It was an exciting time at the State House last Thursday,
May 23 as I shadowed Sen. Bill Diamond for this “day at the State House” series.
On this State House adventure, I got to experience many firsts. It was the
first time I could sit in in a caucus meeting. It was the first time where I
could witness other conversations and meetings take place where someone like me
(“the press”) wouldn’t usually be allowed. It was also the first time I got to
see activists in action as the Senate made their decision regarding the
religious exemption on vaccinations. “I want you to experience it all,” Diamond
said to me.
My day with him began at 8:30 a.m. in his
first-floor office, which seems to be a “front porch” of the State House.
Republicans, Independent and Democrat officials seem to comfortably come and go
out of his office to share tid-bits of information or tell a joke or two before
the official day began (that usually occurs around 9 a.m. -give or take ½ hour
depending upon the demands of everyone’s schedules.)
Anxious to discover what a caucus
entailed, I looked forward to the new adventure in my State House series and
hoped I didn’t let my excitement show too much. Inside I was smiling like a Cheshire
cat. In fact, “caucus” felt like such a mystery to me that I had to look up the
term. According to www.senate.gov, a caucus is “an informal organization of members of the House or the Senate,
or both, that exists to discuss issues of mutual concern and possibly to
perform legislative research and policy planning for its members.”
And that is all
it entailed. Of course, as a member of the press I was asked that no quotations
be used in this article. But I must say – if I did use specific quotes – it
would not have made big news and would not have turned any heads. In fact,
I found the conversations to be respectful of those who were not in the room –
even in the midst of different perspectives on certain subjects. Maybe they
were on good behavior because of my presence (as well as the five or six other
visitors in the room) but on the day of my visit - authentic, respectful and
well-thought out conversations ensued.
From there – I followed
Sen. Diamond up three flights of stairs and down the hallway to the Senate
floor. It was an intense day and the hallway was filled with families holding
signs, pleading the senators to vote in favor of religious exemptions for
vaccinations. Another hot topic of the day was allowing nurse practitioners, physician assistants and nurse midwives
to provide abortion services.
These two issues were among a multitude of subjects
the senators had to consider that day and, as a result, the House was in session
for over four hours to discuss and vote on these subjects. In case you were
wondering and didn’t catch the latest news updates, the Senate voted to not
allow religion as an exemption of vaccinations and voted for other medical
advisors as described above to perform abortions.
From the Senate floor, I then followed Sen.
Diamond as we rushed back to his office where we met two representatives of the
Maine State Department of Transportation. The meeting lasted for about ½ hour
and then Sen. Diamond and I entered the Transportation Committee meeting of
which he is the chair (and Rep. Mark Bryant is a member). I witnessed the
meeting for only about 45 minutes and had to leave at 3:15 p.m. Neither Sen.
Diamond or I had eaten in almost 7 hours, and I was starving.
But luckily for
me, I had a meeting at 4:30 at an outdoor restaurant in Portland. It was the
first morsel of food I had all day and I wondered how Sen. Diamond was faring
without food as I ate my first French fry along the shores of Casco bay. “Had
he had a chance to eat yet,” I wondered.
This is the
last of this State House series and I have had
the honor to follow Rep. Sue Austin and Rep. Jess Fay of Raymond as well as
Rep. Mark Bryant and Rep. Patrick Corey of Windham. They all have been amazing
– answering my questions and accommodating me as I “shadowed” them. They were
welcoming and openly answered all my questions. I personally feel lucky to have
such amazing – and VERY hardworking delegates in our midst! And - Sen. Diamond
is among them.
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