1At the Thicket, we know legislative junkies. So to help you get your daily fix of news and opinion about legislatures and state politics, here's a bipartisan list of some statehouse blogs. Suggestions?
Teachers from California, Michigan and North Carolina have been honored for their work in preparing young people to become informed and educated citizens. They are recipients of the 2011 American Civic Education Teacher Award. The three winners are Jim Bentley of Foulks Ranch Elementary School in Elk Grove, Calif.; Cindy Jarrett of Durant Road Elementary School in Raleigh, N.C.; and Mark Oglesby of Howell High School in Howell, Mich. Theses teachers exemplify outstanding dedication to teaching civics in an engaging way and helping students understand that government is relevant to their lives.
“In order to succeed, our representative democracy requires wisdom and action from American citizens. These three teachers terrific creativity and energy to the vital task of helping young gain the knowledge and they need to work within the political system to make our nation better,” says Lee Hamilton, Director of the Center on Congress and a former Indiana .
Since the inception of the award in 2006, 18 teachers from all across the country have been honored for their inspired efforts to bring democracy to life for their students. See the award press release for more detailed information.
The first change in legislative leaders since the start of the 2011-12 biennium took place in Arizona today. From the Arizona Capitol Times:
This morning, the House Republicans chose their new leadership as former speaker Kirk Adams, R-Mesa, resigned in order to launch his bid for Congress.
As expected, former majority leader Andy Tobin, R-Paulden, who ran unopposed, was elected as the new speaker.
In the majority leader race, Rep. Steve Court, R-Mesa, was majority leader, beating out Reps. Bob Robson, David Gowan and Russ Jones for the spot.
Adams will run for a congressional seat currently held by Rep. Jeff Flake, who has announced that he will vacate the seat to run for the United States Senate. Under Arizona law, state legislators who run for another office must resign their seat before they can raise any money. With two other candidates in the race, Adams would have been at a disadvantage if he had waited to resign until closer to the 2012 elections.
Bruce Jamerson, 54, Clerk of the Virginia House of Delegates and Keeper of the Rolls of the Commonwealth, passed away on Sunday, April 24, 2011. He served in the Virginia General Assembly for 37 years, including 20 years as clerk. Bruce started working in the General Assembly in 1974 as a Bill Room Assistant. In 1991, he was elected clerk of the Virginia House of Delegates and presided over both Democrat and Republican controlled chambers.
Bruce loved the Virginia General Assembly and the historic, time-honored, traditions of the legislature. From 2004 to 2007, Bruce oversaw the restoration of Virginia’s historic capitol. In Speaker William J Howell’s statement about Bruce’s passing, he noted Bruce’s deep affection for the Virginia legislature, “Indeed, all who had the honor of knowing or the pleasure of working with Bruce recognized quickly that his life-long commitment to service was motivated in no small part by the infectious pride he took in being part of the fabric of Mr. Jefferson’s 'temple on the hill.' ”
Bruce served as president of the American Society of Legislative Clerks and Secretaries (ASLCS) 2004 to 2005. Below is an excerpt of a letter sent to Society members from current ASLCS President Rob Marchant, Chief Clerk of the Wisconsin Senate, about Bruce’s passing:
30,000 U.S. service members have returned in recent years from combat with a range of disabilities, including loss of limbs, loss of sight, and traumatic brain injury. These “wounded heroes deserve more than anyone to be able to cast a private ballot,” says Chip Levengood, a director of Operation BRAVO Foundation, a group that has pioneered new and quicker voting options for overseas citizens. And yet, voting can be tough for veterans with disabilities, especially those who live in nursing facilities.
Hence, the Wounded Heroes Initiative, funded by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and managed in part by Operation BRAVO. WHI is collecting data on what states are doing to support voting rights for veterans with disabilities. Even though the “fact finding” part of the initiative is just getting underway, Levengood can already see that “legislative relief might be required in some states. For example, extending to wounded heroes the electronic delivery of ballots prior to Election Day might take legislative action.” The Wounded Heroes Initiative will provide a full report with recommendations in September.
It turns out it’s not easy for anyone—a veteran or not—to vote from nursing homes. The 2011 report, "Bringing the Vote to Residents of Long-Term Care Facilities: A Study of the Benefits and Challenges of Mobile Polling", published in the January issue of Election Law Journal, details the problems: mobility, cognition, unclear regulation of what assistance is legal, and more. With 1.5 million Americans living in long-term care facilities, this is a huge part of the potential voter pool.
As the report name implies, it gives a thumbs-up to something called mobile polling:
“Mobile polling is a process whereby election officials bring the ballot to residents of long-term care facilities, provide voters assistance when needed, and, where legislative deadlines permit, register voters as well. In some nations, such as Australia, mobile polling is the norm. By placing voting in the hands of skilled, trained, and non-partisan election officials, mobile polling has substantial promise to maximize access and minimize fraud.”
It will be interesting to see if the interests of wounded veterans will bring more attention to the needs of all nursing home residents.
With apologies to Dr. Seuss, A. Barton Hinkle, a writer for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, writes some clever verse about politics in Washington and the federal deficit in "The jubjub hole." It begins:
In the kingdom of Whatsis, on the Island of Ooze, Lived a gaggle of Spendits of two different hues. Each Spendit was feathered, each Spendit was plump, Each walked with a kind of galumpety-lump. They all looked alike, although it is true Some Spendits were Red, and others were Blue.
But regardless of color, they all loved to eat The fruit of the jubjub: It was juicy and sweet — Like an orbulus orange, but tastier yet And filling, and wholesome, and wetter than wet And it gave them a case of the all-over yummies
...continues at considerable length and ends:
The last that was heard, from fifteen miles below ground Was a very faint, kind of a grubulous sound. The Spendits had all fallen in, don't you see, In the hole they had made of their glorious tree — And many years later they're bickering yet Over who is to blame for their national debt.
But nobody else cares — no one even remembers The kingdom of Whatsis or its big-Spending members, Who could have been spared a horrible fate If someone had only stood up to relate — In the midst of their jubjub consumption and gigging — The First Rule of Holes: When you're in one, quit digging.
The era when one reporter could dominate the news has given way to a modern media culture saturated with blogging, posting on Twitter and stories with millisecond shelf lives. But New York can be more old-fashioned. And here Mr. Dicker’s radio show and weekly op-ed column in The Post remain a potent cocktail in state politics.
Walk through the marbled corridors of the State Capitol, and you will hear radios tuned to 1300 AM, where Mr. Dicker holds court every weekday morning. Aides are assigned to take notes and file reports to their bosses about what he said....
Mr. Dicker’s distinctive brand of journalism — old-school beat reporting, searing commentary and a sizable dose of showmanship — has helped him endure for more than three decades in Albany. He has managed to persevere even as the press corps around him has shrunk from budget cuts.
Mr. Dicker derives much of his power from an unusual arrangement with The Post. His radio show is entirely separate from the paper. He writes Post op-ed columns and news articles and frequently consults on editorials — a blurring of news and opinion lines that many news organizations would consider taboo.
Much of the story has to do with how New York's new Gov. Andrew Cuomo has thus far won praise from Dicker, unlike most of his predecessors.
The official story of a meeting between President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and a bipartisan delegation of state legislators from NCSL is contained in an NCSL News release. NCSL's executive director, Bill Pound, adds this anecdote:
At one point the Main Street Fairness Act--NCSL's effort to have the sales taxes that local merchants pay applied to Internet sales--came up in the discussion. The president responded that he remembered that issue from his time in the Illinois Senate. "We had a Republican senator, Steve Rauschenberger--a really smart guy, who pushed that issue hard," he said. The president added that, while he thinks that taxing Internet sales is the right thing to do, he is pessimistic that the Main Street Fairness Act can pass the House.
Rauschenberger, no longer an Illinois state senator, is now president of Rauschenberger Partners, LLC. He served as president of NCSL, 2005-06.
New Jersey's State Legislative Apportionment Commission completed the first post-2010 census state legislative redistricting plan, but Louisiana's legislature is the first to have completed both legislative and congressional plans. The Louisiana maps were drawn in a special session before the regular session started because of the urgency of having a plan in place in time for state legislative elections this fall. Gov. Bobby Jindal signed both sets of maps last week.
The "only" remaining hurdle in Louisiana will be pre-clearance by the U.S. Justice Department. The Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus says that it will urge the Justice Department to reject the plans.
New Jersey's legislative redistricting plan was enacted about two weeks ago when Rutgers University Prof. Alan Rosenthal, the 11th tie-breaking member of a 10-member commission evenly divided between the two parties, voted for the Democrats' plan. Rosenthal said that he chose the plan that was more likely to allow either side to win control of the legislature and because it was "less disruptive" to incumbents. New Jersey has a separate commission to redraw congressional lines.
Here's a roundup of other early redistricting actions:
The Iowa General Assembly has completed both legislative and congressional redistricting maps. Gov. Terry Branstad has said that he will sign both plans when they formally reach his desk. An AP story points out:
Part of the reason the plan has had support is the nonpartisan manner in which the maps were drawn. Under Iowa's unique redistricting process, nonpartisan legislative staffers prepared proposed new maps that lawmakers can't alter, but can only approve or reject. Those staffers are banned from considering voter registration numbers or where incumbents live in preparing the new map. They are supposed to make the districts as equal as possible in population.
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell vetoed Virginia's legislative plan. He was particularly critical of the Senate's plan for splitting up local communities, a two percent population deviation (compared to one percent for the House) and "politial gerrymandering." The Virginia House is controlled by the Republicans and the Senate by Democrats. Gov. McDonnell is a Republican. The General Assembly will immediately go back to work on drawing a new plan because of a scheduled Aug. 23 primary election for the General Assembly.
A rose from The Thicket to Peter Wattson and Tim Storey.
The blog The Ticket (no, that's not a typo) has the background on a bipartisan political prank to get members of the Oregon Legislature to say the lyrics of Rick Astley's "Never going to give you up" during the course of speeches in a special session last year:
Jefferson Smith loves a good political joke.
Early last year, the then-freshman Oregon House member from Portland was getting ready for bed when he and his wife, Katy, began bantering back and forth about what might be the ultimate political prank, something that could lighten the increasingly divisive political mood among his colleagues.
As Smith recalls, the idea came almost instantly. "What if we were to Rick Roll the legislature without anybody noticing?" he wondered.
And that was the seed for what may ultimately prove to be one of the most elaborate political jokes of all time: A nearly two-minute long video of members of the Oregon House of Representatives saying the lyrics of Rick Astley's ubiquitous '80s pop ballad, "Never Gonna Give You Up," literally one word or phrase at a time while in session....
Smith--who developed the concept with his wife, a few colleagues and several friends, one of whom is video editor--had a few rules about the joke. The lines had to be delivered on the House floor during a lawmaker's regular floor speech--which is, under Oregon law, videotaped for public records purposes. And the lines of the lyrics had to be spread out, so as not to tip off the state House clerk or other observers to what lawmakers were up to.
"It was way harder taking words and spreading them out than simply manipulating them (on video)," Smith says. "There are some easy lines in there to say without getting noticed. 'You're never gonna' is easy. 'I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling' is easy. But an 'ooh?' That's tricky."
Smith wrote the lyrics down and spread them out piecemeal among his colleagues--with the Portland lawmaker himself taking on some of the more difficult lines that others didn't want to do, including "never gonna say good-bye" and "hurt you."...
The initial plan was to debut the video after last year's elections, but the process of splicing all the words and phrases together was far more time-consuming than Smith and his conspirators originally anticipated. First, they had to file a public records request with the state of Oregon to get a copy of footage from the legislative session. Then, they had to comb through hours and hours of film to find the lyrics lawmakers had snuck into their speeches.
In the end, it took a year and two months to assemble the video--which Smith pointedly notes was carried out "with no taxpayer funds."...
There's lots more in the original story. Rep. Smith's purpose was to lighten the mood in an evenly divided Oregon House. Maybe this video, which has gone viral, will do the same for the unevenly divided legislatures in session throughout the country.
A rose from The Thicket to Wendy Madsen and Larry Morandi
A new content analysis of tens of thousands of press releases by U.S. senators finds that 27 percent of their messages are devoted to name-calling or otherwise deriding the other party.
According to a Washington Post article, previous political science research has divided congressional speech into three categories: credit-taking ("As a result of my work..."), position-taking ("I support this bill because..."), and advertising ("Congratulations to my district's championship team..."). When Harvard University's Gary King added a fourth category of taunting and ran 64,033 press releases by U.S. senators over a two-year period through a computer, he found that about one-quarter of the communications could be characterized as ridiculing their opponents.
King was amazed by this:
“It’s jarring and surprising,” said Prof. Gary King, an expert in using computers to find patterns in large amounts of data. And, King said, probably counterproductive if we want Congress’s members to trust one another enough to make deals.
“The entire government may go bankrupt, I guess. This week, right?” King said in a telephone interview. “We probably want our representatives to be listening to each other rather than calling each other names.”
The author of the original study, Yale University's David Mayhew, responded that
...[W]hat looks like taunting might serve a purpose.
For one thing, he said, the fireworks might keep people interested.
“You’ve got to have an opposition that taunts and a government that taunts back” to highlight their differences on key issues, Mayhew said. “For the public, it’s sort of like watching a tennis match. . . . I think it’s productive in that sense.”
Whether or not the volleying back and forth is productive, I fall in the category of being dismayed but not surprised by this research finding. Most of us in the American public see and hear how much it happens, but we would like to see both sides improve civility by curtailing the name-calling.
Perhaps more jarring than the content of these press releases is their sheer quantity. 64,000 press releases in the two years between 2005 and 2007 (assuming that the study was for a a biennium) computes to 320 press releases per senator per year or more than one a day for every working day! Do we really need such a deluge of words and self-promotion?
