Judiciary Committee Never a Dull
When I was first elected to the House I asked to be put on the Judiciary Committee. Several of my closest friends in the legislature had previously served on the committee and laughed at me when I made the request. There is a reason for their laughter, the Judiciary Committee is one of the hardest working committees in the House. While many committees meet for about 30 minutes to an hour on Wednesdays it is not uncommon for the Judiciary committee to go on for a few hours. Many people beg to stay off Judiciary because of this work load and tedious nature of the issues we face but I have to say it is one of my favorite committees. There is never a dull moment in Judiciary and if you have a bill in front of the committee you better be prepared for a pretty thorough grilling that the committee has a reputation of giving to everyone who comes before it. In the last few weeks alone the committee has handled controversial topics like illegal immigration, gun control, and this week hate crimes. These topics have provided some hot debate between the members. On immigration my good friend Rep. Yusaaf Salaam and I had a pretty good back and forth on the merits of this issue. Rep. Salaam is one of the smarter members of the House and if you think you are going to pull one over on him in a debate you better think again. This guy knows his stuff. On the issues of crime legislation, if you think you can just come into Judiciary and pass whatever “tough on crime” bill you want you will find a hard nose questioner like Rep. Laura Hall waiting for you. While Rep. Hall and I agree on very few political issues I cannot help but respect her doggedness in standing her ground in this committee where “tough on crime” sound bites often prevails over common sense. The chairman of the committee, Rep. Marcel Black has to be the ringmaster of this show. He is a no nonsense politician who detests grandstanding. I know because I have attempted to score some cheap political points in the past and was quickly called down by Rep. Black and rightfully so. Rep. Black is an attorney he knows the law better than anyone else in the legislature and he likes an orderly committee and his reputation as a fair chairman is unchallenged. You add to all of this Rep. Paul DeMarco, and Reps. Jamie Ison, Tammy Irons, and Marc Keahy you have a very active committee that is not afraid to mix it up on some of the thorniest legal issues facing our state. No this is not an easy committee to serve on but it is never dull for sure.
