The Thicket at State Legislatures

Georgia Sen. Jimmy Carter Loses Cemetery Vote

A poem from Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac for Friday, May 29, 2009:

Progress Does Not Always Come Easy

by Jimmy Carter

As a legislator in my state
I drew up my first law to say
that citizens could never vote again
after they had passed away.

My fellow members faced the troubling issue
bravely, locked in hard debate
on whether, after someone's death had come,
three years should be adequate

to let the family, recollecting him,
determine how a loved one may
have cast a vote if he had only lived
to see the later voting day.

My own neighbors warned me I had gone
too far in changing what we'd always done.
I lost the next campaign, and failed to carry
a single precinct with a cemetery.

"Progress Does Not Always Come Easy" by Jimmy Carter, from Always A Reckoning. © Random House, 1995. Reprinted with permission.

Yet another rose from The Thicket to Tom Clapper.

Photo credit: Jimmy Carter Library

Fund-raising Bans During Legislative Sessions

by Karl Kurtz

Are bans on campaign fund-raising by legislators during legislative sessions a good idea?  That's the question that A.C. Kleinheider addressed in Nashville's TheCityPaper last week.  His commentary focuses on a proposal by Tennessee Lieutenant Governor (and Speaker of the Senate) Ron Ramsey, who wants to run for governor in 2010, to repeal his state's ban on fund-raising during session:

“To tie someone’s hand when they’re in the legislature when they’re running for another office doesn’t seem fair. The governor himself can raise money, if you’re a sitting congressman you can raise money, why shouldn't someone in the legislature, if they’re running for an office also be able to raise money? So that’s something we need to look at seriously,” Ramsey said discussing the law.

Kleinheider goes on to give a history and argue in favor of the repeal:

Black History Month: A Look at African American Legislators

by Meagan Dorsch

February is Black History month. On this edition of The Buzz, we interview Morgan Cullen, a policy specialist in NCSL's Legislative Management Program, to discuss the current demographic trends among African American legislators over the last 20 years. He talks about the types of changes we are likely to see in the future and how history was made during Colorado's 2009 legislative session. We also discuss the increase of Latino state legislators nationwide. 

Listen to our podcast (6:40) and find out how well these groups are represented in state legislatures, how they have increased their representation and why it is important to have all demographic groups well represented within state government.

Anniversary of the Gerrymander

by Karl Kurtz

This message arrived today on NCSL's redistricting listserv from Kim Brace at Election Data Services, Inc.:

Happy Anniversary to all those involved in redistricting:

On this date in 1812 - Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry signs a redistricting law that favors his party — giving rise to the term "gerrymandering."

The shape of the legislative district that Gov. Gerry supported resembled a salamander.  Here is Wikipedia's etymology of the word:

Printed in 1812, this political cartoon illustrates the electoral districts drawn by the Massachusetts legislature to favor the incumbent Democratic-Republican party candidates of Governor Elbridge Gerry over the Federalists, from which the term gerrymander is derived. The cartoon depicts the bizarre shape of a district in Essex County, Massachusetts as a dragon. The painter, Gilbert Stuart, likened it to a salamander, and the editor, Benjamin Russel, advised "Better say a Gerrymander." The name stuck.

Former State Legislator Makes Good

by Gene Rose

With the eyes of the nation focused on him, Barack Obama took the oath of office today as the nation's 44th president. A record crowd gathered at the Capitol and the National Mall to witness what can easily be described as a defining moment in American history. Tens of millions more, like me, soaked the moment in on television.

The nation's state legislative community celebrates this moment because only just a little more than four years ago, Obama was an Illinois state senator. State legislators are hopeful that his fresh memory of the tension between states and the federal government will be beneficial to the states. (NCSL's January issue of State Legislatures magazine wryly asked if Obama policies are in tandem with the states.)

In an email message today, NCSL Executive Director William Pound summarized how NCSL will be working with the new administration.

"In the months ahead, NCSL will be in regular communication with the White House and will aggressively advocate in Congress on behalf of the states and their critical concerns. We expect to play an important role in the development of the economic stimulus package and have already shared the fiscal outlook of the states and their expectations with the Obama administration through numerous meetings before the inauguration. Those talks will continue throughout the upcoming year. NCSL is a respected voice in the federal system and we intend to use it effectively and passionately on behalf of the states. We will do all we can to assist you as you navigate through this crisis."

As our elections expert Tim Storey pointed out on election night, Obama is the first former NCSL member to be elected president. We are optimistic that the president's former role as a state legislator will serve him well.

The Most Republican and Democratic Legislatures

by Karl Kurtz

Alan Greenblatt's well-done piece in Ballot Box last week, "Seeing Red in Oklahoma," taking NPR to task for calling Oklahoma "the most Republican state in the Union" suggests that we should publish the list of the most Republican and Democratic state legislatures.

There are three states in which Republicans hold more than two-thirds of the total seats after the 2008 election:

	House	Senate	Total
Idaho	74.3%	80.0%	76.2%
Utah	70.7%	72.4%	71.2%
Wyoming	68.3%	76.7%	71.1%

Kansas, where Republicans hold 77 percent of the seats in the Senate--second among senates only to Idaho, just misses the two-thirds cut with 65 percent of the total seats in the Legislature in Republican hands.  Oklahoma ranks 10th among the most Republican legislatures.

Democrats will hold two-thirds or more of all legislative states in seven states in 2009:

	House	Senate	Total
Rhode Island	92.0%	86.8%	90.3%
Hawaii	88.2%	92.0%	89.5%
Massachusetts	89.4%	87.5%	89.0%
West Virginia	79.0%	82.4%	79.9%
Connecticut	75.5%	66.7%	73.8%
Maryland	73.8%	70.2%	72.9%
Arkansas	71.0%	77.1%	72.6%

The 89-90 percent numbers for Rhode Island, Hawaii and Massachusetts are remarkable.  New York Democrats hold nearly three-quarters of the seats in the Assembly, but their narrow, two-seat margin in the Senate means that they miss the two-thirds threshold among total seats by 0.1 points.

Trivia time (courtesy of Tim Storey):

1. What are the four states in which Republicans have never held a majority in either chamber since Reconstruction?
2. What is the only state in which Democrats have never held the majority in both chambers at the same time? (Yeah, I know, this sounds like one of those stupid sports statistics that Frank Deford was complaining about the other day.  My only defense is that this is a blog by and for legislative junkies.)

Answers below the jump.

New York Senate Leadership Deal Falls Through

by Karl Kurtz

The New York Senate deal between Democratic leader Malcolm Smith and three dissident Democrats that we wrote about last week, appears to have collapsed.  See "Senate majority drama endures."  Both the dissident three and the other members of the Democratic caucus got cold feet about the deal for different reasons.  Sen. Smith is now saying:

We would rather wait two more years to take charge of the Senate than to simply serve the interests of the few. New York state cannot afford the type of self-serving politics being proposed, and I will not be the leader to sacrifice what is right for New York for a quick political solution.

Check out any of the New York blogs in the left column of The Thicket, and you'll find lots of speculation about about both Republican and Democratic deals to resolve the situation but not much hard information.

Public Opinion Data from AEI

Haven't gotten enough yet of election coverage, polls, stats and charts?   The November-December issue of AEI's Political Report has lots of interesting graphs and charts on the election just past, current public opinion and a look ahead at 2010 U.S. Senate races.  Among the tidbits in this report are:

• a summary of "Down the Ballot" races drawn from NCSL and The Thicket,
• an intriguing preliminary report that African-American turnout in the 2008 election may have exceeded white turnout
• and this public opinion question:

Q: Will you miss following campaign news?
      National  Rep.  Dem.  Ind.
Yes     17%   10%  25%   13%
No       82      87    75     85
Source: Pew Research Center, November 2008.

Just for fun, we'll ask the same question of The Thicket readers:

New York Senate Democratic Leadership Resolved

by Karl Kurtz

New York Senate Democrats won a 32-30 majority in the elections a month ago, but their ability to elect the leadership and manage the chamber has been in doubt because three members of the caucus held back their support for the Democratic leader, Sen. Malcolm Smith (photo).  A New York Times blog reports this afternoon that the conflict has been resolved with the dissidents--Senators Carl Kruger, Pedro Espada Jr., and Ruben Diaz Sr.--coming into the fold, but details are sketchy.  Assuming the deal holds, the 2009 legislative session will be the first time that Democrats have controlled the Senate since 1965.

Part of the solution to the conflict appears to be that the offices of president pro tem and majority leader, which have historically been combined in a manner unique to the New York Senate, will be split.  Sen. Smith will be the pro tem--the top leadership spot--and Sen. Espada the majority leader.

Many New York Democrats are undoubtedly breathing a sigh of relief, because when they last won control of the New York Senate in 1965 it took them four and a half months to organize the body.

12/5 update: Here's a more detailed story on the deal: "3 Senate Democrats End Holdout in Return for Power Sharing."

Small Gains for Democrats in the West

by Karl Kurtz

State legislative elections in the West in 2008 did not bring about dramatic change.  Of the four chambers that switched party control, three had been either tied before the election or became tied afterward. 

The tied chambers either before or after the election were the Montana Senate, which moved from a tie to Republican control after a three-seat GOP gain, the Montana House, which switched from Democratic control to a 50-50 tie, and the Alaska Senate, which moved to a 10-10 tie from a Republican majority.

The fourth legislative chamber that changed, the Nevada Senate, switched control after Democrats picked up two seats to take a slim 12-9 majority in a chamber that Republicans previously controlled 11-10.  The headline of a story in the Wall Street Journal, "Nevada Turns Left This Time, But Future Course Is Uncertain," cast doubt on how long Democrats can hold that state.

Because of the close margins going into the elections, none of these party switches was a surprise.  The Montana Legislature is the champion party switcher among all the states.  In the 54 elections from 1902 to 2008 either the House or the Senate switched party control 34 times.  In electoral history it is more surprising if neither chamber in the Montana Legislature switches party control than if one of them does.  The Montana House is currently listed as tied but could possibly change to the Republican column since one race won by the Democrats by 20 votes is in a recount.