Sunday, May 07, 2006

The Killing of HB1352

The joys of political machinations in the Colorado State Senate.

Everyone can turn off their television between January and mi-May and enjoy the intrigues of the Colorado State General Assembly, a.k.a. Legislature. It’s better than any prime-time soap opera and much more educational.

Take, for instance, the farcical actions on the part of our elected officials with regards to killing any idea of clean water in the state of Colorado....

This is just too rich to pass up. Not to mention it being one of MY areas of personal interest, e.g., Constitutional Governance.

So, it seems that a legislator from the rural areas introduced a bill in this year’s session of the legislature that would ease the state towards the idea that the quality of water should be considered something that is important in making decisions in the water courts.

Sierra Club would probably stand up and cheer. It IS something of a step in the ‘right’ direction.

And, last week, the bit of legislation PASSED the Colorado House of Representatives.

At first blush, this looks surprising, as it is blatantly obvious to the casual observer that the House represents the populous centers of this state more than it does the rural areas. But, if you consider that we are a two-HOUSE of Representatives legislative government, thanks to the late Supreme Court Justice Brennan’s Baker v. Carr (‘62) decision, it’s not too surprising. That is when you realize that the State Senate is nothing more than an overpaid version of the House. In other words, the make-up of the State Senate reflects, darn-near EXACTLY the make-up of the House of Representatives.

So the House passed the bill. The Reps from the metropolitan areas knew that the Senate would defeat it. It was an easy vote for them to look all concerned for the welfare of the state as a whole. Not to mention showing themselves as willing to support environmental issues. I’d call it, at face value, all show and no blow. They got a chance to look environmentally conscientious with no real risk. And I say, “Good on them for being savvy enough to see a real opportunity to look good at no personal cost.” That’s what your Run-Of-The-Mill (ROTM), pronounced rot’m, politicians are good for. Nothing more. Nothing less.

And the bill goes to the Senate.

Here is where the really funny business comes into play.

Based on the natural predilections of your ROT’M politician, this bill could NOT pass. And so it is up to the Senate to kill it. However, in order to do so in the least damning manner, they need to be VERY clever about doing it. Otherwise, someone might point out their nefarious nature showing through in the form of their voting record. And in an election year...well...that could be ‘damaging’.

So, our friendly Senators let the bill get through committee and come to the floor for a final vote. And that’s understandable. People on the committee could have been identified as being opposed to environmental issues, if they voted against sending the bill to the full senate for a final decision. More damaging to them, in the eyes of their constituents who appreciate being good stewards of their part of this ball of dirt.

And the bill comes to a vote....

I’m not sure if everyone is familiar with the voting process on the floor of the “committee of the whole”. But, for the uneducated, they all vote at their desk. No one knows ‘exactly’ how anyone voted on a bill, until all is revealed on the big board, once all the votes have been indicated in the system. It’s not a show of hands sort of thing where someone might be influenced to move one way or another based on what others are doing.

So, back to the vote. It’s a game of ‘chicken’ in the Senate. Most of the Senators, coming, thanks to Justice Brennan’s Baker v. Carr (‘62) decision, from the metro areas, know they’ve got to kill this bill. However, they’re challenged as to who is going to cast the fatal vote. And, if they can be shown to be voting FOR the environmental issue, in an election year, so much the better for them.

And on Thursday, low and behold....the bill PASSES! Much to the «HORROR!» of everyone from the Fort Collins-Denver-C’Springs metroplex. [Note: It IS getting to be like that.] Not enough Senators from that region had the guts to vote the bill down.

Now the Senators from the metroplex-region are in a quandary. HOW can they gracefully kill this bill NOW?

There’s a simple solution, really. It’s just a matter of someone saying, “Oops!”

So overnight, probably after some hurried confabbing, someone, Senator Lewis Entz (R-Hooper), stepped forward and said, “Oops!” He had not intended to vote in the negative on this bill. And he wanted to change his vote to reflect his ‘real’ enthusiasm for the environmental issues.

So, the committee of the whole gets another chance to kill this bill. And, in the process, three other senators, Lois Tochtrop (D-Thornton), Stephanie Takis (D-Aurora) and Susanne Williams (D-Denver) changed THEIR votes as well: from for to against. And the bill was successfully killed by our friends from the metroplex.

[Note: Not to put too fine a point on this but, do you notice significant factors in who votes against this bill? Simple correlations of commonality? Metropolitan area? Party affiliation? Gender? And I thought women were supposedly so ‘nurturing’......]

I’m curious as to what Senator Entz thinks he gained for himself OR for his constituents for his saying, “Oops!”, and bringing about this re-vote opportunity.

But, in the long run, as I said, this bill was doomed from the get-go. And why is that? Well, it’s because, back in 1962 the Warren Supreme Court decided to overthrow the Constitution of the State of Colorado, as well as every other state, less Nebraska. It did this in the Baker v. Carr decision which said that what’s good for the gander, the federal government legislative body, is not good for the geese, every state’s legislative body.

Despite what the Pueblo Chieftain and Representative McFadyen think, this will just continue until such a time as the state legislature is based on the SAME MODEL as the Congress; the House of Representatives based on the population and the Senate based on the regional areas.

And, this applies to ALL areas where the legislature comes into play. Not just water quality. It also applies to EVERYTHING the legislature has purview over. And THAT is quite a lot. To include highway funding, schools, voting, property rights, mineral rights, environment, parks, recreation, taxes, law and order, etc., etc., etc.

Only when true balance is brought back, between the metropolitan and rural areas is there ANY hope for the future of this state and this country. Until then, there will be growing civil discord between the two. And if not curtailed in a timely manner, maybe even worse....

Next entry: Well, That Was Easy Previous entry: Apologies

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