Sunday, March 26, 2006

She voted for it before she voted against it before she voted …

According to the Journal World:
The House record will show that Rep. Judy Morrison, R-Shawnee, voted for a $610 million, three-year school finance plan.

What it won’t show is that she changed her vote no fewer than seven times during a period of several minutes. …

On the House vote, the count was 63-62, and Morrison and Rep. Ted Powers, R-Mulvane, kept switching back and forth as House Speaker Doug Mays, R-Topeka, kept the roll call open.

After a number of switches, Rep. Deena Horst, R-Salina, switched from a no to a yes vote to ensure the bill passed. Morrison then also voted for the measure and Powers against it, producing the final 64-61 margin. …

When asked why she kept switching her vote, Morrison said, “I think I’d rather not comment.”
This sort of thing happens all the time, and it's not really a bad thing. It is immensely funny, though.

The problem is that too many people think that spending less is automatically a good thing, and that's all they look at. A good education is important and it costs money. Grover Norquist and his gang have spent so much time banging the drum and insisting that all government spending is evil that fiscally conservative legislators are in a fix. Should they vote for a stronger economy and support the limited spending needed to sustain the greater economy, or blindly vote against anything that spends money, in hopes that people who don't pay attention to the details will recognize their fiscal conservatism?

When push came to shove, Morrison and Horst voted for a better future, and deserve praise for it.