Last week at a meeting in Louisville, the DLCC’s Board of Directors – made up of Democratic legislative leaders from across the country – voted to admit Tennessee’s Mike Turner as our newest board member.

Representing the 51st State House District (based in Davidson County) since 2000, Rep. Turner is the Caucus Chairman of the Tennessee House Democrats. But his commitment to public service extends far beyond the halls of the capitol. Rep. Turner is also an active member of his family’s church, three local chambers of commerce, and the professional associations representing Nashville firefighters and Tennessee state employees – along with many other community organizations he remains involved with.

Rep. Turner also serves as a local fire captain, and in that capacity he personally participated in the rescue of Nashville residents stranded in the devastating flooding earlier this year. The Tennessee House of Representatives honored his actions with a resolution of praise shortly thereafter, and a local news crew captured images of Rep. Turner wading through neck-deep floodwaters in order to bring residents to safer ground:

Finally, as a Democratic leader in one of the Democratic Party’s most important redistricting priority states this year (both legislative chambers are within just a few seats of returning to Democratic control), Rep. Turner’s guidance and expertise will prove invaluable as the 2010 campaign heats up.

Rep. Turner, welcome to the DLCC.

The end of the Colorado legislative session also marked the end of another Democrat’s historic reign as Speaker. Terrance D. Carroll, who is unable to run for re-election because of term limits, served his final day as State house Speaker last week:

The grandson of a sharecropper, Carroll has the distinction of serving as Colorado's first black House speaker. Although his term doesn't expire until early January, he banged the gavel on Wednesday for the last time during the regular session. (…)

Carroll became a lawmaker in March 2003, when he was appointed to the seat held by Rep. Peter Groff, who resigned to take Penfield Tate's seat in the Senate.

Groff would go on to become the first black president of the state Senate. When House Democrats elected Carroll speaker two days after the November 2008 election, Colorado made history.

That history, of course, is as the first U.S. State to have both of its legislative chambers led by African-Americans – at least since Reconstruction and possibly ever.

But beyond making history, Speaker Carroll earned bipartisan praise for his fairness in leading the chamber:

Rep. Amy Stephens of Monument, the House GOP caucus chair, praised Carroll on three fronts: his fairness, devotion to his late mother and fashion sense.

"Terrance has always been one of my favorite people," she said.

At only 41, and with other experience as an attorney, police officer, and ordained minister, we expect Speaker Carroll will continue to find ways to serve the people of Colorado. And we wish him and his family all the best.

This is definitely a must-see video. But first, here’s the back-story of how State Rep. Mike Turner, the Democratic Caucus Chair in the Tennessee State House, found himself wading through neck-deep floodwaters to rescue individuals stranded in the flood:

A resolution honoring Turner, a local fire captain, was read Wednesday on the House floor.

Before the resolution was read, footage from a local television station showed Turner in water up to his neck using an inflatable air mattress to rescue people stuck in a flooding apartment complex in east Nashville.

That video is from the local WZTV news station in Nashville – Rep. Turner is the first man shown ferrying people through the water:

Congratulations to Rep. Turner for the State House resolution honoring his bravery, and thank you, Rep. Turner, for all your service to the people of Tennessee – in the legislature and, in this case, in the middle of the devastating flooding.

Speaker Seth Hammett of the Alabama House of Representatives, after 32 years serving in the legislature and 12 years as Speaker, presided over his final legislative day when the State House adjourned last week. Speaker Hammett was widely respected for his effective stewardship of the chamber:

Known for his cool and reserved demeanor, Hammett rarely got rattled in the speaker's seat over the years, even when the House members got rambunctious. Hammett said the way to tell when he was getting close to fed up is that he would toss his pencil.

The Andalusia Democrat was adamant about keeping the House orderly and productive, which led to legislators often joking about not fouling up the "speaker's flow chart" -- a plan for the movement of bill's through the House.

Majority Leader Ken Guin, a member of the DLCC Board of Directors, added his own praise for Speaker Hammett, noting “We're all going to miss Seth. I had talked to him throughout the session and had hoped he would reconsider (…) He's been an outstanding speaker, maybe the best in the state's history."

Thank you, Speaker Hammett, for your years of service, and we wish you and your family all the best.

Congratulations are in order for Providence Democrat Gordon Fox, who has been overwhelmingly chosen by his fellow Representatives to be the next Speaker of the Rhode Island House of Representatives.

Interestingly, Speaker-Elect Fox will break more than one barrier when he takes the lead in the State House:

Besides being the first openly gay lawmaker to preside at the speaker’s rostrum, members of the House minority caucus say that Fox, the child of an Irish-American and a mother of Cape Verdean descent, is the first minority lawmaker to hold what is arguably the state’s most powerful political post.

He will preside over a veto-proof Democratic majority and have wide sway over which bills come to a vote and which bills die.

During a closed-door caucus, Democratic lawmakers also picked Nicholas Mattiello of Cranston as their majority leader and J. Patrick O’Neill of Pawtucket as the party whip.

Congratulations to all the newly-elected leaders in Rhode Island, and we wish them the best of luck solving the challenges Rhode Island faces in this tough economy.

Bob Burns, Arizona’s Republican State Senate President, is bragging about how the Republican-controlled legislature is getting hardly any work done.

For much of the last legislative session, Burns refused to let his chamber to vote on any substantive bills until the state budget was passed. It was an interesting bit of gameship, but its predictable result was to throw the entire legislature into chaos:

The result was a huge backlog of bills, with several months’ worth of legislation being voted on in just weeks. It also meant that the majority of proposals, including many by the Republicans who control the Legislature, never got a Senate hearing, much less became law.

Yet it still took lawmakers to the last possible minute of the fiscal year — and actually slightly beyond — to adopt a new spending plan.

Hundreds of bills wound up as collateral damage from Sen. Burns’ maneuver. In all, the legislature passed nearly a third fewer bills than last year. But Burns, amazingly, boasts that the legislature’s gridlock is actually a good thing, claiming that “we’ve been criticized for passing too many bills.” (Because voters hate it when their political leaders are too productive – or something)

As for the budget itself, which was late anyway, it’s “still is not in balance for this year,” something lawmakers will have to fix in the next session. Overall, this whole episode was a remarkably pitiful performance by the Republican leadership.

Indiana State House Speaker Pat Bauer, a DLCC Board Member, has unveiled a comprehensive ethics reform package aimed at cleaning up the ethical climate in both the legislative and executive branches. The centerpiece of Speaker Bauer’s plan is a year-long waiting period for former legislators and executive appointees who want to become lobbyists:

“I think you just have to have a cleaner playing field in both perception and reality,” he said.

One proposal that has been discussed for years is a one-year cooling-off period before legislators can become lobbyists once they leave the General Assembly.

In recent years, a large number of lawmakers have left the legislature and immediately moved into the halls to lobby former colleagues.

Just by announcing his plan, Bauer has broken through the partisan rancor that engulfed Indiana politics during the state’s budget fight. The state’s Republican Governor and Senate President called Bauer’s plan “a very good initiative” and “timely,” respectively, while the Republican House leader said he was “thrilled” by the proposal. Even the staunchly-conservative Indianapolis Star editorial board called Bauer’s waiting period idea “a much-needed reform that could help break up the insider network that's pervasive in the Statehouse.”

Nevertheless, the waiting period is just one piece of Bauer’s overall plan, which also includes:

• Requiring lobbyists to report any gift to a legislator, legislative candidate or legislative employee of more than $50 – down from the current $100 – and changing the definition of what constitutes a gift.
  
  

• Prohibiting the governor or any candidate for that office from fundraising during the long budget session of the legislature. This rule already applies to the General Assembly. (…)
  
  

• Prohibiting people and businesses having contracts with state government or bidding on contracts from making political contributions to people who hold or run for state office.
  
  

• Prohibiting lobbyists or lobbying firms from representing multiple clients if there is a conflict of interest between those clients.

Libby Mitchell first ran for the Maine Legislature in 1974. Eventually, she became Speaker of the House. She ultimately served nine terms in the lower chamber before moving to the Senate, and in December, she became Senate President.

Sen. Mitchell is the first woman in the history of the United States to have held both positions.

She recently gave a long interview with Maine Insight, where she talked about her career in politics and her policy goals for the state:

Libby is a woman of many talents, having been a teacher, the director of Maine State Housing, holding a law degree and blazing the trail for women in Maine. Her tremendous sense of humor has defused situations, helping bipartisan cooperation, and her steadfast focus on education continues to motivate her.

For her entire career as an elected official, Sen. Mitchell has been focused on improving education -- in particular working to expand scholarship opportunities.

In the short term, she is working to fill Maine's $140 million budget shortfall.

Next month, Democratic State Senator Gerald Malloy of South Carolina will be named one of “Katie’s Heroes” for his tireless advocacy of a state DNA registry for violent felons, which passed in 2008, and for his work as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Criminal Justice System Task Force:

John Walsh, host of America’s Most Wanted, will be presenting the award at a luncheon hosted by the family of Katie Sepich, a young woman who was brutally raped and murdered in Aug of 2003, and whose family has established a nonprofit organization called DNA Saves.

(…)DNA Saves feels that Senator Malloy’s contributions to enacting DNA arrestee legislation in South Carolina deserves recognition and appreciation for a law that will benefit many in the succeeding years. In presenting him this award, Katie’s family wants to let Senator Malloy’s constituents know that he is a hero to them as well as to the many victims of violent crime.

“This will be a vital tool for law enforcement and it is essential that we provide our law enforcement with the best tools to keep our citizens safe. This methodology is already used by the Federal Government and should be a logical extension to our State,” said Senator Malloy.

The ceremony will be held on July 22nd as part of the National Conference of State Legislatures conference in Philadelphia. We applaud Senator Malloy for this award and for his ongoing fight to keep South Carolina’s families and children safe.

Yesterday was Colorado Senate President and DLCC board member Peter Groff’s last day in the Colorado Senate. With the end of legislative session, Sen. Groff will be resigning his seat to accept a high-level appointment in President Obama’s Department of Education.

Before he left, he urged his fellow senators to pass a bill repealing the death penalty in Colorado. That impassioned plea -– on an emotional issue with no national consensus -– should remind all of us why we put so much effort into legislative elections; why Sen. Groff was so respected by Democrats and Republicans across the state; and why all of us at the DLCC were so proud to have him as a board member:

And here was the challenge: "We will say we did what's right because that's what we're supposed to do. This is our opportunity, yet again, to actually be the moral voice in this state, to actually rise above the politics of the moment, to rise to that one moment where we say, 'You know what, if this costs us the majority, so be it. If this costs us our seats, our titles, our gavels, so be it, because this is the right thing to do.' "

He conceded that it was easy for someone like him, from a safe seat, to make this vote. But he said this was not about saving your, uh, seat, but about "one of those moments when a leader has to rise above politics, when morality has to rise above what is safe and convenient."

It was a fitting sendoff for an inspirational legislator. The bill in question failed by a single vote –- a much closer margin than expected –- after passing the State House, also by a single vote.

Sen. Groff was clearly the right choice for a presidential appointment, and we wish him and his family well in their move to Washington.