Fresh Eyes: An Editor in the Senate
I’ve been the Austin editor for two and a half years and have never watched the Lege live and in person. So with apologies to Emily Ramshaw, who has perfected the Fresh Eyes treatment, here are my own initial observations on the Texas Senate.
Oh, and because he has to come back here, let me apply an initial disclaimer: These are my views, not Terry Stutz’s. He just had to escort me. Here we go:
1) So, they ambled in at 11 a.m. and have spent more than a half-hour on a resolution honoring college students working in Senate offices under a program named for the late Sen. Greg Luna. Even Lt. Gov. Dewhurst got in on the action, and he acknowledged it was rare for him to do so. And not just a nod to the kids, but each senator is standing up, lauding their intern, and sharing stories of Sen. Luna. Now, no question it’s a high honor for these kids, and I’m sure Sen. Luna was a fine individual. But we’re 19 days from sine die – isn’t there, like, business to be done?
2) Here’s an interesting sidebar to that -- but Sen. Dan Patrick was one of the few who didn’t speak, but he was the first to go down the line of students, shaking their hands and congratulating them. Say what you want about the guy, he’s got good political instincts.
3) I think I saw a senator napping through parts of the Luna scholars deal. And not doing a whole lot to hide it, either.
4) I’m an equal-opportunity snarkster, so I have to bust on my own folks here. There are 14 seats reserved for reporters in the Senate, and barely half of them are filled. And that’s with me taking a second seat in the name of TDMN. So in a state of more than 20 million people, with a flurry of lawmaking and alleged problem-solving, our industry can’t be bothered to send more than a few folks to monitor the public’s business. Nice.
5) So we’re more than an hour in, and no actual lawmaking (or even policy-debating) has occurred. To be fair, Stutz tells me that Wednesdays tend to be “resolution days.” And if senators didn’t bloviate a little, they wouldn’t be senators. So I’ll check back in after lunch and see if they’re going on any bills yet.
Comments
Sure, sure. This is the perfect editor's Fresh Eyes. Please note, dear reader, why the first three rules of journalism are 1)Never trust an editor, 2) Never trust an editor and 3) NTAE.
Ryan, who by the way is a great guy and usually quite observant, sees that nothing is happening in the Senate. Yet he chides that reporters for skipping out. Are they lounging barefoot on the Capitol lawn? Nope. (at least, not before midnight.) Are they eating their umpteenth lunch of the session in the Capitol Grill? Unlikely. (Skiddles and peanut M&Ms usually hold us until dinner). No, they have had to choose: write the weekend stories that editors have helped assign them or sit in the Senate and listen to resolutions.
Would that these stories just magically appear. But occasionally, they actually require some reporting.
Unlike, of course, blogs.
Posted by: choppe | May 9, 2007 1:13 PM
RRusak, stepping on my "fresh eyes" toes. Come visit us in the House -- there are so many reporters in here there's nary a seat left. And in case Christy's interested, today's lunch menu includes Hershey Kisses and spearmint Lifesavers.
Posted by: Emily | May 9, 2007 1:22 PM
Touchy, touchy. Of course, what I meant was to chastise the industry as a whole for scaling back on coverage of statehouses. There's no debating how hard the reporters who ARE here work. (Even those with time to comment on blogs.)
Posted by: RJR | May 9, 2007 4:03 PM