Phoning It In

It’s early days yet in the 2013 session of the Minnesota state legislature, but a disturbing trend has quickly emerged: the absentee majority.  We’ve already accumulated a number of incidents of the majority Democrats (DFL, Democrat-Farmer-Labor as we style it in the North Star State) outsourcing the job to non-elected others.

No, I’m not talking about the usual occurrences of members sleeping on the job.  With several octogenarian members, each already having served decades apiece, the occasional nap in committee is par for the course.

This phenomenon goes well beyond a little snooze between votes.  Consider the following:

Walking Off the Job

The gun control efforts at the Capitol this year have produced some strange moments.  But the oddest event was documented by the Minneapolis Star Tribune, reporting on a bill sponsored by DFL State Representative Alice Hausman,

“But Hausman was mostly absent during the hearings, leaving the job of defending the bill to gun-control lobbyist Heather Martens of Protect Minnesota. That is an extremely unusual practice for a legislator seeking to get bills passed in the Legislature.

“Hausman excused herself Wednesday morning after introducing the assault weapons bill, saying she had another appointment, and did not attend Thursday's session focusing on her bill to ban larger ammunition magazines.”

No Rationale Needed

A bill was recently introduced that would allow private employees of a labor union join the state’s public pension system.  Questions about the bill prompted this bizarre exchange between the bill’s DFL author and a reporter for the St. Paul Pioneer Press,

When asked for the rationale behind the bill, [State Senator Sandra] Pappas acknowledged that she didn't know.  "I guess no one's ever asked me, 'What's the rationale?' I wasn't even thinking of it being the union employees," Pappas said.

Red Light—Green Light

Most recently, a House committee considered a bill to bring back red light cameras for traffic enforcement.  Minnesota Public Radio reports that the bill appeared to be headed for defeat,

“The committee chair, DFL Rep. Ron Erhardt of Edina, said he wanted the committee to vote on the bill but later decided to table it after a lobbyist for a company selling the traffic cameras sent him a note.”

A committee defeat would likely have killed the bill.

Lobbyists running meetings and presenting bills.  Bill authors who can’t answer basic questions about their own work.  I understand that the job doesn’t pay much.  The hours are long and the hassles are numerous.  But the least the citizens deserve is to have their elected officials be prepared, show up, stick around, and do the job themselves.