The Thicket at State Legislatures

Can Where you Vote Affect How you Vote?

By Jan Goehring

Polling location may affect how you vote according to a new research report by Jonah Berger, Assistant Professor, University of Pennsylvania. He and his colleagues studied voting patterns in Arizona during the 2000 general election and found that voters who cast ballots in a school were more likely to vote in favor of a funding increase for education. Fifty-four percent of voters at other locations supported the education measure, but this number increased to 56 percent for those who voted at schools. The study controlled for other factors such as political views, demographics and other characteristics. The researchers concluded that subtle environmental factors can impact decision-making.

Although the study indicated that polling locations can influence voting behavior, "further research is necessary to determine when they will do so, and how large an effect they may have," according to the report. 

What Would Happen if Congress were Abolished?

by Karl Kurtz

In our work on the Trust for Representative Democracy we are always looking for creative ways to make the point that representative democracy works, not without flaws but better than any conceivable alternative.  One of the ideas that we have toyed with is to try to show what life would be like without legislatures, but we haven't quite come up with the way to do it.

In the process of searching for old documentaries on government, my colleague Gene Rose found a 1947 Coronet Instructional film, "The Powers of Congress."  This 10 minute video features a character, Charles Bentley, who complains bitterly about the burdens that the Congress has placed on him and suggests that it should be abolished.  He then falls asleep and has a dream about all the dreadful things that would happen if there were no Congress (or at least no federal government).  The dream is cleverly produced, complete with marvelous bubbles floating across the screen in a manner that seems way before its time.  When Bentley awakens from the dream, he has a new appreciation for the work of Congress and composes a speech for his service club on the subject. 

This last third of the video in praise of Congress turns pedantic in its approach, but it doesn't wipe out the campiness and fun of the first two-thirds.  You'll have fun watching it.

Wikis Make Gains in Government and Legislatures

by Pam Greenberg

Wikis are slowly finding a place in government and in state legislatures. Wikis allow users to add and edit content on a web page, taking advantage of the idea that a collective wisdom will create a better result.  Utah Representative Steve Urquhart's Politicopia, which we highlighted in 2007, was the first state legislative policy wiki. It created a place for citizens and legislators to discuss a number of policy issues facing the Utah Legislature. But wikis are also being used within and across government agencies. For example, Intellipedia is the U.S. intelligence community's wiki. California has a best practices wiki, where state employees can submit best practices in information technology, customer service, human resources and other areas.

Now, legislative technology staff in Idaho have developed Legipedia, a wiki that initially replicated a printed manual that is given to legislative attachés (session-only legislative staff) each year. The manual has instructions for new attachés about how to use the various computer applications within the legislature. The goals for the wiki were to reduce printing and distribution costs, expand the amount of information available to users, provide a faster and easier way to find information, and to "put the documentation process in the hands of the people actually doing the work so they can update the instructions to reflect the best way to handle tasks." The project was highlighted in a National Association of Legislative Information Technology newsletter article in Winter 2008, with a follow-up article in Summer 2008.

Safire's Political Dictionary

by Karl Kurtz

The new 2008 edition of William Safire's Political Dictionary, first published in 1968, is a great resource for political junkies--legislative or otherwise--and just plain fun reading.  Here are three things I learned from a randomly selected page:

• hizzoner--This jocular word/phrase likely to be applied to any big city mayor first became popular in New York in reference to Fiorello H. La Guardia.  Chicago added its own twist when Mayor Richard Daley (the first one) came to be called "Hizzoner duh Mare."
• Hobson's choice--I had always thought that this referred to any difficult political choice involving a tradeoff and that it was probably derived from some obscure philosopher.  But no, Safire says that Hobson's choice in politics only refers to a situation in which you vote for one candidate or do not vote at all and that it is improper to use it to refer to a general political dilemma.  And it is derived not from philosophy but from a 16th century stable owner in London, Tobias Hobson, who required that all customers who wanted a horse could take only the one closest to the stable door.  By this means he could assure equal use of each horse.  "From whence it became a proverb, when what ought to be your election was forced upon you, to say Hobson's Choice," in the words of Sir Richard Steele in The Spectator, No. 509.

Texas Governors' Mansion Fire

This just received from Ken Levine, deputy director of the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission, about the fire that damaged the Texas governor's mansion:

...The Texas Governor's mansion has been the oldest continuously occupied Governor's mansion west of the Mississippi.  The mansion is (was?) a truly wonderful historic building, on the National Register of Historic Places.  It was the home of our current president for six years and our current governor (and former legislator) for about the same.  Then Governor Bush used to hold regular breakfast meetings with Lt. Governor Bullock and Speaker Laney in the mansion.  Although of different parties, the meetings at the mansion are perhaps why the legislative and executive branches got along fairly well at that time.

Anyway, we are all pretty shocked by the images of the fire.

Photo credit: Governor's Press Office

 

Civics also not on the Test

by Karl Kurtz

A friend recently sent me a link to a wonderful, funny/sad Tom Chapin song, Not on the Test.  The song, which bemoans the fact that art and music are no longer taught in schools because they're "not on the test", was composed by Chapin and John Forster for NPR in January 2007, but I had not previously been aware of it.

When I shared the song with Ted McConnell, the new director of the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools (CMS campaign), I said that I wished that Forster and Chapin had included something more explicit about civics and government not being tested besides some lines about how "rational discourse" is one of the subjects that is no longer taught.

Ted came back with a clever suggestion that some (not-altogether-politically-correct) lyrics be added to the song: "No civics, no history, no geography, too.  If this keeps up our country is screwed!"

Great line, Ted!

By the way, although there is not yet any mention of it on either the CMS campaign web site or the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) page, Ted's becoming the executive director coincides with the campaign moving its home base from the Council for Excellence in Government to NCSS.

Academic Papers on State Politics and Policy

by Karl Kurtz

For the last eight years, the state politics and policy section of the American Political Science Association has convened a conference on politics at the state level.  This year's conference was entitled "Elections and Representative Democracy in the States". It was held in Philadelphia last week, and over 80 papers were presented.  I have never attended this event but have been told by many political scientists that it is the best academic conference for state politics and policy junkies. 

Most of these papers are available online and are listed here.  Some intriguing titles include "Legislative Regulation of the Initiative," "Candidate Emergence under Clean Elections: Does Public Funding in State Legislative Elections Encourage Citizens to Run for Office?," "Measuring Institutional Power in the American States," and "Uncontested Elections and Legislator Performance, Quality and Effectiveness."

Three States Create Youth Advisory Councils

By Jan Goehring

Colorado, Indiana and Maryland created Legislative Youth Advisory Councils this session. The young people who serve on these councils will advise their state legislature about issues of importance to youth.

Colorado Governor Bill Ritter signed the legislation today. House Bill 1157 establishes a forty-four member council that includes four nonvoting legislative members and students between 14 and 19 years of age. They will meet four times a year and annually report to the General Assembly. The council is also tasked with reaching out to youth groups across the state. The bill was sponsored by Representative Ellen Roberts and Senator Sue Windels. Roberts says, "Given the many challenges facing our state, finding solutions with the help of our youth, our future, is essential!"

In Indiana, House Bill 1162 sets out the parameters of the legislative youth council. The Superintendent of Public Instruction will supervise the council. Maryland Senate Bill 1 establishes the new Maryland council. Louisiana, Maine, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Washington also have councils.

If it's not One Thing Assaulting the Legislature, it's Another

by Karl Kurtz

"Mockingbirds hold NC General Assembly hostage" is the headline that Gerry Cohen uses in the blog, Drafting Musings, to report receiving the following e-mail message last week:

All Staff:

There are two very aggressive mockingbirds that have a nest in a tree on the east side of the Legislative building. They are responsible for numerous attacks on humans in the last several days. The police department has taped off a buffer zone around the nest area. Please do not enter this taped off area. If you do you are subject to being vigorously assaulted by these two protective parents. Use caution.

General Assembly Police Department.

Here we thought it was only people who don't like lawmaking. 

Politics as Entertainment: Comedy or Tragedy?

by Gene Rose

Although Russell Peterson once worked as a stand-up comedian, he now doesn't see politics as a laughing matter.

Peterson has written a book, "Strange Bedfellows: How Late-Night Comedy Turns Democracy Into a Joke." In this Chicago Tribune article, Peterson says the cumulative effect of TV comedians treating all office holders as "corrupt, laughable, puffed-up egomaniacs" damages democracy.

I haven't read the book yet, but his point is one that we hear expressed from time to time. The Tribune article references a Pew Research Center for the People and the Press report that claimed one in five people aged 18 to 29 got their political information from late-night comics. Online debate raged on whether this is a good or bad trend.

We can't just blame the comedians though. A relatively small number of politicians provide the late-night comedian a generous source of material. The problem, as Peterson suggests, is that the entire public service industry gets painted with that large brush.

And still, politicians can't tear themselves away. This New York Times article provides a great glimpse on how politicians are trying to capitalize on the large audience television attracts. The article talks about the president being on Deal or No Deal and the Democratic  presidential candidates appearing on The Colbert Report before the Pennsylvania primary. Chicago Tribune columnist Phil Rosenthal wrote about how all three main presidential candidates taped messages for World Wrestling Entertainment's Raw program. Poynter columnist Al Tompkins points out comedians have been using politicians as foils for a long time.

We've discussed in this blog how the entertainment industry portrays politicians. Late night comedians are guilty of exploiting politicians for their own benefit. Does it hurt democracy, as Peterson and others have suggested? I suggest it does, especially when public servants provide the punchlines. However, the politicians who understand the power of the medium can use it as a platform to promote democracy. There are some good ones out there, but we could use a few more.

Civic Reawakening

By Jan Goehring

A new poll by Harvard University's Institute of Politics shows a civic reawakening by young people 18 - 24 years old. The Biannual Youth Survey on Politics and Public Service has been examining youth civic engagement since 2000.

The data indicates that young people intend to vote in the November election in significant numbers. Nearly two-thirds of eligible young voters plan to participate. This is consistent with a growing trend in youth voting that started in 2004 and continued in 2006. The issues confronting the country, the importance of politics following September 11, 2001 and new technological methods to communicate with young people have helped drive this increased political engagement. The popularity of Facebook and MySpace for social networking has spilled over into the political arena. According to the poll, 23 percent of 18 - 24 year olds have used Facebook for political purposes.

The data also provides an interesting finding about civic education in high school. Only 42 percent of survey participants felt that "my high school education adequately prepared me to be an active participant in the political process."

Legislative Junkie in Boise

by Karl Kurtz

Gary Moncrief--a professor of political science at Boise State University, legislative junkie, friend, and collaborator--is interviewed by the Boise Weekly about his fascination with American legislatures. He has some interesting things to say about the Idaho and Texas legislatures and the role of women in the two political parties.

A rose from The Thicket to Tom Clapper in Oklahoma.

From Carpool to Classroom: Youngsters Get Political

By Jan Goehring

There's new political interest and energy among young citizens. No, not young voters. We are talking about elementary children, too young to vote, but old enough to care. This election year has lots of people talking and kids are joining in.

As any parent knows, the carpool offers a sometimes unfiltered peek into the world of our children. And when the chatter turns to politics, things can get real interesting. Like this online article that amusingly and thoughtfully describes a political discussion among children in the car.  It includes thoughts about the differences between what Democrats and Republicans believe, including the all-important issue of their stance on unicorns.

It's amazing what our children hear and absorb. We can all get a good chuckle about the funny ways that kids view our world, but the author, Jenny Runkel, takes it a little further and suggests ways that parents can help develop political thought and discourse in their family. Her ideas include modeling calm political discussions on issues, allowing our kids to disagree with us and standing up for the right to disagree.

This carpool lesson mirrors some of the promising activities in elementary schools that are taking into account the energy around this year's election and preparing students for political participation. Take, for example, the fourth grade students at Erdenheim Elementary in Pennsylvania. As reported in the New York Times, the students engaged in a thoughtful and sometimes passionate discussion of the primary races. The issues the children care about? They talked about health care, the environment and Iraq. The students even cast votes for their favorite candidates.

“They know a lot more than they ever have. They know there’s a primary. I don’t ever remember talking about the primary in class before," according to their teacher Barbara Stefano.

And that is good news for the future of civic engagement. 

Recall: Tool of Accountability or "an Affront to Representative Democracy"?

by Karl Kurtz

Recall, the procedure for voters to remove and replace a public official before the end of a term of office, is infrequently used at the state level but has been in the news in California, Illinois, Michigan and New Jersey in the last couple of weeks.  Eighteen states provide for recall of state officials, but the procedure is used far more often at the local than the state level of government.

Today's Sacramento Bee has a story about a recall petition against California Republican Sen. Jeff Denham that has qualified for the ballot.  The date of the recall vote, which is structured in a similar manner to the one in which Gov. Gray Davis was famously removed and replaced by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2003, must be called by Gov. Schwarzenegger, most likely in conjunction with the state's June 3 state primary.

His name doesn't appear on the ballot, but state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata is the indisputable driving force behind the recall of Sen. Jeff Denham, the first of a California legislator since 1995.

Ostensibly, the Democratic leader's effort to unseat a Republican who was easily re-elected in 2006 stems from last year's 53-day state budget stalemate. Denham joined his GOP colleagues in voting against the spending plan.

But beyond the bad blood over the budget, a successful recall would move Democrats, who hold a commanding 25-15 lead in the Senate, to within one vote of being able to pass a budget and raise taxes without a Republican vote.

On the same theme, the San Francisco Chronicle on Sunday editorialized against the recall:

The effort to recall state Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Merced, is worse than an abuse of the recall process. It is an affront to the very principles of representative democracy.

The editorial goes on to charge Senate Democrats with political opportunism for initiating the recall against Sen. Denham rather than other Republicans because his district, which has more registered Democrats than Republicans, is a target of opportunity.  I couldn't find a response from Sen. Perata to these claims, but proponents of the recall campaign against Denham say that he should be held accountable for his vote against the budget.

In Illinois, which is not one of the 18 states that have the recall, the House of Representatives last week passed a proposed constitutional amendment to establish a recall procedure by a vote of 75-33.  The Chicago Sun-Times called the amendment "a blunt

Youth Lead Change in Washington Civic Education Curriculum

by Ted McConnell

This is a story about the power of youth, positively influenced, to lead us. It's a story about young folks empowered by effective civic learning to bring about positive change. It's a story about a youth-led effort to increase civic learning opportunities for all students.

Patti McMaster (photo) is a social studies teacher at Evergreen High School in Vancouver, Washington. Patti is one of those dedicated, talented teachers that make all of us want to redouble our efforts to help all teachers provide effective civic learning to their students.

Patti teaches several civics classes and uses several supplemental curricular programs. Late last year Patti was helping a group of her AP youth and government class prepare for their participation in the Center for Civic Education's "We the People: the Citizen and the Constitution" program. Several of the questions the students must address in the We the People program this year ask the students to compare the US Constitution to their state constitution. The students told Ms. McMaster that they could not complete that part of the exercise because they had never received any instruction in state government. Sure, they had all taken a mandated state history course a few years back, but they explained that that course dealt with Lewis and Clark, the fur trade and the missionaries who helped build Washington State--not a word about the state constitution, state government and how a citizen can and should engage in the affairs of their state.

Well, these inspired students decided to do something about that. What could this group of high school students living 120 miles away from the capital in Olympia do to improve instruction? Plenty! As a group they decided to work on increasing instruction on state government and civic affairs as a public policy project.

Look for Candidates who Respect the Legislature

When we first began our campaign to improve public understanding of legislatures (the Trust for Representative Democracy), we discovered that what we were saying about state legislatures was almost word for word what former Congressman Lee Hamilton was saying at the Center on Congress at Indiana University.  All you had to do was to substitute our "state legislature" for his "Congress," and you had identical messages.  That was the basis on which we started a valuable partnership with the Center on Congress and, subsequently, together with the Center for Civic Education, formed the Alliance for Representative Democracy.

Just to prove the case that the messages are the same, I have taken one of Lee Hamilton's recent Comments on Congress (with apologies, thanks and admiration) and amended it to read as if it were written by a current or former state legislator.  Want to see if the argument works for your own state?  Just insert your state's name wherever you see the word "state."  You can find the original version of Hamilton's commentary without the deletions and additions here.

Look for Candidates who Respect the Congress State Legislature

by Lee Hamilton (as amended by Karl Kurtz)

You might not have noticed, given the media’s fascination with the presidential campaign, but there are 435 U.S. House contests and 35 U.S. Senate 5,579 state legislative races [a nationwide total--see a state-by-state list of 2008 legislative seats up for election] taking place this year. These are important elections, for even more reasons than you might be hearing about. Indeed, unless I miss my guess, the candidates and press in those many contests are barely talking about one of the most important issues we face: the role of Congress the state legislature itself.

The litany of matters worrying Americans and absorbing the attention of congressional state legislative candidates is, of course, long and complex: the economy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the challenges posed by Iran, the state of American public education, climate change, a long-term energy policy, immigration…. Not surprisingly, many voters want to hear how Congress the state legislature can protect them from financial ruin or how candidates propose to keep America our state strong. They’re less interested in how Congress the legislature functions.

Yet unless Congress the state legislature learns how to reassert its constitutional responsibility to be the President’s governor's equal in policy-making, the progress voters yearn to see on all those issues will be much harder to come by. This is why, as you listen to the various House and Senate candidates campaigning for your vote, I hope you’ll pay attention not only to what they say about the economy or Iraq education, but also to how they talk about Congress the state legislature itself.

State Legislative Primary Elections in Texas and Ohio

by Tim Storey

Ohio and Texas held legislative primaries yesterday, and it appears that there were relatively few surprises. 

Unofficial results show that a handful of incumbent Texas legislators lost in their effort to return.  Those included Democratic Representatives Kevin Bailey, Juan Escobar, Borris Miles, and Paul Moreno.  On the Republican side, incumbent Representatives Corbin Van Arsdale, Pat Haggerty and Thomas Latham all lost.  One race that saw about 30,000 total votes cast is likely headed to a recount.  Incumbent GOP Representative Nathan Macias trailed by 38 votes after initial vote tallies.

It does not appear that any sitting Texas Senators lost primary elections yesterday. 

The big question is whether these incumbent losses will affect the heated battle for Speaker of the Texas House.  The Austin American Statesman has a great wrap-up that seems to conclude that Speaker Craddick is positioned to retain his leadership post. 

And one Democratic Texas legislator earned the right to be an underdog this fall.  State Representative Rick Noriega won the Democratic primary and will challenge incumbent Republican U.S. Senator John Cornyn.  The last time a Democrat won statewide in Texas was 1994. 

In Ohio, term limits fueled a wave of state legislators running for Congress, and several of them won primary bids on Tuesday.  In the Republican primary for U.S. House district 5, State Representative Bob Latta won big.  State Senator Steve Austria won the Republican primary in Congressional district 7 that is being vacated by retiring Congressman Dave Hobson.  In another open U.S. House seat, two legislators will face off in the fall to replace Ralph Regula (R).  Democratic State Senator John Boccieri will run against Republican State Senator Kirk Schuring for Ohio U.S. House district 16.

The next round of statewide legislative primaries are 47 days away on April 22nd in Pennsylvania. 

High School Civics Gap a Concern

By Jan Goehring

A new study, "Democracy for Some: The Civic Opportunity Gap in High School" raises some very concerning issues regarding civic education. The report shows that high school students who are more academically successful or white and those with higher socioeconomic status have more civic learning opportunities in school. Those students most in need of civic skills and resources aren't getting them. Access to these kinds of lessons can impact civic engagement and voting.

"It's a stark illustration of how unequal political participation is in America," says Peter Levine, director of the University of Maryland's Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement, also known as CIRCLE. "We need to have a discussion in this country about our priorities and make sure democracy is one of them," as reported in USA Today.

The study makes several policy recommendations to address the civic learning gap including professional development and curricular support for teachers to improve civic content, making best practices available to all populations and assessing the degree to which students are receiving civic learning.

Do you Know your State Flags?

by Karl Kurtz

Can you tell that this swatch is from the Louisana state flag?  If this challenges you, try your hand at a quiz on state flags from the magazine, mental_floss.  The quiz includes 10 swatches like this one and asks you to match them to a list of an equal number of states.

I got all 10 right--but only because I cheated.  I have a miniature display of all 50 state flags in my office.  Without that visual aid I wouldn't have been able to pick out the Delaware or Washington flags from those little swatches.  Or I would have had to look them up on the Web.

Hat tip to my colleague Katie Ziegler.  Unlike Jan Goehring's previous post, knowledge of state flags isn't essential information about American democracy, but it's still fun for state government junkies.

More Evidence: Teens Lack Knowledge of History

By Jan Goehring

When asked basic questions about U.S. history, young people exhibit "stunning knowledge gaps," according to a new survey conducted by Common Core. Fewer than half of those surveyed can place the Civil War in the correct 50-year period. A third do not know that the Bill of Rights protects freedom of speech and religion. Young citizens are not learning the principles that prepare them to become participants in our system of democracy.

These results reinforce previous polls. The 2006 Civic and Political Health of the Nation Report found similar gaps in knowledge among young people. A 2003 survey conducted by NCSL and the Alliance for Representative Democracy showed that young people don't understand the basic ideals of citizenship. But, there was also good news in the Alliance poll. The results showed that civic education makes a big difference in the knowledge and civic engagement of young people.

A Punching Bag Punches Back

by Karl Kurtz

"The lobbyist may be a convenient punching bag in an election year, but lobbying is a fundamental right guaranteed by our Constitution," said Brian Pallasch, president of the American League of Lobbyists, yesterday on the radio program "Marketplace."  In a pithy commentary entitled "Lobbyists are important for democracy,"  he defends lobbyists from the now-ritual attacks by the presidential candidates of both parties, saying in part:

The First Amendment states "Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom to petition the government for a redress of grievances," and lobbyists help people accomplish that....

Critics like to slam lobbyists as stand-ins for special interests. That's the funny thing about special interests. They're easily dismissed as "special," until they're yours. Lobbyists represent all points of view on issues confronting the country: environment, labor, the elderly, veterans, but also privacy advocates, pet owners and even online poker players. That's the great thing about America. Everyone has a voice, and lobbyists are an effective way to get those voices heard.

The entire commentary is well worth listening to (or reading).  It agrees with the view that NCSL's Trust for Representative Democracy takes of the role of lobbying in American democracy.  See also a previous post in The Thicket, "Cynicism about Lobbying--in Argentina and the U.S."

Real Life Lesson in Democracy

By Jan Goehring

Caucuses in Colorado were all the buzz last night as community members turned out in record numbers--many for the first time. A second grader at my son's school planned to attend with his father. When I asked if he was going to learn about how our democracy works, he smiled and nodded enthusiastically. His dad added, "I'm going to learn, too." Now, that's a civics lesson.

And more civics lessons for our young citizens are important. Lee Hamilton, Director of the Center on Congress at Indiana University points out in a recent commentary that, "as a society we're not especially good at encouraging young people to become involved in political life." Students learn to volunteer in community activities, but the political aspects are often overlooked. Unfortunately, most young people do not have an adequate knowledge of how our political system works. Mr. Hamilton calls for "a cultural change in our schools and our communities that sees an adequate civic education as being every bit as important as math and reading, and that encourages students to participate in the everyday life of our political system. There is no better way of ensuring that our democracy remains healthy from one generation to the next."

A New Capitol?

by Gene Rose

Serious discussion about building a new Capitol is as rare as steak tartar, so a Tuscaloosa News article on Saturday caught my eye. An Associated Press survey indicates there is support among state legislators to build a new Capitol.

One of the driving forces is that there is little room for the general public to participate in hearings. Rep. Richard Laird, chairman of a committee considering the issue, says the fire marshal has had to run people out because hearing rooms got too crowded.

The Alabama statehouse is, inside and out, an impressive building, but office buildings have been built around the complex to handle the necessary staff and duties the legislative branch of government is required to do. Whether taxpayers will agree that a new building is needed is an issue that will likely weigh heavily as the legislature considers its options.

What should a Capitol built in this century look like? It's an interesting question that should generate considerable interest among citizens, architects and political junkies.

Poll Results: Increased Partisanship in Legislatures

Our poll about the causes of increased partisanship in legislatures, which was based on the posting, "Things Ain't What They Used to Be and Never Were,"  was probably the most complicated question that we have posed in The Thicket.  The question read, "Many believe that partisanship in legislatures has increased, and civility and camaraderie have declined.  What is the primary cause of this in your state?"

Seventy-six readers responded to the question. Thirty-five (46%) of you said that the cause was increased partisanship nationally, 12 (16%) chose ethics laws/term limits, 8 (11%) picked general changes in social relationships, 7 (9%) blamed the media, and 4 (5%) clicked on greater diversity/complexity of society and government.  The remaining 10 (13%) respondents disagreed with the premise of the question, presumably because they don't believe that partisanship, civility and camaraderie have declined in their state's legislature.

Is Anybody Watching?

by Pam Greenberg

Last week, Governing's Management Letter asked "a simple question:"

"A bunch of states are considering requiring audio or video recordings of government meetings. But who's watching? …all we want to know is whether states that put in the effort measure the number of people who actually look at the recordings afterwards."

For state legislatures, the answer is that many do have the numbers on how many people watch legislative proceedings on the Internet, and the numbers are interesting.  Barry LaGrave, Director of Public Information Services for the Minnesota House of Representatives provided me with these figures:

For calendar year 2007, the Minnesota House had:

• 111,754 combined hits to the live and archive webcast streams, averaging 306 hits per day.
• 11,652 "distinct visitors"  (This means the number of unique IPs. Each one could have watched one or 111 clips.)
• Average play duration of live and archive streams was 29 minutes, 27 seconds
• A relatively even usage pattern Monday-Friday, with a slight increase on Thursdays.

Barry notes that their top "hit" day was April 26, 2007 (6,024 hits), when they had a two-part, 10-hour floor session debate of the omnibus tax bill and the statewide smoking ban bill. The last day of the 2007 regular session also generated a ton of hits: 5,836.  Minnesota's House Television Services and Senate Media Services televise and webcast the legislative proceedings.

Some numbers from other states:

Washington's TVW televises and webcasts government proceedings.  TVW produces more than 2,000 hours of original programming annually, of which about 40 percent is legislative coverage.  TVW reports that "2006 and 2007 statewide polls of registered voters by Elway Research show that 22 percent of registered voters in Washington State, some 800,000 people, had watched TVW within the last 2 weeks."

The Virginia Senate has about 70-100 daily users of its streaming video coverage (not including staff and others in the Senate, House of Delegates and Legislative Agencies who watch on the Capitol Campus).  Jonathan Palmore of Senate Information Services also reports that the Senate has an audio only stream that has about 20 users daily.

Maine provides video coverage of legislative proceedings.  Paul Mayotte, Director of the Office of Information Services, was able to report that from the beginning of January 2008 through January 24, the Maine Senate registered more than 700 connections, had close to 200 unique viewers, and averaged more than 30 daily viewers.  Average play duration was close to 20 minutes.  Keep in mind that Maine is early in its session--these statistics cover just eight floor sessions that did not average more than an hour. 

We won't compare these numbers to the Nielsen ratings for The Oprah Winfrey Show, but all the same, the numbers seem pretty impressive to me.   NCSL's list of states that webcast and televise legislative proceedings is at http://www.ncsl.org/programs/lis/webcasts.htm.

High School Poll Workers in Illinois

by Karl Kurtz

The following comes from the Mikva Challenge.  They didn't provide me with a link to the Medill Reports where this item was originally published, so I am reproducing it in full here.

In 2000, only 50 high school students worked as election judges; with Mikva's help, that number has now swelled to close to 1,900. We thought we'd share with you an article published in Medill Reports that details the students training for a long day's work. And if you see a Mikva student judge in your polling place on Feburary 5th, be sure to say hi!--The Mikva Staff

They might be too young to vote, but they're old enough to supervise the polling sites.

More than 1,800 Chicago high school juniors and seniors will be dispersed throughout the county to help preside over the polling stations on Feb. 5, even though most are too young to cast a ballot.

Despite a lack of experience with the voting process, teenagers are quickest to grasp the new voting technology, according to Chicago Board of Elections spokesman Jim Allen.

"This generation is more comfortable working with computers than any other," said Allen, who added that Chicago has more high school election workers than any other city.

Students must have a 3.0 grade point average to participate in the program, and are paid $170 - the same as the adults receive - for both the expected 18 to 20 hours of work on Super Tuesday and the four-hour interactive crash course.   

High schoolers make up more than one-tenth of the 14,000 total election judges and are placed in a polling site in their own ward, according to Brian Brady, executive director of the Mikva Challenge, which has turbocharged student recruitment in recent years and doubled the number of students from last year.

"They're energetic, non-partisan and all smart enough to problem-solve," said Brady, who added that Mikva, which is funded by the McCormick Tribune Foundation, contacts high schools and pays teachers to recruit student workers. "It's a great civics lesson for young people, and they're probably the best judges in the polling places."

State Rep. Julie Hamos of Evanston said the thinking behind allowing teens to serve as judges, which took effect in the November 2000 election, was simple.

"We are always looking for volunteers because it's not well-paid, it's hard work, it's a  long day and we needed more of them."

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 p