I went to Helena to attend the state legislative session with a friend of mine. It was a cool experience to see the behind the scenes actions of our state senators and reps and even Lt. Governor. I sat in on a committee hearing regarding an SID bill and one thing struck me as I watched, listened and learned. I'm going to try to approach this from a nonpartisan approach but believe me, it's going to sound like I am clearly biased... please keep in mind that in this circumstance, I'm not.
Obviously the two party system has its role to play in regards to accomplishing agendas. If it didn't, we'd all be Bushocrats or Obamicans. But as I sat in this committee room today, I saw something that disturbed me and made me think. The bill that was being discussed, I was for. There were many people in the room, although probably more for the bill than against. The committee was a 9 man (or person, for all you politically correct) panel, split 5-4 in favor of the Republicans.
I was sitting in the front row of the audience, yet I was only two feet from the nearest state senator (a democrat). I initially took notice to my eventually nausea about 5 minutes into the hearing when two of the nine senators (both democrats) showed up late. In the interest of fairness, a republican also showed up a minute or two late. As the ball got rolling, the sponsor of the bill (a republican) spoke, followed by proponents and then obviously, the opponents.
Throughout the entire hearing, I was continuously distracted by senators getting up and down and doodling and texting. There was one senator, Jesse Laslovich (D- Anaconda), who was constantly getting up to snack on the cheez-its and carrots or chocolate. Then he would stand there behind the panel looking too preoccupied to actually listen. Finally, he dismissed himself privately after appearing to have better things to do than his job. Perhaps the coffee or water took their toll. To his credit, I did later see him in the back of the hearing room.
Jesse Laslovich (D- SD 43, Anaconda)
The senator sitting two feet from me was Steve Gallus (D- Butte). Mr. Gallus said virtually nothing the entire meeting except a bit of moaning when the chairman said that there were a few more questions. "Oh, that's a shame", he commented. And then he continued his pencil drawn 3-D box on his yellow legal pad, followed by a few text messages and chocolates. He too apparently had better things to do than his job of representation. I suppose it's possible that the people of Butte elected him to go to the legislature and eat tax payer funded goodies while providing absolutely no contribution to the discussion other than to whine about the very reason he's there.
Steve Gallus (D- SD 37, Butte)
And then there is Mrs. Kim Gillan, also a Democrat who represents SD 24 in Billings. Mrs. Gillan apparently has a really hard job listening to those pesky constituents. It must be extremely tiring. I mean, why else would Senator Gillan take a nap in the middle of the hearing? Seriously... paid to sleep? I'm in! To her credit, she tired to catch up towards the end of the meeting by asking the sponsor to clarify a few things that she "missed". Mr. Shockley jokingly told her she missed a lot to which she replied that she could probably brush up by listening to the minutes of the meeting. I suppose that's assuming she can stay awake.
Kim Gillan (D- SD 24, Billings)
The fourth and final Democrat on the panel was Senator Ron Erickson (D- Missoula). Mr. Erickson was awake, attentive and didn't appear at all hungry during the session. He contributed by asking questions in regards to the bill and made subsequent suggestions. A good man is he.
Ron Erickson (D- SD 93, Missoula)
What about the Republicans you ask? Well, the Republicans present were Mr. Bruce Tutvedt (SD 3, Kalispell), Mr. Verdell Jackson (SD 5, Kalispell), Chairman John Esp (SD 31, Big Timber), Vice Chairman Jeff Essmann (SD 28, Billings) and Mr. Gregory Barkus (SD 4 Kalispell). In case you were wondering, Mr. Tutvedt got a little thirsty at one point, and Mr. Jackson excused himself briefly during the meeting... returning shortly thereafter in the approximate time it would take a person to relieve him/herself in the restroom.
So... what's the point? Well, I'm glad you asked. The point is that the sponsor of this bill was a Republican. It is my humble opinion that the reason for the the nonchalant-ness is not coincidental on the part of the Democrats. I believe it was partisan based. They didn't appear to want to be there, nor did they appear interested or concerned with their duties. They already knew how they were going to vote. I want to be clear not to over generalize because Mr. Erickson was definitely an exception.
My concern is not with the dissent of the dissenters, but rather their manner of doing so. They are there to serve the people who elected them to office. If they are hungry, grab some cheez-its or chocolate... before the meeting. If they are tired, take a nap... sometime other than the meeting. Every Republican in that room appeared engaged and willing to work. Every Democrat... well, you get the picture.
I'm certain there are other committees where the reverse is true and the Republicans are the ones not interested in the Democrat-sponsored bill and that further illustrates my point. How are we supposed to solve the large problems when we can't even bring ourselves to listen and talk to each other about the small ones. I can only imagine this is worse at the federal level... and that really concerns me.
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