Public opinion of our government and elected officials continues to decline.
The behavior of our state legislators in the Tennessee House of Representatives connects the dots in a picture of dysfunction and dishonesty.
A Nashville television station, CBS affiliate WTVF, videotaped elected members of Tennessee’s House of Representatives straining to reach across a colleague’s empty desk to press the absent member’s voting panel. These routine acts were performed by both Democrats and Republicans.
Unlike the U.S. Congress, which uses a credit card device that only the assigned member is permitted to use, Tennessee’s General Assembly conducts its voting by a legislator pressing one of three buttons: green for yes, red for no and yellow as a roll call vote indicating one’s presence.
The story from Nashville showed numerous Tennessee House members twirling sticks that served as extensions of their hands to cast their absent colleague’s vote. The comfort and repetitiveness displayed onscreen by these representatives exposed the culture embraced.