Most viewed stories
|
| Parry takes oath on first day of legislative session |
|
Posted: Thursday, February 4, 2010 9:30 pm
|
 Email  Print
|
Courtesy Senate Media Services Sen. Mike Parry takes the oath of office Thursday in St. Paul. Parry, who won the seat for District 26 in January’s special election, will fulfill the remainder of Dick Day’s term.
|
|
By CLARE KENNEDY
Special to the County News
ST. PAUL — It is the first day of session and Republican Sen. Mike Parry's footsteps are still echoing down the halls of the capitol building, but he is already thinking of limiting his potential political career in St. Paul.
Parry was elected as the senator for District 26 just two weeks ago during the special election that ensued after six-term Republican Sen. Dick Day resigned on Dec. 8, 2009 to take up a career as a lobbyist. Parry carried the election with 43.04 percent of the vote, compared to 36.5 percent for DFLer Jason Engbrecht and 20.32 percent for Independence Party candidate Roy Srp. One of the first bills Parry plans to write will deal with term limits — if he has his way, each legislator will be confined to just three terms.
Parry is walking down a dingy, mustard-colored subterranean tunnel linking the legislators' offices to the capitol. Soon, Parry finds himself in an opulent, gilded hall complete with a red carpet. He and Republican Sen. David Senjem of Rochester enter the Senate floor.
Parry has come in at a low point for the Republican Party. At present there are 46 senators from DFL and just 21 Republicans — the smallest Republican caucus since 1994. It's quite a contrast to 2003 — the best Republican showing since 1974 — when the GOP achieved near parity with the DFL in the senate — 31 Republicans to 35 DFLers, with one Independent, Sheila Kiscaden.
"That was a high," Senjem said. "We've been losing seats since then. The DFL can shut us out of anything if they want to, though it wouldn't be politically wise to do that."
"Obviously with our numbers, we can't set major legislation. We don't have the political power," Senjem said. "What we do have is a voice on the microphone and the ears of the public."
The Republican Party is hoping for a rally in 2010. At a meeting of center-right activists, Parry was greeted with enthusiastic applause for Minnesota's "very own Scott Brown" — a reference to the Massachusetts Republican whose recent special election victory ended the Democrats' supermajority in the U.S. Senate.
If passed, Parry's term limit proposal could be a boon to the GOP in their efforts to turn out entrenched Democratic legislators and upend the balance of power in St. Paul. Though term limits would not ensure Republican victories, they would free up seats currently held by deep-rooted incumbents, who are notoriously hard to beat in an election.
It's easier said than done, however. Such a measure would require a constitutional amendment, Senjem said, and the DFL is unlikely to support legislation that would undermine its own power.
"I would not believe there would be DFL support for that. Their strength as a majority is their longevity. Once they capture a seat, they want to keep it," Senjem said. "There would be a DFL backlash — not that term limits are a bad idea."
Of the 46 DFLers in the Senate, 16 would be excluded from running for a re-election if such a bill passed — including longtime senators like Larry Pogemiller, who has sat on the senate since 1982. By contrast, such a prohibition would only thin three sitting senators from the GOP ranks.
DFLers were less direct when asked about term limits.
"I couldn't speak for the DFL," said Sen. Kathy Sheran. "One of the unique things about our party is the range of perspectives we have. I'm looking forward to a full debate about the ideas Sen. Parry will offer."
But at this juncture, the bill is not yet in black and white and there are other pressing matters at hand. If the special election was a sprint, the session promises to be equally rapid fire. Parry has not had time to read through the new bonding bill yet nor hang a novelty sign on his office door, a gift from a friend — "Beware of Attack Republican." For now he is learning his way around the state offices, a marbled maze-like building across from the Capitol building. Parry received his committee assignments Thursday — Capital Investments, Transportation Budget and Policy, Education, State and Local Government and one that hits particularly close to his campaign's enterprise-friendly refrains: Business, Industry and Jobs.
Now he must be sworn in. The cavernous space filled with spectators, reporters and lawmakers is unusually quiet. A priest utters a prayer and a judge asks Parry to raise his right hand.
It is an emotional experience for Parry.
"That was a powerful moment. I was surprised how much it affected me," Parry said later. "I really felt my father was with me, just as he was when I was sworn into the Army."
The moment passes. Parry the campaigner becomes Parry the legislator and disappears into the ornately decorated Senate floor, just one of many under the soaring cupola of the capitol building. The Senate then turns to business — the issue is how much money to allot to stamps this session and already the drone of the legislative give and take fills the chambers.
|
|
|
|
Guidelines: Welcome to the Waseca County News community. Please keep your comments civil. Don't attack other readers personally and keep your language decent. We reserve the right to delete comments at any time.
|
|
Login and voice your opinion!
|
|
|
|
Top Jobs | Top Homes | Top Cars
|
|
on Twitter |
|
Digg
Del.icio.us
Facebook
MySpace
StumbleUpon
Google
Yahoo!
