In the room where the Senate State Affairs Committee meets, inside the old Ada County Courthouse, about 13 legislators sat today in the over-sized chairs and met some of the staff that will organize us, write for us, train, problem solve, track, research and draft legislation for us, pay us, monitor and audit state government for us… all so that we, farmers, ranchers, consultants, attorneys, businessmen and teachers can make state law for three months.
When I was first elected and went to legislator school in 2004, it was overwhelming then for me as a teacher, non-profit community organizer and small business owner to think of having professional staff tucked away in every corner of the statehouse ready to help me accomplish what I wanted to get done. I'd had interns, hundreds of volunteers and a few temporary employees. But this was new.Today it again felt foreign but amazing.
Dr. Moncrief from BSU came to compare legislatures around the nation for us. Now we appreciate how odd ours is (elected every two years and three legislators representing the exact same district.) I suspect we also appreciate how little staff we have compared to other states, how small our districts are, how low our pay is (less then $17,000 a year which seems low only if you've not recently worked full time for minimum wage or for a non-profit, or small farm.)
I sit at home tonight while the fire in the wood stove dies and smile thinking about New Hampshire with 400 house members compared to our 70 or Nebraska which has a non-partisan legislature. No political parties. Imagine that.