A Glimpse At Week One
Krayton Kerns
1.10.07
The ’07 Montana State Legislature convened January 3rd with great pomp and circumstance. Here are the top four things that marked my opening week:
- Supreme Court Chief Justice Karla Gray explained the entire legislative process was designed to be slow and cumbersome so restricting your freedom through greater regulation would be a tedious process. Hence, nothing much occurred the first week so I can proudly report we are right on schedule.
- All committee meetings and floor sessions are recorded and televised live, so expect a minimum of 16 embarrassing comments to be broadcast statewide over the course of the 90 day session. So far we’ve had one. I am thinking of injecting my tongue with BOTOX to keep from joining the “Oops-I-shouldn’t-have-said-that-club”.
- Because I am a political novice, and rely far too much on cowboy logic, I am amazed to see people stand and talk for five minutes with the sole intent of just making noise. I have learned this is called “political posturing”. In the veterinary world, “posturing” is the term we use when a tom cat tries to pass a bladder stone. (Perhaps my professional experiences will be more useful than I thought.)
- Tip of the week for constituents: If you visit the capitol and use the official map to conduct a self-guided tour, please disregard all you have learned about map reading. By convention, the entire outside world places North at the top of the page. In the Montana State Capitol, South is the top of the map. If you know this in advance you won’t find it necessary to step outside and look to the sun or the North Star to realign your internal compass. (That helpful information eluded me the first day.)
I am sure there will be meatier stuff to report next week, so until then, sleep well with one hand gripped firmly around your wallet.
