Growing Up Then and Now

Vetoes and Other Failed Legislation

“It’s not the government’s responsibility when there’s been failed parenting.”

As a Minnesota legislator I successfully passed legislation, but some unsuccessful efforts make for good stories.  Arne Carlson twice vetoed bills that both the House and the Senate thought would be good things to do – or at least innocuous enough not to vote against.

My Tow Company Bill

In 1994 a constituent asked me to intercede to try to get his nursing uniform out of the trunk of his car that had been towed.  The towing company was demanding he pay all the towing charges before they’d let him on their lot to retrieve his possessions.  He understood not getting his car back until after he settled up, but I thought he made a good argument that to get the money to pay them he had to work, and his employer wouldn’t let him work sans uniform, so come on!  Keep the car but let him get his uniform!

“No way,” they said, pointing to a state law that allows the vehicle and all its contents to be kept as a bailment.

“Well,” I said back to them, “we’ll see if that’s going to stay the law or not,” and proceeded to draft a bill that deleted the clause allowing them to retain the personal property, but the bill let them keep the car until paid.  Although my constituent borrowed some money, got his car back, and returned to work, I kept the bill moving through the legislative process thinking the next guy in a similar situation would be thankful.

There was no opposition to the bill.  It cleared all committees with nary a word spoken against it.  Even made the “Consent Calendar” where we vote on non-controversial bills.  Passed both the House and the Senate and went to the Governor’s desk for his signature.   Next morning I arrived at the Capitol at my usual hour and the entire Capitol area was ringed 360 degrees in every direction the eye could see by tow trucks with all their lights flashing.  This couldn’t be about my non-controversial bill, could it?

It was, and the Governor had already vetoed it.  Just like that without even consulting me.  Just to get the damn tow trucks to go away.  So don’t leave things in your car if you’re going to be towed.  I’ve often wondered if Arne was friends with that tow company guy and the tow companies had just laid in wait to show me who was boss, or whether they only became aware of the bill at the last minute.

Sovietizing Our Youth

In his book The Good Fight former Vice-President and United States Senator Walter Mondale provides an insightful analysis of the change in our country’s political dynamics between 1960 and 2000.  It’s great reading and I recommend it for any up and coming political types.

I came of political age during the late 60s and early 70s, a period Mondale refers to as “the high tide of liberalism.”   It was a time when we as Americans believed in creating opportunity for all and the value of the whole community pulling together.   By the time I was passing legislation in the 80s and 90s that was no longer true; instead an anti-government dogma had set in; there was no longer “a war on poverty” or any dreams of a great society.  To get something passed you had to appeal to conservatives that any investment in people would pay-off handsomely in reduced government spending.

IWW Songbook – A Different (and better) Politics

Mondale points to President Nixon’s vetoing Mondale’s “Comprehensive Child Development Act of 1971” as the beginning of the “cultural wars,” whereby ultra-conservative right wingers were able to re-define left-wing liberalism as being against “family values” – the launching of the Jerry Falwell-Jimmy Swaggart-Pat Robertson religious right as a political movement.

By 1971 already one of three mothers with toddlers was in the work place and Mondale’s bill would have established a national network of locally managed pre-school child developmental centers, with nutritional services and medical care, for all working families, not just families in poverty.  The bill passed both the House and the Senate with large bi-partisan majorities and was sent to President Nixon to sign into law.  But Pat Buchanan was Nixon’s speechwriter and saw an opportunity to rally cultural conservatives who still thought a woman’s place was in the home. Nixon’s veto message accused Mondale of trying to “Sovietize” America’s youth.

Tomorrow:  Sovietizing Our Youth 2.0

I go home totally despondent, little knowing how things were going to get even worse.  The next morning I get to my office and Jim the lobbyist is waiting for me:  “Say,” he says, “we got Wally Sparby [another legislator] willing to move to reconsider the vote on the consumer loan bill; is there anything we can do to get your support?”  [Because Rep. Sparby had voted with me on the prevailing side to defeat the bill, the Rules of the House allowed him to move to reconsider at the next session.]  “No,” I said, “There’s nothing you can do to buy me off  – out of my office!”  Then I go to the Speaker’s office to see what can be done, but the news just gets worse.  The Speaker tells me that Jim has been writing $200 campaign donation checks to all the legislators who voted with me telling them to vote with Sparby today.  In those days it was legal to give and receive campaign donations during a session.  You had to have the moxie to be wined and dined by the lobbyists and still vote against them.

The only thing the Speaker can suggest is prepare for a floor fight.

Herges Bar minutes after the results — it’s on to the Legislature!

Walking back from the Speaker’s office I run into an old poker-playing friend who is now the Commissioner of the Human Rights Department.  I tell him the whole sad story.  He happens to be a very savvy guy and says to me:  “You know, the Senate Majority Leader and Jim are very good friends.  Think about the poor folks in your district:  Might they be better off with the million dollar housing program even if they have to pay higher interest rates on their small loans?”  “Wow, I getcha,” I said.  So I call Jim and tell him I’ve decided there is something he can do to get my help on the Sparby motion and ask him to meet back in my office.  When Jim shows up I tell him that if he can get the Senate Majority Leader to give me back my million dollars, then I’ll walk off the floor when Sparby offers his motion.  Sure enough, an hour later Jim comes back and says “You’ve got your million dollars back.”

Tomorrow:  Politics is an Art

Is there anything we can do to get your support?

In 1986 I had a client who borrowed money from a “fly-by-night” loan company to buy a new washer and dryer.  She had lousy credit and a minimum wage job, so the only place she could get credit was from a fly-by-night outfit which charged her the maximum interest allowed by the State’s usury law.  But before they loaned her the money they also required that she borrow the money to buy their disability insurance product – something she didn’t necessarily want.  I was arguing that the money she borrowed to buy the insurance was an add-on to the interest part of the loan rather than the principal, and thus violated the usury law.  Eventually I learned that the fly-by-night was a subsidiary of a Fortune 500 company and my law suit became part of the largest attorney fees award in the history of the State up to that time for a consumer class-action law suit.

Judge Ed Wilson swearing me in

In 1987, a year later, I was running for the State Legislature and asked all my campaign volunteers to help me write a legislative agenda in case we won.  One of the ideas my volunteers came up with was similar to Habitat for Humanity and would allow renters to buy an abandoned house and fix it up with the help of neighborhood volunteers.  We won the election (despite my being the underdog) mostly because we had the most volunteers, worked the hardest, and had created a lot of excitement as to what the Andy Dawkins team would do to get things done to make the world a better place.  After being sworn-in, I introduced the bill setting up the housing program.  The idea caught on and near the end of the session I had a million dollars “buttoned-up” for the program.

Meanwhile, it had become clear that I couldn’t be both a litigating attorney and a state legislator at the same time, so I gave up my role in the class action law suit (unfortunately before I had any idea there would be such a large attorney fees award).  Also meanwhile, the lobbyist for the loan industry had found a legislator to introduce a bill that, among other things, eliminated the usury ceiling for the first $1,000 of any loan (like the one my ex-client had entered into).  Although I wasn’t on the Commerce Committee and couldn’t fight the bill in the committee process, I did go to the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives (a Democrat), and explained what a bad bill it was for the “little guys” of the world.  She assured me she knew that and would never let the bill come up for a floor vote.

Tomorrow:  Killer Amendments