I hadn’t wanted to write again about this year’s legislature,
but I feel like Michael Corleone in Godfather III. “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.”
A
Facebook friend said, “This session has reminded me of something my cousin used to say.
‘Christianity hasn't failed; it's just never been tried.’ It has been so disheartening
to watch our local ‘Christians’ fighting for the right to despise and
discriminate against the weak, the poor, the minorities, the powerless.”
If
you’ve been to the legislative chambers, you may have noticed. There are
neither windows nor mirrors. Legislators who lamely refuse to provide
healthcare to low-income working or disabled people should have windows. They
could look out and see those about whom they’re so cavalier.
Legislators
arguing its time to raise their own pay after repeatedly rejecting minimum wage
increases could use a mirror. They say current remuneration doesn’t cover hotel
rooms during the tourist season. Well, wages earned by tens-of-thousands don’t
cover housing for their families or food for their children. A quick look in a
mirror could prove sobering.
Then
there’s the disrespect shown Martin Luther King. Reluctantly the legislature
created a holiday but King’s birthday is a working day for the legislature.
When they work, so do Legislative Service Office staff and hundreds of state
employees who have to sit by the phones in case a legislator calls.
Contrast
that with what they did for President’s Day. Many of the Republicans in the legislature
want to get home for Lincoln Day dinners. So they took a four-day weekend.
Now
there’s feigned outrage to comments made by the director of the Division of
Criminal Investigation (DCI). The Governor vetoed a bill regarding asset
forfeiture. The DCI director called on law enforcement officers to back the
governor against an effort to override. ”The truth is,” he said, “that many
legislators are either on the boards of certain groups or are provided
significant political contributions by groups which influence their vote.”
Not
politically correct, but the truth. Some legislators are distraught. They say
something like Lewis Carroll wrote. “Well, I never heard it before, but it sounds uncommon
nonsense.” It’s the
Wyoming Liberty Group lobbying to override. We know about them, their money,
and influence. So does the DCI director.
Then
there’s Harlan Edmunds, president of the Conservative Republicans of Wyoming.
CROW believes Wyoming’s Republican Party has veered dangerously to the left.
After he was elected to the legislature last November, this column discussed
Mr. Edmunds. “We’ll know by the
end of the coming session whether Harlan Edmunds is a serious legislator or
just another fictional character.”
Now we know.
Rep. Edmunds
called Medicaid “socialism.” If that were so, and it’s not, his state-provided
health insurance would likewise be “socialism.”
Harlan Edmunds is a state employee who urged his House colleagues
to kill a cost-of-living raise for state employees. He explained, “Most state
employees don’t work hard enough for what they are getting paid now.” Wouldn’t
you love to be a fly on the wall when he goes back to work with the state
employees who he trashed.
Representative Elaine Harvey deserves kudos. Elaine chairs
the House Committee on Labor, Health and Social Services. She demonstrated more
wisdom than a majority of the voters in House District 12. They elected Edmunds
despite his outrageousness. As a legislator, he proved so outrageous she booted
him from her committee room. I’ve been around the legislature for half a
century. I’ve never seen that. Edmunds made a fool of himself and those who
voted for him. When they get the chance in 2016, HD12 voters need to finish
what Rep. Harvey started and boot him clear out of the legislature.
I can’t get Al
Green’s song, “The Snake” out of my head. "You knew damn well I was a
snake before you took me in.” Either the voters like being bitten or just vote
the party line. Either way, in a democracy, we get what we deserve.
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