Monday, February 7

Unlike previous Mondays, today was fairly lively.  I arrived at 10:00 and the pages had a Lunch 'n Learn with Speaker Paulsen.  As the speaker, he has the full authority to hire and fire all the staff members relating to the House such as secretaries, Indexing and Journalizing staff, pages, and the Republican & Democrat support staff. He may also keep a bill from being read in/debated/passed.

Anyway, the House convened at 1:00, had the prayer/Pledge, and then the Democrats caucused.  The chamber was strangely busy this afternoon.  I sat in on an education meeting again and they caucused for a very long time. While committees are having a caucus, the Democrats go to another room from the Republicans and that's when us pages sit outside and wait until everyone's done.  Today, I got a good start on a third book.

Tomorrow, I get to go in the well and start the Pledge of Allegiance, all by myself.  I pledge allegiance... I pledge allegiance... I pledge allegiance...

Thursday, February 3

Things were a little back to normal today.  By the way, the session begins each day with a (Christian) prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.

The most memorable task of the week was hauling a (not so) mini-fridge and microwave from a vehicle in the lot to an office a floor above ground level.  Fortunately, the rep had the sense to pack along a dolly cart which, through the snow, was about as navigable as the Titanic in a kiddie pool.  Anyway, I got quite a few strange looks as I pulled the stacked appliances along the tile floor.

Today I was in the Environmental Protection committee meeting and its new director spoke about giving the DNR a better image with the people it deals by responding sooner to issues and by being "Iowa reasonable" at the same time.  He and the reps would like to see more efficiency and streamlining between Iowa's DNR and the federal EPA.  Sounds good to me.

Thought of the day...
...There's one thing the Democrats and Republicans share in common: our money.

Wednesday, February 2

The snowstorm of the week kept many legislators home (wherever home is during session) so this morning was s-l-o-w. 

However in the afternoon I attended the Education committee meeting.  They voted 20-2 to allow schools to set something like "prescribed daily attire" which is the very politically correct way to say "school uniforms".  It would have been considerate to consider the advice of the best expert on (this generation's) school in the room - me.  One representative did come up to me afterwards and asked me what I thought - I thought it was maybe a little too late.

The House worked late tonight and debated two bills: 1) called for the words "right to work" on all materials distributed by the Dept. of Economic Development.  It passed 65-32. 2) A "statement" or "piece of legislation", depending on which party you ask, which cancels the penalty put forth on those who don't purchase health care under Obama's plan.  It was passed 59-39.

Tuesday, February 1

Now here was another interesting day! Because of the weather, the 4:00 session was bumped up to 11:00 for debate on the Constitutional amendment which would ban gay marriage.  Who says there is no use for blizzards?

Once again, about half of the Democrats spoke on the issue.  Their argument was that the Constitution grants equal rights to everyone.  The Republicans argued that the people of Iowa have the right to vote on such an issue.  Note that the resolution does not directly ban gay marriage - if it passes the Senate, it must wait a year and be passed again in both chambers.  If that happens, it is put on the next ballot for all Iowans to vote on whether to amend the Constitution.

The final vote was 62-37 in favor of adopting the resolution.  Representatives Quirk and Swaim were the two Democrats who *gasp* crossed over.  De Boef was absent; I think she has a new grandson.

For the last two hours of the day I ran the switchboard all by myself.  Boy, did I feel important.

Monday, January 31

Today's session was short and sweet - it lasted a whole entire 6 minutes. 

Before that, though, we had another Lunch 'n Learn with Majority Leader Upmeyer.  She explained her job and answered questions.  I asked what her top priorities were, and she said that stabilizing the economy and the budget were on top, because a more predictable government encourages entrepreneurship and small business growth, which increases jobs and helps the economy and so on...   Apparently some 600 bills have filed with the Legislative Services Agency, and about 150 of them have become House Files which I retrieve from the wonderful bill room ladies and hand out to lobbyists.  Upmeyer also is in charge of the blue calendar - this is the list of bills she wishes to pursue with debate.  She is the one that decides if and when a House file is debated. She also says she meets with Minority Leader McCarthy often to discuss schedules and so forth. 

I staffed an Agriculture meeting during which local food production was discussed.  The ISU Extension has formulated a plan, part of which gives incentives to schools and healthcare institutions for purchasing locally grown foods.

Tomorrow will be very interesting.

Thursday, January 27

Finally there was a day when something happened!  Governor Branstad gave his budget address to a joint session of the legislature.  Back to the chairs, back to the huge crowds of people.  It was the first time I've ever seen him in person.  His budget seems to cut programs that were initially funded by one-time money from the federal government.  As if that wasn't exciting enough, there was some more debate on the floor in the afternoon.  The first bill to come up was to require photo identification to vote.  The Republicans argued that it would solidify the integrity of the voting system, while the Democrats argued that it would create an unnecessary burden on Iowans (especially the elderly and minorities) who do not have a photo ID.  Good points on both sides.  It passed 60-40.

The next bill created an online searchable budget database for anyone to see exactly Iowa's revenues and expenses, thus increasing government transparency.  This bill passed unanimously.  What a wonderful bipartisan end to the week.

After debate, I sat in on a Veterans' Affairs meeting.  They passed a bill which gives National Guardsmen & -women the ability to sign over their share of custody/visitation to someone of their choosing if they are deployed.  The bill will now go to the floor of the house.

Wednesday, January 26

As I was walking to the Capitol yesterday I looked up - up in two trees on both sides of Grand Avenue were two flocks of crows c-cawing across the road at each other.   Throughout the display a third flock, the largest, of high-flying crows circled above the road.  First one side of the tree would talk, then the other.  What they were saying, who knows.  Perhaps they were rival flocks giving each other a hard time.  I didn't see any crows cross the road to the other tree.  All they did was bicker; they didn't seem to be getting anything done.

This morning I saw the same scene - I'll bet that the same crows were on the same sides bickering over the same things. 

Why in the world would I tell such a story (which is true)? Who cares if two sides are arguing over something, trying to convince the other side they are right, refusing to concede any points whatsoever to the other side?  Get the hint?  The crows could have been telling jokes back and forth for all I know, but I thought this would be an accurate comparison to what I see every day in the House of Representatives.

What was the third flock circling above? I see that as the flock that was tired of waiting for the others to find a solution and work together.  Which flock are you?