Rookies Appear on Almanac TV Show
03/29/2007
Paul Munnis
On the PBS Show that appears on Friday night on TPT, called Almanac, there is a segment they run called The Rookies. These are people new to our State Legislature and this week they featured Rep. Kim Norton and Sen. Ann Lynch, both of Rochester. The segment was hosted by Mary Lahammer.
This was an upbeat segment discussing the impact on personal, family, and professional life once a person is elected to represent their legislative District at St. Paul. It changes life in a major way and forever changes your view of State government.
Both Rookies talked about how their years of service on the Rochester School Board prepared them for service in the State Legislature. The work with people of diverse mindsets, diverse cultural backgrounds, varying viewpoints, the endless hours of hearings and committee meetings, these are the realities of legislative life and also of life on a community school board.
Kim said that she had spent 14 hours straight in committee and session meetings the prior day and that the legislative workload was heavy. This is particularly true now as the financing challenges surface for resolution in order to pay for the needs of the State.
On the other hand Kim said she was growing in knowledge and understanding of our State and gaining insights that could be had no other way than being in service to the people of Minnesota. She said she was proud to serve her District and more than willing to face the tedium in return for the good results.
Ann agreed with this and also spoke of the added challenges that she faces as a co-chair of a major committee. This has added to her challenges as she often must wield the gavel in those committee meetings. The result is that she is forced to understand the way that different segments of the State activities like farming and industry, interlock with other parts -- like energy independence, and finance. Few things stand in isolation and that the various parts affect the whole Legislature and hence our whole State.
We are running a perspectives mini-series of the legislative work load that each of our local Representatives is carrying along with a list of legislation that they have chiefly authored. We hope that you will find it of interest.
We congratulate Kim and Ann – the Rookies – and admire the way they have adapted to their new life as Legislators and the quality job that they are doing in representing their Districts.