24 August 2007
Written by Key Votes
From West Virginia:
On a bill to require public notice for drilling in national forests: Wells stood up after she explained the bill and invited his colleagues to visit the forest. "It's a lovely place," he said. He then let out a loud noise, telling laughing delegates it was the sound of a bulldozer in the forest coming toward a person. A number of delegates let out similar calls while voting 96-2 for the bill, with all the Kanawha County delegation in favor. "Have all the members voted or mooed?" asked House Speaker Rick Thompson, D-Wayne.
From New Mexico:
On Saturday, as the session drew to a close, the headlines proclaimed that New Mexico lawmakers had restored Pluto to planet status, whenever it passes overhead in New Mexico's excellent night skies.
The 94-year-old widow of the New Mexico man who discovered Pluto back in 1930 lamented that the non-binding measure doesn't really solve the problem, but it's a nice gesture.
From Kentucky:
When asked about the cooperation between the Republican majority and the Democratic minority in the Kentucky legislature during the 2007 session, House Speaker and gubernatorial hopeful Jody Richards had this to say:
"In the Senate, I don't know what it is. I think the Senate Democrats are just afraid of Sen. Williams."
South Carolina
On his position on a piece of legislation to raise cigarette taxes and use the revenue to cut taxes elsewhere, House Minority Leader Harry Ott said:
"I'm going to really hold my nose, but I'm going to vote for it."
Wisconsin
On a bill to allow retail grocery stores to offer free samples of beer to adult shoppers:
"It's a good bill. It's a Wisconsin bill. It's a beer bill," said Republican Rep. Scott Newcomer, one of the measure's main sponsors.
Wisconsin
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on a bill to raise the tax on beer for the first time since 1969:
They are, after all, taking on what one measure supporter called a "sacred Wisconsin beverage."
"I am not predicting it's going to pass," Berceau said of her proposal to boost the $2 tax to $10 a barrel to fight drunken driving and treat alcohol addiction and mental illness. "I'm kind of fooling around with holy water here."
Wisconsin
"This is Edward Scissorhands on meth - it's cut, cut, cut, cut, cut," Rep. Jennifer Shilling (D-La Crosse) said of the UW plan.
Alabama
Session-long tensions in the Alabama Senate boiled over Thursday as Republican Sen. Charles Bishop of Jasper punched Democratic Sen. Lowell Barron of Fyffe in the head before the two were pulled apart.
The 69-year-old Bishop said he punched Barron, 65, in the head after the senator called him a "son of a b$#!@."
"I responded to his comment with my right hand," Bishop said.
The annual shroud award was granted for the deadest bill in the House to a bill trying to increase the percentage of alcohol allowed in beer. "Cheers were not needed. The stein strategy of the Jackson Brewery was coldly mugged. Forget Free the Hops, somebody call the cops," the resolution said.
North Carolina
Supporters of a bill to make voter registration easier in North Carolina say they're perplexed by an unusual attempt by State Auditor Les Merritt to delay it.
"That's as odd as a tutu on a hog," said Sam Watts of the nonpartisan N.C. Center for Public Policy Research.
Related tags: Alabama, blog, Kentucky, New-Mexico, North-Carolina, quips, South-Carolina, West-Virginia, Wisconsin