Fitzsimon File

Given the events at the General Assembly this week, it is pretty hard not to think that this has been of the most unusual sessions in recent history, with legislators and reporters and other state officials caught up in everything but the biggest issue of all, the state budget.

Legislative leaders and the Governor are still arguing about whose right it is to give state land away and who really owns an airport, a county or the state.

The revelation that top legislators doled out funding for special projects from a $20 million discretionary fund continues to provide reporters with fertile ground for stories about backroom budget shenanigans. Then there is Tuesday’s special lottery committee charade, a made for television event that flaunted the democratic process.

Wednesday brought something even more bizarre. House leaders have changed the rules governing the room in the legislative building where press conferences are held. Since the room was built in the early 1990s, the only requirement to use the room was that a legislator had to reserve it and appear with the group holding the press conference.

Not any more. Apparently the top lawmakers in the House were not too happy when one of the backward-thinking tanks called on House Speaker Jim Black, House Speaker Pro Tem Richard Morgan and Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight to give up their leadership positions after the discovery of the discretionary money the leaders controlled.

House leaders responded by changing the rules for press conferences. Now only members of the General Assembly can stand behind the podium and talk to the media. That ought to show them, restrict their access to a public room in a public building even when sponsored by an elected member of the General Assembly.

No word yet if House rules will soon prohibit any non-legislator from drinking from the building’s water fountains without authorization from a member of the House.

The Senate has adopted no such gag order, and plenty of non-legislators spoke from the apparently all important podium during the three news conferences held Wednesday.

The anti-government groups and legislators, handed another opportunity to criticize the legislative leadership, are now holding press conferences complaining about the ridiculous rule about press conferences. Got that?

The House leaders overreacted to the original, absurd call for Black and Basnight to step down with a policy that is virtually unenforceable and makes them look anti-democratic and petty at the same time.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people wait for budget decisions about things that affect their lives, health care, day care, the quality of schools, the lack of affordable housing. People criticizing legislators from a certain podium or a battle over land for a county airport is the least of their worries.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, March 31st, 2005 at 8:22 am and is filed under Fitzsimon File. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.