What is a (political) minority legislator to do?
Eighty-one of our 90 state legislators live in districts where one party’s registration exceeds the other party’s registration by at least 6 percent.
Eighty of these 81 legislators belong to whatever party is dominant in their district. (So much for “I vote for the person, not the party. We say we do it, but really don’t).
Only one legislator of the 81 beat those odds. The Wonder Woman who pulled off this feat is Rep. Kelli Butler. She is also our first guest in this week’s Think Tank.
Our other guest is former House Minority Leader, Chad Campbell, a longtime friend of the Think Tank.
We ask:
Kelli Butler, how did you beat these odds? What are the chances of others doing the same? We’ve heard what it was like for educators in the packed galleries during the RedforEd/state budget passage, what was it like down on the floor?
Chad Campbell, did you ever see anything approaching the size and scope of RedforEd in your years at the legislature?
And for both, as members of the minority party where major decisions are all made in the Republican caucus which you often don’t get to see in advance, let alone impact, how can you impact the process?
