Lessons from the Arena: Lesson #1
In 2001, I entered the Utah House of Representatives with 14 other freshman, all of us eager and excited to participate. Week one, I learned just how seriously legislators take the issues they address.
The first big bill we faced was “paycheck protection,” a bill that would stop the State from collecting association (e.g., union) dues from the paychecks of State employees. In order to obtain 38 committed votes (a majority of just one vote), the bill sponsor and Republican leadership aggressively lobbied Republican legislators. I remember being told, “Be wherever you want to be on the bill. But, if you commit to vote for it, you’re signing in blood. Don’t back out of that commitment. Follow the bill sponsor during floor debate. Vote as he directs.”
The floor debate took place on the first Friday of the general session. Freshman Republican House members sit on the front rows of the chamber, on the left side of the aisle because there are so many Republicans. Leadership teams for both parties sit on the back row, to keep an eye on the entire body.
Motion after motion was made to amend the bill. “Follow the bill sponsor.” Check. Though we were new, even the freshman legislators could follow that clear instruction. The first motion to amend failed 37 votes in favor to 38 votes against. Another motion to amend was raised. It, too, failed 37-38. This was easy. The next motion likewise failed 37-38.
Another motion to amend was made. Then, a Representative who opposed the bill suggested we adjourn for the weekend. He said that the pending motion to amend was different. It just might bring the two camps together. And, after all, isn’t consensus a good thing? He said that he needed the weekend to thoroughly consider the proposed amendment, and he assumed other members also would appreciate the opportunity to study the proposed amendment.
The bill sponsor opposed the motion to circle (hold) the bill, saying that both sides knew the issue well and that the proposed amendment would not move anyone. He argued that a vote should take place that day.
The motion to circle, however, passed with 38 votes in favor and 37 votes against. Someone had flipped sides. The Speaker adjourned us. The bill would stay in the House over the weekend.
Circling the bill meant that the associations would rally their members and that Legislators would be bombarded in their districts all weekend by calls and visits from state employees who opposed the bill. The intense lobbying might peel away a member and defeat the bill, leaving all the others who supported the bill politically exposed with nothing to show for it.
At that point, votes were not yet posted online. A bill clerk in the front left corner of the chamber kept track of how members voted on bills and motions. The Republican leadership team stormed over to the bill clerk, to see who had broken ranks and flipped sides.
They turned at once to glare at the freshman Representative two seats away from me, who was starting to realize he had been played. The first member of leadership to reach him exploded on him with the words that cattlemen claim their cattle understand. He was standing over the new Representative, bearing down on him. His fury was remarkable.
The next-arriving member of leadership physically restrained the first, pulling him away, saying, “Stop! Stop! He’s new. He’s been here one week.” Thank heavens, I thought to myself, the good cop has arrived to help instruct, to provide some words of wisdom for the future. I listened in on the conversation.
As the first member of leadership stomped away, the good cop put his hand on the shoulder of my now-visibly-shaken fellow freshman and calmly asked, “What happened? Did you get confused? Or, are you just a dumbass?”
No one has to smack the guy next to me twice for me to learn a lesson. Politicians are infamous for dodging and waffling. But a commitment on a crucial vote must be kept.