The Alternate Reality
A few weeks ago, my son Chris took a week off from our family business and travelled with me to Montgomery to watch the legislature in action (or inaction). It was his first time to be an eyewitness to inner workings of the sausage factory. As we headed home at the end of the week, I asked him what he thought about the process in Montgomery. His reply really grabbed my attention: “It’s like being in a video game with an alternate reality.” I have to agree that most of the time things in Montgomery during the session are a bit surreal, more like an elementary school playground than the Alabama our constituents inhabit.
The alternate reality was never more evident than on the last day of the session, with “the punch” serving as an exclamation point to end the session. Of course, punching a colleague is inexcusable and inappropriate, it seemed to me to be a culmination of the childish playground behavior that has been going on all session, especially the petty back-and-forth digs at one another. I think all of us should do a bit of self-examination at the evolution of our legislative process in Alabama.
In a previous post, “Bills Killed in the Middle of the Night“, Cam Ward gives an excellent example of the playground behavior of a bully, the old “I didn’t get my way, so I’ll punish everyone who opposed me”. It happens all the time in both the House and the Senate. For those who wonder why excellent, non-controversial legislation often goes down in flames, it is often nothing more than this “I’ll make ‘em pay” sucker punch. Fear of retaliation can make legislators reluctant to heed the dictates of their conscience.
Another practice that has occured is the old “we’ve got some money for your district, if you’ll vote with us”. An example of this legal form of bribery occurred during the House debate over the Governor’s line-item veto on the last day of the session as the Democrat leadership offered pork projects from the bond money as they desperately tried to peel off Republican votes to enable them to deliver the million dollars to the district of the Senator who switched sides at the last minute during the organizational session. Another example is during the battle over discretionary money during the bond issue debate. Greed can also make legislators reluctant to follow the dictates of their conscience.
Still another form of childish behavior in this alternate reality is changing or ignoring the rules in the middle of the game, when the outcome doen’t suit you, in order to win at all costs. An excellent example of this is when the leadership avoids roll call votes by pretending to not see very well. Even another example was the Lt. Governor’s questionable ruling on the Sunset bills in the Senate. Nobody likes to always be on the losing side, and having the knowledge that the fix is in, in addition to a natural desire to be on the winning side can also make legislators reluctant to follow the dictates of their conscience.
During my first year in the legislature, my friend the late Rep. Albert Hall (who probably would not have hesitated to throw a punch, under certain circumstances) told me, “Ball, your problem is that you’ve came down here trying to be a statesman. We’ve had them down here before, but they don’t last too long.” The longer I’m in Montgomery, the more I understand why. Albert Hall was a wise man.
Comment by Loretta Nall
rep ball,
would you consider adding a recall provision to your i and r bill. i think after this session a great many more alabamians will be interested in i and r. if recall were added to it….who knows what might happen.
imagine if we had such a tool in alabama and what a difference holding it over the head of elected officials would make in their actions while in serving in any elected office.
and rep. ball…about that punch….would you press charges against another senator or legislator that punched you. i think senator bishop should be charged with assault and prosecuted. a regular citizen caught on video camera striking an elected official in the face would be placed under the jail. to not charge and prosecute one senator for striking another just smacks of aristocracy syndrome. i know it isn’t your call to make….but, if it were, then what would you do.
please excuse my small letters and lack of punctuation all…only certain keys on my keyboard work and shift isnt one of them.
Comment by Mike Ball
If we get the initiative process in place, it would then provide citizens a mechanism to get recall, if they want it. If recall were in the initiative, bill it would only add to the difficulty of getting it passed. I believe recall is a separate issue from initiative.
If someone punched me, I guess I would most likely fight them back. I’m not sure about charges or anything else, because whole idea seems a bit far-fetched for me, since I usually get along pretty well on a personal level with my colleagues. I would expect when the Senate returns, they will take some sort of action.
Comment by Cam Ward
I like your post Mike. I think it is right on target. It also brings up an even bigger point– in Montgomery we always wonder why the voters are so disillusioned with govt. No wonder? While I have to admit I have seen pretty outlandish stuff since I was first elected 5 years ago I have never seen anything like I saw on the last day of the session by both Sen. Bishop and Sen. Poole. We cannot go on like this and expect people to trust us to make the right decisions. It seems to me that many more people in Montgomery are concerned with scoring points than they are with the merits of legislation right now. This is a sign of the disconnect between the legislature and the people. People in our districts don’t care about points, they ask the same question over and over: what are you getting done?
I get poked a lot (sometimes very fairly) for being a little to proative in the number of bills I handle each time. I sponsor a lot and must confess that I have not always been right but at least this is an effort to get into the debate bring the issues up. You are the same way Mike with your strong ethics reform legislation.
There are two kinds of people in state government right now– those sitting back and trying to figure out how we can stick it to the other side and those who are in the business of legislating and fighting against bad legislation. You are a good legislator Mike Ball for being that fight. We need some more like that in Montgomery.
Comment by Brian
“… can make legislators reluctant to follow the dictates of their conscience.”
You guys have a conscience?! Just kidding.
Great post. One of the things that really chaps me is what Cam talked about: legislators actively opposing good legislation because of the party affiliation of the sponsor (or some other irrelevant personal disagreement).
You guys get I&R passed and we’ll take care of the rest.
Comment by Don
I agree that this is a great post, Representatives Ball and Ward. For that reason I just sent an email to a host of Alabamians including other Alabama bloggers and Alabama talk radio program hosts recommending to them that they visit this blog to read this post.
Representative Ball, I strongly agree with your reply to Mrs. Nall. The less offensive and I&R bill is to the legislators the better it is. Getting most of them to even consider giving us the tool of I&R is difficult enough because they are frightened by it. Many legislators feel threatened by the mere idea of giving us voters any voice at all in the political process, and to include a recall provision in I&R legislation would likely make many of them who try to appear strong, stoic, and aloof pee in their pants, if you will pardon a quaint expression.
Comment by publius
Rep. Ball, I admire your convictions. You, however, will always be on the losing side on major issues. Why? you are honest and ethical and have no ties to montgomery knuckledraggin goon squad lobbyists and their New Orleans, Memphis capo’s. Dont be deceived, Rep. Ball, the Mafia is alive and well in the Alabama Legislature and Alabama Citizens deserve and demand a sting from the Feds to gut the cancer from our money and our trust. Shoot, we wouldnt even care if a few of them were hung from a tree or dropped off a bridge. The same treatment their old school leaders gave people who merely wanted to vote. All we want is to vote honestly and cleanly and keep the mafia and contract lobbyists out of our govt. most of us are to poor to make a difference. so, we just eat shit every day.