by Karl Kurtz
How many of the delegates to the Republican National Convention are state legislators? That's hard to say because it's very difficult to obtain a list of all of the delegates. Our intrepid NCSL staffers, Michael Bird and Paul Snow, requested delegate lists from each of the state Republican parties and obtained them for 34 states. They came up with a partial list of 226 state legislators among the delegates and alternates (out of about 4,600 total): Download delegate_state_legislators_republicans_20080829.doc.
Among the legislators active in NCSL on this list are Delaware Rep. Deborah Hudson, Hawaii Rep. Barbara Marumoto, Illinois Senate minority leader Frank Watson, Indiana Sen. David Long, Kentucky Sen. President David Williams, Michigan Sen. Nancy Cassis, Mississippi Sen. William Hewes, Missouri Sen. Delbert Scott, New Jersey Sen. Joe Kyrillos, North Dakota Rep. Rick Berg, Oregon Sen. Bruce Starr, Texas Speaker Tom Craddick, Utah Senate leaders Curtis Bramble and John Valentine and House leaders Greg Curtis and David Clark and Wyoming Sen. Rosie Berger.
Other news and notes with a state legislative angle from the Republican convention:
Former Ohio House speaker Jo Ann Davidson is co-chair of the Republican National Committee and spoke in St. Paul. She is pictured in the center of the photo with Ohio Senate President Bill Harris.- Just as California's Democratic state legislators stayed home or made only cameo appearances at their convention because of the state's unfinished budget, so too did California Republican legislators.
Perhaps the state legislator most affected by the Republican convention--and one who is not in St. Paul--is Alaska Senate President Lyda Green (photo), who represents Wasilla and has been besieged by questions about the former mayor of that city, Gov. Sarah Palin. See stories from NPR and the New York Times. The Times story has some interesting comparisons of the roles of governors in different states, concluding that the Alaska governorship is one of the most powerful in the country.
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