A little Iowa House dustup surfaced in social media last week. Susan Staed, who clerks for her husband, Rep. Art Staed, reported on her Facebook page and on Bleeding Heartland about complaints from the chief clerk of the House that she was taking pictures from the House floor – in violation of a House rule.
Seems the House has a seldom-enforced rule that – while photos may be taken from the gallery or press box at virtually any time – they may not be taken from the House floor without permission of those in the photo, and never during a vote.
My, aren’t we sensitive.
It is difficult enough to find out on the Legislature’s website how these elected lawmakers vote on individual bills (tips on that below). But even a picture of them voting is not allowed? Or a picture of legislators huddling with the Speaker on a point of parliamentary procedure, without permission?
Those kinds of pictures may be taken from other vantage points in the House. So, what’s the big deal about allowing photography from the floor?
It might be that a given photo does not lend a lot to the story telling, but in our system we do not start from a default position of censorship. And legislators, just like those covering or observing them, have a story to tell. If some want to use photography to give us a better sense of what happens there, why deny it unless it is being disruptive to the work of the chamber?
Keep in mind: Legislative chambers are not subject to the Open Meetings Law, which for other public bodies requires that when a quorum is to be present, the public is to be notified and may attend. Much building of legislative agendas and strategies is done in closed party caucuses. So already, there is so much we are not allowed to see or hear in the State Capitol. And now, not even a picture?
It’s our House. They work for us. It’s our business what happens there.
It is true that the great questions about why this bill or that is being pushed, and this bill or that is being blocked, are not likely to be answered with a photo from the rear of the House chamber. But when lawmakers are so sensitive about an innocuous photo – or determined to stop one that may tell a story – it says a lot about how far we are from a culture of transparency in Iowa state government.
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Finding legislators’ votes:
If you’ve gone to the Legislature’s website to learn how your representative or senator voted on an issue, your work is cut out for you. First, you need to know the number of the bill. Often, media will note a bill number in news reports, as will legislators in their newsletters.
Once you have the bill number, enter it in the box on the front of the website, say HF229 or SF494. Go to the “Current Bill History.” If there has been a vote, it will be reflected in that history. Click on the link to the House or Senate Journal page for that vote. Then scroll through the journal to find the vote. If the vote was on the same day, you will have to wait until that journal page is posted online.
This could be much easier. When roll-call votes are recorded – this happens not only with bills in floor votes but also amendments where legislators have requested a record – these could be linked to the bill page. Lobbyist declarations are linked there already, and adding legislators’ votes would help the public.
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Mike Owen is a member of the West Branch School Board, former Statehouse reporter for the Quad-City Times (1980-85), and former editor-publisher of the West Branch Times, where he was active on open-government issues. He is currently executive director of the nonpartisan Iowa Policy Project, www.iowapolicyproject.org, in Iowa City.