April 1983 Legislative Journal

Today was absolutely the most depressing day yet. We voted on the budget. What a distressing atmosphere to operate in. Most of us, those in the Republican party who voted for the budget, did it for the wrong reasons. Even those who voted against it, did it for the wrong reasons. I belong to the former group. We all appeared to have purely political motives behind our votes and our rationales.

The attitude prevalent in the capitol is, give Sununu what he wants. So, he can fall flat on his face. If we wait until the eleventh hour and he vetoes the budget, he can blame the legislature for not living within the state's means. However, give him what he wants now, then confront him with a supplemental budget down the road. Then the Legislature can look like the saviors. Sununu would take the blame for the former and us the credit for the latter.

Nowhere in this discussion, with selected legislators from the various camps and factions, have I heard the people’s welfare as central to the debate. No one individual argued the merits of the budget, yet they pretend to have a knowledge of its provisions and its fiscal impact. My attitude: anyone not on the Appropriations Committee, who claims that they are making an informed vote on the budget is simply not telling the truth. I include myself in a group that has not professed knowledge of the budget. Unfortunately, I did profess a political knowledge of its impact on local and state elected officials.

I hope Sununu falls flat on his face. I do not begrudge a person their ambitions, but I do not favor opportunists. However, I must admit that my reasons could be construed as opportunistic. I do not know. I do feel very introspective today. Maybe in a few days I will tack some more of my feelings on this topic in my journal.

Today my subcommittee met. We have reached an impasse over the reorganization of the Department of Education. It is fundamentally philosophical in nature. Half of the subcommittee wants less government involvement in education and half wants more government involvement in education. One proposal is to follow the British model, where an Inspector General sends a team of accountants, someone involved in recertification, someone involved with program accreditation, and someone involved in special education to sweep through each district and make specific recommendations.

Unfortunately, the districts would balk at any plan that would supplant their district Superintendent’s role and, maybe, they would be right. I think we need a buffer between the communities and the State Department of Education. The fear of the school districts is that there is no advocate for their positions between themselves and the state. Maybe they do not need an advocate. I have yet to make up my own mind regarding the direction we should take in this area. In addition, we have discussed very few options in any detail.

Turning to the State Board of Education, our subcommittee appears to be leaning away from having a state board at all. If we choose to retain the board, we believe it should be purely advisory. Another possibility is to have the state board serve as an appeals board. We would need to decide whether their decisions would override the commissioner. If we move toward that set-up, we might create a situation where the board would be at odds with the commissioner. The potential for friction may be less helpful than the tension created under the present structure.

I find myself exhausted after two of the most trying weeks I have lived through since basic training in the army, nine years ago. Last week was "Committee" week. The standing committees of the House suffered under the weight of deliberating and taking action on over 350 pieces of legislation. Our committee, ED&A, one of twenty-two standing committees, was deluged with forty-seven of the 350 House bills. We met five days a week for two weeks. We spent an average of twelve hours each day in hearings and in executive sessions. Unfortunately, I have neglected my journal in the interim. When I finally arrive at home, somewhere around eleven or twelve o'clock, the last thing I want to do is ponder on the day's events.

My days were punctuated by divisive arguments and temporary alliances on various bills. I had one major success, the introduction of an amendment to take YDC out of the ED&A committee’s bill on Corrections and administratively attach it to the Department of Corrections. This was an effort that was opposed by the committee and the subcommittee chairs. But I have been lining up my votes for over a month on this power play. And they found themselves in the minority. When faced with yet another defeat, they changed their tune and voted with me, much to their regret. I must admit that I was surprised that they gave in, but I suppose that they did not want to be defeated again by the "Young Turks" on the committee.

That is, in fact, an appropriate way to characterize us. We have been told that House leadership has been talking amongst themselves about the young members of ED&A. Our surprising defeats of the "Iron Lady,” Chairwoman Kay Ward, is the subject of much conversation. Governor Sununu was elected on a promise to reorganize the state government. A tough task needing a strong veteran legislative hand. She has a long-standing reputation for getting what she wants when she wants it. However, we may find ourselves on the committee for Veterans Affairs in the next session, because we have not toed the line as was expected of us.

But back to the last two weeks. Even the representatives of the media complain about the mad rush to get the House business over to the Senate. They write article after article condemning House leadership for putting us in the position in which we find ourselves. However, it is unfair to indict anyone for the schedule. Everyone waited until the last minute to file their legislation. No matter how much time we give ourselves we will, like any other group of humans, wait until the last minute to finish our business.

The opportunity costs of rectifying the situation are greater than the benefits. For example, we could set a limit on the number of bills allowed per individual representative. We could form a screening committee to weed out "unnecessary” legislation, but I am not willing to give up those reviewing rights. Nor are others prepared to do so. In the long run, we will just have to grin and bear it.

If one looks at "Crossover" as the peak of a mountain, the climax, then the climb up the mountain is wrought with individual dangers climbing the legislative hill. When we reach the summit, the ride down is held in common. The individual pressures on the ride up can be excruciating with danger hidden in the shadows. We all point to the summit of the legislative mountain and blame our fatigue on gaining the top; we blame the mountain. We forget the problems we created, individually, as we strove to gain the top. In the long run - we only have ourselves to blame. We put the mountain there in the first place. No matter where we put the mountain in our schedule, we will still have to climb it.

Some complain that a great deal of "good" legislation is abandoned or buried, because we do not have the time to study it properly. I believe that if “good” legislation is lost, it will rise to the surface again during the next session, or during a special session if a crisis arises.

Today we had a light schedule. In fact, this is the only time we will meet until next week.

Wayne King and I decided to form a youth caucus over the next few weeks. We intend on modeling it after a group called the "Young Turks" in the Vermont Legislature. However, we want to call it the Sunrise Caucus, so as not to alienate the older representatives.

Our initial strategy for gelling the youth caucus is to develop a few universal planks that 2/3 of the members can support to get the ball rolling. In addition, when new issues arise, we will caucus and develop positions. The result should be that leadership will not be able to ignore our positions. At the very least they will be unable to divide and conquer. Our hope is that the caucus will be non-partisan. If we can achieve this end, then we shall be a potential voting block of about fifty representatives. That could mean the difference between legislation being passed or failing.

The Vermonters who formed the group in the late 1960's now run the state. Their success lends some momentum and credibility to those of us willing to incur the wrath of leadership. We are playing with fire, because if we fail, we will be accused of factionalism. If we succeed, we will be courted by leadership from both parties for our support on important legislation. Frankly, I am damned tired of being isolated from the mainstream, because I somehow represent a threat. The only solution is to go on the offensive. And we must do everything we can not to be co-opted by leadership.

The last time someone made a similar move in New Hampshire the leadership of both parties offered leadership positions to the youth movement agitators in their respective parties. Unfortunately, they, the founders, did not care to see the movement survive for any other purpose than to be recognized by their respective parties. Hopefully, we can resist any moves to stroke us away from the youth movement. If they do, we will be right back to where we started from. Plus, we will be held hostage to our party leaders to maintain our positions in the leadership.

If we can formulate some basic positions on taxes, the environment, and legislation that affect the youth and young married couples of the state, we should be able to develop a force to be reckoned with; however, at this stage, it's just a pipe dream. We intend on realizing that dream. Tomorrow, we will approach the young members of the House to discover their feelings about forming a youth caucus. In addition, we will put a notice in the House Record informing the body of our intentions regarding the formation of the youth caucus.

Unfortunately, we may have waited too long to make our move, since most of the legislative action is behind us. We can and will have an impact on the special session and the supplemental budget, though. Speaking of the supplemental budget, we need to have someone who can be our ‘budget' man, and someone who will be our 'ways and means' man. Wayne King can be our 'environment' man, and I can be what I've always wanted to be: the “hatchet' man!!!

Three weeks to go in the school term. Two-digit midget. Getting awfully short.