Tarleton moved for the session to adjourn. She ran through a few other routine matters and looked at Chopp, who had finished writing on a piece of paper. She accepted messages from the Senate, similarly cut short, similarly not objected to. A foregone conclusion, as no one was around to object. She asked for a reading of the previous day’s minutes, which she cut short and moved for acceptance if no one objected. Gael Tarleton was dragooned into banging the gavel for the day, which she did to open the session. “So this …” he said, looking down at the empty chamber. The Senate passed a bill Tuesday and the rules say he has to sign it in open session, I explained.
He probably has to sign something, I said.
Well, maybe a little longer, I said, looking down to see Speaker Frank Chopp walking to the dais and sitting in a chair next to the rostrum. Maybe as short as 20 seconds, which was the length of a session a week earlier. So when the session happens, it will be quick, I said. A few of them are in meetings, but most of them are back home. No, the legislators won’t be here, I said. “Is no one down there?” he said, looking at the floor with 98 empty chairs pushed to their desks, and just a few members of the House staff seated in the front. That’s hard enough for longtime residents to grasp. Republicans, by one vote, I said, opting not to explain the Majority Coalition Caucus, which gives them the upper hand even though Democrats actually have a 25 to 24 majority, but one of their members votes with Republicans. And the Senate, he asked, looking down the hall to the gallery to the other chamber. He asked if Democrats controlled the House and I said yes, by two votes, 50 to 48. We talked briefly about the political makeup of the Legislature. They looked at me expectantly, and I assured them that yes, there would be a session in a few minutes, although the House might not hit 9:55 right on the nose. “9:55 a.m.,” he said, looking at his watch, which if set properly told him that it was in about two minutes. Their English was a bit limited – he had a heavy Slavic accent and she had an Asian accent – but as they took in the marbled chamber with its Tiffany light fixtures, she fixed on a screen that projected the timing for the next activity on the wall. The woman sat on a bench in the back row of the gallery and the man hovered behind her. Yes, it’s open to the public, I assured them, and we went in together. There, I encountered a couple of tourists standing in the doorway to the gallery, trying to decide whether it was OK to cross the threshold to such an august establishment. So it was on Wednesday morning when the Senate was adjourned until Friday but the House was scheduled for a “pro forma.” I hustled over to the House gallery to make sure they didn’t sneak anything in on the public. With the Legislature in a somnambulant second special session, the Capitol press corps often has nothing much to do some days but meander the halls of the domed Legislative Building, looking for signs of life and random bits of wisdom.
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