In Defense of Midnight Sessions
Monday, April 12, 2010 at 10:05PM Last week, count me as one of those strange people rivited by the late night debate over Senate Bill 6, the controversial teacher pay bill.
As the Palm Beach Post's Mike Bender chronicled, the late night session ran until 2:45 AM, surpassing the most recent late nighter, when then House Democratic Leader Dan Gelber kept the place open until 2:00 AM, forcing the GOP to read every bill on the agenda after they refused to consider a few Democratic alternatives.
Much is always written about these late night sessions, how bad things always happen in the dark of night. Not all of this is without merit. One of the last sessions I worked, I clearly remember finding deep in a 275 page strike-all amendment to education bill a 2 year delay of the implementation of the class size amendment and managed to get a member to call attention to it. Former Representative Joe Pickens of Palatka, a Republican member whom I had a ton of respect for, had simply missed it when they had re-written the bill in negotiations with Democrats and the Senate. They corrected it and the process moved on. Then of course, there are more famous examples, such as when Rep. Tom Feeney slipped in an amendment to sell the state's drivers license photos, not one of the House's finer moments.
But in spite of these events, many late night sessions are real moments of political theatre. During typical day time sessions, so many things are essentially scripted, with the minority picking members to offer amendments, ask questions or debate, while the majority tries to speed up the process by limiting their floor debate. You can look at a typical 10:00 AM House calendar and predict the outcome with the same certainty that Tom Watson would beat me in golf.
Though when the sun goes down and members get tired, the stress levels go up and so does the theater. Majority members are more likely to go rogue and step out of line, and minority members tend to get more emotional. In general, the debate is more colorful and memorable. Such was the debate on Senate Bill 6, which was a real argument on the merits of a bill that brought out strong views on both sides. Yes it took forever, and yes, it was worth every second.
I was blessed to spend nine years working in the Florida House, the last five sessions I spent inside the House Democratic Caucus office, three of which I was largely staffing the floor debate. I remember the great debate the night that Tom Feeney passed out Senate President McKay's tax reform package in exchange for a seat in Congress. That night, former Representative and all around great guy Matt Meadows returned to the floor from his hotel room with a 102 plus fever to give the Democrats enough votes to nearly kill the deal. Or the night the House nearly killed the 1800 page school code re-write after hours of debate, at nearly 3:00 AM---or the aforementioned night, when Dan and his caucus kept the legislature in session, with the majority threatening to cut off access to the restroom in order to break the caucus (actually, I think then Speaker Marco Rubio was enjoying that nearly as much as Dan). These were moments of real political drama and more importantly real debate. And quite frankly, Florida would be better off with more of that.
So bring on a few more late night debates. This political observer would welcome the must see late night TV.
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