Senators told to shut up and vote
The U.S. Senate lays claim to title as the "world's greatest deliberative body."
The N.C. Senate is more "shut up and vote."
As Mark reported today:
"Democratic leaders in the Senate rammed their version of the state's $21.4 billion budget through the first of two needed votes, allowing members to offer few changes and little debate Wednesday.
"Republicans had virtually no chance to amend the bill or speak to its merits on the floor, with the exception of a measure that would study the effectiveness of state-funded pre-kindergarten programs."
Republican leader Phil Berger of Eden, whose district covers parts of Guilford County, was still steamed this afternoon. I don't blame him.
A $21.4 billion budget isn't something that ought to be rammed through, especially when it contains items that didn't go through the normal appropriations process. Why not? What were the authors trying to hide? And why couldn't senators even ask questions, offer amendments or engage in meaningful debate?
Well, Mark got an answer:
"Senate President Pro Tempore Marc Basnight , a Manteo Democrat, said he ordered debate shut down to protect members of his party in upcoming elections."
Alarming. Senate leader-for-life Marc Basnight is so powerful he can muzzle the 49 other duly elected senators who collectively represent the 98 percent of North Carolinians who don't reside in Basnight's district and so arrogant that he tells the press that's the way it is.
It's also revealing. If "protecting" Democratic senators in upcoming elections requires him to suppress debate or discussion on the budget they just passed, what's that say about the budget?
It tells me it's not defensible on its merits.
What's really sad, though, is that Basnight derives his power from the consent of his fellow Democratic senators. They could curb him and play fair if they wanted. But, like House members who supported former Speaker Jim Black practically until the day he was hauled off to federal prison, they won't stand up for what's right.
I'm not saying Basnight is a crook. I've never heard of him doing anything illegal. But he seems to hold sway over the Senate the way Black did over the House.
We shouldn't have this kind of governance in North Carolina. Our legislature should be a deliberative body where elected representatives of the people have a chance to be heard -- not told to shut up by an autocratic ruler.
Comments (6)
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I'm not saying Basnight is a crook. I've never heard of him doing anything illegal. * Doug
Sure he is a crook! Any dictator that shuts off democracy and free speech in a debate by the elected people certainly needs to hang from the tallest light pole near the Capital. If I had been the leader of the Republican minority in the Senate, I would have seize the Senate leader's podium and chain myself to it along with the rest of Republican Senate members and waited until Hell freezes over or have the Democrat Governor call out the National Guard to remove the Rebels from Senate.
Posted on June 19, 2008 6:53 PM
Doug:
North Carolina has, at least since I arrived here in 1985, had a very closed budgeting process. In the bad old days, Tony Rand, Speaker Liston Ramsey and his top lieutenant, Billy Watkins, and one or two others would literally meet behind closed doors and put together the entire state budget. This group was referred to in news accounts as the "super sub." Things haven't got much better, unfortunately.
I think that the fact that at the state level North Carolina is still pretty much a one party system really hampers any ability to open the process. I appreciate your part in bringing this story to light.
Best regards,
Posted on June 20, 2008 8:13 AM
That's just shameful. Infuriating too.
Posted on June 20, 2008 10:44 AM
As a former member of the N C State Senate
and a candidate for Dist. 49 this Nov. as I recall
Senator Martin Nesbitt my opponent this Nov.
was an understudy of Speaker Ramsey!
Nesbitt is also Co-Chair of the Joint Legislative
Oversight Comittee on the current Mental Health Meltdown. He also has $83,000,000,00
earmarks in the current budget. A Senator doesn't do that without Senator Basnight's o. k.
RLC
Posted on June 21, 2008 7:03 AM
As a former member of the N C State Senate
and a candidate for Dist. 49 this Nov. as I recall
Senator Martin Nesbitt my opponent this Nov.
was an understudy of Speaker Ramsey!
Nesbitt is also Co-Chair of the Joint Legislative
Oversight Comittee on the current Mental Health Meltdown. He also has $83,000,000,00
earmarks in the current budget. A Senator doesn't do that without Senator Basnight's o. k.
RLC
Posted on June 21, 2008 7:03 AM
As a reporter for the Waynesville Mountaineer 1977-79, I remember Liston Ramsey well. The first time I saw him at a political event, my editor, Clifton Metcalf, pointed him out and said, "That's Liston Ramsey. He's the most powerful politician in the state."
He sure didn't have that appearance, looking more like a county commissioner or small town councilman.
I didn't know much about state politics at the time and just figured Jim Hunt, being governor, was the state's most powerful politician. But Clifton was right. The legislative autocrats - Ramsey, and later Jim Black and Marc Basnight, really have the power. They don't run executive branch agencies, but they decide how much money they get - and everything runs on money.
Posted on June 21, 2008 1:02 PM