Political Motel

Monday, August 09, 2004

If you hate the Legislature, the concept of a Part-Time Legislature probably makes you nigh on orgasmic. The problem is, if the Legislature isn't running the show, who is? I'll give you one hint.

Frankly, even a lot of reform-minded progressives may be tempted to jump on the Part-Time Legislature bandwagon, but you have to ask yourselves, is this really good for the state, or is it just punnishment politics?

I've started a little "blogette" to track the issue. It is in its infancy, but over time I'll be tracking postive vs. negative editorials, and I'll have campaign contacts listed, should the need arise. There will also be an RSS feed, but I'm tired right now.
posted by John at 9:51 PM

Comments:

oh, cheatin' on us with that little bloggette tramp, huh?

As someone who has lived in Texas (with an infamously part-time legislature), I can testify to just how bad of an idea this is. Here's my take on what happens in Texas: the legislature shows up every other year for a little while, spends half their time catching up on what's happened while they were gone, then addresses the most pressing demands of the oil companies. At that point, the legislative season is practically over, but somebody wrote a budget that they need to vote on, so things drag out a little longer and finally the governor decides everything. If you happen to be in the very unfortunate position of having a total retard for a governor, things can get pretty shitty pretty quick.

# posted by Chris : 9:05 AM

That blogette, she's a hottie.

Oregon works the same way. They spend the first few months squeezing out 18 months worth of legislative constipation, the next few months cutting budget deals, and the final few weeks going back on budget deals. Then the Republicans try to pin their bad budget on the Democratic governor, everybody gets drunk, the final gavel falls, and Salem empties out until the next odd-numbered year.

# posted by John : 2:07 PM

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