that they are working on it.) The map at the right is an interactive one with information on every race when you go to the original article.

Kudos for North Carolina Program Evaluation Shop

by Karl Kurtz

The AP has a nice story on North Carolina's three-year old Program Evaluation Division that begins:

Raleigh, N.C. — North Carolina’s Legislature was among the last in the country in 2007 to create its own watchdog team to scrutinize state programs and determine whether they’re running efficiently.

The Program Evaluation Division is already making its mark. During this year’s eight-week session alone, the General Assembly approved and Gov. Beverly Perdue signed into law significant pieces of legislation on four topics examined by the division, including ABC reform, education, selling state aircraft and retooling state contract rules.

“That’s a really good batting average,” Phil Leone, director of Virginia’s Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, one of the 45 similar entities in other states. “When you have four areas like that, that’s quite an accomplishment.”

North Carolina’s division has led a recent effort within the General Assembly to counter complaints there’s not enough digging in the budget and state government to decide whether the “way it’s always been done” still works.

“I think we are gaining credibility and gaining some momentum,” said John Turcotte, the division’s director, who ran similar operations in Mississippi and Florida before coming to Raleigh.

The article goes on to provide details of some of the Program Evaluation Division's recommendations and quote its critics. It concludes with a reality that all program evaluation directors across the country recognize:

Leone, from the division’s Virginia counterpart, said the work requires division leaders to have thick skin. The key to long-term success, he said, is to be fair and work with integrity: “The first two or three years of an organization, you have to build up trust with the Legislature that you can provide good results and savings.”

NCSL President-Elect Melvin Neufeld Defeated in Kansas Primary

by Karl Kurtz

Kansas Rep. Melvin Neufeld, President-elect of NCSL, was defeated in a primary election on Tuesday by a 22-year old recent college graduate, Garret Love. No Democrats filed to run in the district, so Love's victory in the primary guarantees him a seat in the House in January.

As one newspaper pointed out, Neufeld, a former speaker, has served in the Legislature longer than Love has been alive. Both candidates were conservative with relatively few differences on issues. The election appeared to be an anti-incumbent vote for change.

Eight Republican House members who had voted in favor of a sales tax increase last session (Neufeld was not one of them) drew primary opponents in retaliation. Of the eight, only Rep. Jill Quigley lost. All other incumbents won. Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt won the Republican nomination for attorney general and will face the incumbent Democrat, Steve Six, in the November election. See KansasReporter.org for complete results.

Neufeld's defeat will leave a vacancy among NCSL's seven officer positions. The NCSL Executive Committee will elect a replacement.