Jan
19
Written by:
Doug Smith
1/19/2009 7:15 PM
Some advocates may not have known that bi-partisan redistricting bills were being heard at 7am in the elections subcommittee of the House Privileges and Elections committee on Monday January 19th, Martin Luther King Day. The committee normally meets on Friday mornings.
The committee changed its meeting time last Friday, late in the afternoon, and that sent advocacy groups scrambling to invite their members to the Capitol on a federal holiday to speak up for open government. Advocates who were present had a chance to see a few sparks and to get a sense of how partisan the House of Delegates really has become. The whole process confirmed the feeling that many of us have that the time for more open and fair government is now.
Delegate Bob Brink raised the issue of the last minute announcement of the committee.
Delegate John Cosgrove, a graduate of the Sorensen Institute, tried to defuse the situation.
But Delegate Steve Landes, not willing to let the issue go, got partisan by suggesting Democrats used to hold House Courts late into the night to punish the Republicans. (For the record, I have spent more than my share of nights with the House Court of Justice and it is more about the docket and tinkering than maliciousness. That many lawyers in one room creates chaos for bill patrons.)
Not to be outdone, House Minority Leader Ward Armstrong attempted to challenge Landes before being cut off by the Chair and so he directed final comments to the redistricting bill itself.
The bottom line is simple – we need bi-partisan collaboration in Richmond, not the bickering and posturing that makes legislators willing to state how offended they are at the drop of a hat because someone is challenging them. And when I say WE, I mean the voters who are growing tired of the partisan narrative that sounds more like a playground than a capitol building.
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