Sunday, February 23, 2014

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: Whereas There are Too Many Dang Memorials ...

House GOP Leader Don Bratton
I’ve covered I don’t know how many legislative races in the past 30 years, but I don’t remember any candidate ever saying, “Vote for me and I’ll introduce more memorials than my opponent.”

Nevertheless, people who dropped in on a House or Senate floor session at any given time in the first three weeks or so of the recent legislative session more likely would have heard lawmakers “debating” some memorial than any actual bill.

Though lawmakers always argue that they eventually get to the serious stuff, one not versed in the ways of the Roundhouse — and some, like House Republican Leader Don Bratton of Hobbs, who are deeply knowledgeable of the system — might tend to think this amounts to a lot of wasted time.

If I had to choose a “Quote of the Session,” it probably would be something that Bratton said during a committee meeting following a lengthy debate over a nonbinding piece of legislation:

“I’m not sure why we’re killing trees for these memorials.”

For the rest of this column read it HERE at The Santa Fe New Mexican.

And though I normally don't plug columns at other New Mexico papers, Walt Rubel of the Las Cruces Sun News takes on the same topic and it's a good, funny read. That's HERE.

And if you can't get enough of the underlying politics of the recently-concluded session, see my story about the effect of the session on the governor's race.

I'm taking the next week off, so there probably won't be much happening on this blog. See you in March.