Crazyworld

Tonight's legislative delegation meeting was interesting. Time will tell if everyone plays nice or if the likely divisions get deeper.

As tomorrow's story details, Rep. Lanny Littlejohn and Rep. Keith Kelly are now the chairman and vice chairman of the Spartanburg County Legislative Delegation, respectively. If you want to get into the minutiae, that's what my story is really about. It's the kind of story political junkies like, but as a writer, when you're done with it, you stop and think -- How many people really care about this?

But wait, there's more. The story I filed tonight delves into the question raised about whether or not the new legislators' votes were "weighted" -- in other words, whether their votes carried more or less importance based on the number of people they represent, which is the norm for legislative delegation votes. (I should say that I don't think many legislative delegation votes are really that important, anyway. Seems like a lingering way to keep the illusion of Home Rule. Why not make board appointments the responsibility of county council and eliminate this psuedo-extra layer of government? I've covered state and local government in North Carolina and Arizona, and still can't get used to how... odd the system is here.)

Anyway, had the votes been weighted, the chairman and vice chairman would have been Sen. Shane Martin and Rep. Joey Millwood, respectively. (And Millwood would have won by a bigger margin than Martin, as Rep. Steve Parker sided with the minority in the second vote, apparently upset that he wasn't the nominee -- at least, that's what can be inferred from this post by Parker's campaign manager.)

And, if you really want to split hairs, which is what this probably sounds like to all the normal people out there, there's the question as to whether Sen. Lee Bright's votes counted. They would be necessary for the hypothetical Martin-Millwood situation to work. But he arrived late -- already on "Senate time," joked Sen. Harvey Peeler -- and wasn't sworn into office until the end of the night. Read: After the votes were taken.

Why's this important? Mostly, because it would be symbolic. I mean, the chairman and vice chairman position carry very little real power, other than being able to say that's what you are. Otherwise, you just run the meeting. You get a little bit of power in guiding the agenda, but any reasonable person -- and all four people in question here I would consider reasonable -- wouldn't go off on some wild power trip. It's basically keeping things in order, and -- in the case of a prolonged discussion or heated debate -- cutting things off and calling for a vote. But as I alluded to before, most delegation-level votes aren't very earth-shattering. Unless you want to be appointed to a fire district board or something.

Martin and Millwood in the leadership positions would show that the new guard is in charge. Littlejohn and Kelly apparently represent the old guard. It's a bit of stretch for Kelly, who has just completed one term. But Kelly is going to be pushing a disclosure issue that certain other legislators -- likely Bright and Millwood -- wouldn't like.

It's also interesting that Sen. Glenn Reese sided with the New Guard idea, even voting with Parker in the second vote. Parker is, like, BFFs with county GOP boss Rick Beltram, so to see the two of them on the same side of anything is remarkable.

... if you're a political dork like me, that is.

You can also look at tonight as representative of the longtime tension between the Senate and House.

For his part, Martin seems to sincerely be playing the good soldier, pledging full support to Littlejohn. That's the smart thing to do, as anyone in politics can tell you. You don't start playing a new game by going out trying to make enemies. Not right out of the gate. Wait for something important. Pick your battles.

Really, though, I think if everyone had put their egos aside, they would've seen returning Rep. Rita Allison as the perfect compromise. Allison has been part of the Sanford administration, so she should have support among the governor's choice legislators in the Spartanburg delegation. But, after being away for a bit, she also has the advantage of being part of the Old Guard and the New Guard at the same time. She's the bridge. (And, one of the few female legislators in this state, so it would have shown a committment to diversity, but -- really, does anyone other than us liberal meida types care about that?) Littlejohn made the right decision in putting her in charge of the first committee formed.

If there's any lesson out of all this, it's that the legislative delegation needs to make its policy manual clearer. Yeah, that's a front-page story. Yawn. We'll call it "Don't read this!" But even if it's not sexy enough for the newspaper, it's a problem and it needs to be addressed.

Mr. Chairman, the ball's in your court.