A STUNNING WEEK -- AND MAYBE A SESSION'S END

For some who have been disappointed that I have not written more this week, I appreciate your comments and your candor. I share your disappointment, and I will try to do better in the days ahead.

To say this has been an incredible week is an understatement. I have been trying to do the following parts of my job that I thought ought to come before writing:

*The crunch to finish our legislative business, which has included many, many hours in committee, on the floor, talking with colleagues and administration officials and constituents and those working for and against bills.

*Concluding work on the most important bill we consider every year: the budget.

*Trying to improve the Safety Net for citizens losing their health insurance, including those who are seriously and persistently mentally ill (the SPMI population) and thus so particularly vulnerable, and all those in the rural counties I represent, including our hospitals.

*A continuing push for Ethics Reform in addition to House Bill One (1) that we passed earlier this session.

*Simply stunning developments yesterday with four colleagues and one former colleague arrested and charged with taking bribes. More on that to come...

*Trying to re-focus despite those startling charges.

*Real progress on the Predatory Lending of some motor vehicle "title pledge" lenders.

*Trying to help colleagues with their legislation, sometimes by helping them pass it, sometimes by trying to amend it. For example, trying to protect motorcyclists, especially children, from unsafe helmets.

*Trying to finish up various bills that I am sponsoring that have been still pending.

*Trying to stop some of the bad bills.

*Dealing with two reporters who took a single word from a jest I made as I walked down a hall, put it in quotes, and wrote as though I was serious. I don't blame folks for being angry who read the accounts of my characterizing a meeting of most of the Senate Finance Committee members as a gathering of "friends." In retrospect, obviously I should not have made a joke as walking down the hall, even when I was following up on someone else's quip. Not when some reporters were angry, hurried, had just come out in the hall and missed the context, or all of the above.

Other reporters understood the context or interviewed me (a question thrown as I passed down a hall was not much of an interview) and reported differently. But I accept responsibility for communicating clearly, and either I failed to do that this time or I gave some too tempting an opportunity to make their point in a pointed way.

Now, as to meetings themselves, quite frankly, I would have announced them for several reasons.

First, little that is talked about that would be worth reporting, and none of it is worth hiding.

Second, when meetings are held without announcement, then people become suspicious and don't trust us.

Third, whatever time is gained by such meetings is lost answering questions about what happened.

Fourth, and most importantly, we ought to be open about what we are doing.

Some say that I should not have attended meetings others initiated and invited me to when I found out that reporters were not there. I understand and respect that view. But with much of the conversation being about the Safety Net for thousands of citizens I represent who are losing their health insurance, I did not and do not think I should have risked failing to advocate on their behalf.

. . .

This afternoon, the House adjourned until 9 a.m., while the Senate is further ahead with our business and waiting on the House. I'll be here in the office again early in the morning and working with colleagues on the House floor later in the morning, but the Senate does not convene session until noon.

. . .

I hope to share what I tried to say on the floor of the Senate today about Lobbying Ethics. But I'm going to go ahead and get this up now, lest these remarks be further delayed.

Thanks again for reading.