Children At Play

<a href="http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/12/14/news/state/35-sales.txt" >Sales provides edge to GOP on House panel</a><br />n<br />n<blockquote>Majority Republicans in the state House of Representatives have given themselves extra weight on a key committee, mirroring an identical decision by majority Democrats in the state Senate.<br />n<br />nHouse Republicans, led by Speaker Scott Sales of Bozeman, assigned themselves a three-vote margin on the House Appropriations Committee, the panel that gets first crack at crafting Montana's two-year, multibillion-dollar state budget.</blockquote><br />n<br />nIt's going to be a fun ride. The <acronym title="Legislators">children</acronym> are at play and it's starting to get nasty all ready. I have been waiting for the Committee assignments to see how each party would craft the committees since the House is controlled by the Republicans and the house is controlled by the Democrats.<br />n<br />nA cursory glance at the <a href="http://leg.mt.gov/css/sessions/60th/default.asp">assignments</a> indicates that the Democrats in the Senate gave them selves a one seat advantage on most committees while the Republicans gave themselves a two seat advantage on each committee. The appropriations committee in each chamber really got packed by each side taking 3 extra seats per ruling party. The other difference is the Committees in the House that have Rick Jore on them, Constitution Party, the Democrats are three seats down, One Constitution Party and two Republicans.<br />n<br />n<blockquote>Sales said Wednesday that his choices in the House were influenced, in part, by what Senate Democrats awarded themselves in the Senate.<br />n<br />n"I had to do that to match what the Senate (Democrats) did," Sales said.</blockquote><br />n<br />nScott Sales might have went a little further than they did in the Senate but what would you expect with Children? They do love playing the game of tit for tat.<br />n<br />nI'm sure the Democrats and their supporters will scream bloody murder over this while Republican sycophants will say fair is fair. I say politics as usual, any way to screw the other party is fair game to these The <acronym title="Legislators">children</acronym>. Lets not worry about doing what's best for the people you represent, partisan fighting rules the day.<br />n<br />n<strong>The carping and bickering of political factions in the nation's capital reminds me of two pelicans quarreling over a dead fish. William Tecumseh Sherman</strong>