Senate Baseball Not a Hit
The Senate filibuster over electronic bingo in Macon County ended yesterday amid controversy. Read all about it in the Birmingham News.
Afterward, Rules Chair Lowell Barron (D - Fyffe) tried to organize “baseball,” a tradition in both houses. (You may read here Rep. Cam Ward’s account of baseball in the House last year.) In a nutshell, in 10 minutes everybody in the Senate would get to present one bill. If anybody objects to the bill, it’s killed. The idea is that Senators will bring non-controversial bills that no one objects to, perhaps of local interest to the home district, and everybody has the opportunity to take at least some little success home.
Tensions were high because of the controversial end of the filibuster, and Sen. Ben Brooks (R - Mobile) was unhappy that his bill to reform coastal insurance was not coming up. Baseball was not a hit.
One lobbyist’s observation…
The anger from ending the filibuster certainly spilled over, and will be lingering today.
They attempted to work a “non-controversial” 10 minute calendar that had at least one bill for every senator, and they couldn’t even do that. If they can’t make a 10 minute calendar work, I think they may as well go home. The confrontation between Barron and Brooks was really pretty ugly - Barron kept saying that Brooks couldn’t harass him into putting his bill on the calendar, even saying at one point that he’d never do it. Tension is very high.
The take here is that Brooks may have misplayed the hand. No question he is quite committed to the bill regarding coastal insurance. But with most of the session gone in most unproductive fashion and many folks in the chamber already agitated about the end of the filibuster, what is the harm in taking 10 minutes to zip through some non-controversial bills where every Senator can get something passed? Can anybody find me three Senators who would believe that trying to bully Lowell Barron is a good way to get your bill passed?
Another observer agreed that if the Senate can’t even play their traditional baseball, it really doesn’t look good for the session.
The Senate has passed a bill. Passing this morning was the tax rebate bill sponsored by Parker Griffith. They are now debating the smoking ban bill by Sen. Figures.
Comment by jeff — April 30, 2008 @ 11:43 am
Whatever happened to Hinton Mitchem? Is he still alive?
Comment by Anonymous — April 30, 2008 @ 12:06 pm
the Figures anti-smoking bill passed the senate
Comment by SIW — April 30, 2008 @ 12:51 pm
Ben Brooks has yet to figure out the process in the two years he has been in the Senate. Others, like Arthur Orr, have already figured out how things work a little better, but Brooks carps and complains and has yet to figure out that NO major bill passes in its first time out. And particularly when you tick off the Rules Chair!
Comment by Montgomery — April 30, 2008 @ 4:11 pm
According to David Grimes he did not speak with anyone at Political Parlor. He said that all the information about his comments were a complete fabrication.
The man can’t tell the truth to save his life. What really scares me is I think he really beleives what he says…
I encurage you to ask him again, just to see what he says. Wren and Hubbard can’t both be wrong.
Comment by Montgomery — April 30, 2008 @ 4:35 pm
Regarding comment #5…
I believe that you are challenging the truthfulness of David Grimes, not of me or the Political Parlor (though at first I was not sure).
Lest anyone get confused, I assure you that I did talk to Rep. Grimes. You can read here on the site the comments that he made and know that I could not and would not have made up such comments. I don’t know enough about him or the situation to have made up statements that sound credible.
Frankly, I am skeptical that Grimes has said he did not speak with me and am led to wonder who and why someone would want to discredit him. If Grimes did say that he has not spoken to me, I would be interested to know to whom he said it and in what context. You may reach me directly from the contact page (link at the top of the sidebar). I maintain confidentiality of identity.
Please forgive my skepticism. I hope you understand that I am more skeptical about an unsubstantiated, anonymous comment than I am about someone I have spoken to personally.
Comment by Danny — April 30, 2008 @ 4:54 pm
seems enough baseball for sen. figures to polish a nob on the smoking bill. Does Akil get cigarettes in prison, or does his momma’s bill affect him too?
Comment by Montgomery Victim — April 30, 2008 @ 10:27 pm
Actually I made a bit of mistatement about “baseball” in the legislature. Someone brought this to my attention yesterday and I realized they were correct. Actually in the House it is known as the 10 minute calendar where everyone gets a chance to pass a bill but if you cannot do it in ten minutes then it has to be pulled. Since one person can speak against a bill for ten minutes you basically have to have no opposition. In the Senate baseball is actually when a Senator is given three attempts to pass a bill and if they cannot pass it in three tries then they move on to someone else’s bill. Hence the idea of three strikes and your out. Thank you Senators for bringing that to my attention. I mean what did you expect from a lowly, uneducated House member.
Comment by Cam Ward — May 1, 2008 @ 7:10 am