What do Nancy Boyda’s Dad, Zach Space’s wife, and Jerry McNerney’s brother (that would be me) all have in common? We all sat together watching our family inaugurated into the 110th Congress. I was between the other two, and each told a hauntingly familiar story of winning in ‘safe’ red districts despite no prior political experience against incumbents who were so awful that enough of their Republican constituents wanted them out badly enough to make the districts unsafe for them.
It was a ‘ticketed event’ at the Capitol, meaning only those holding tickets were admitted to the gallery. But even with the popularity of the event, there was an empty space or two.
I got there at 11:30am for a Noon Gavel. What happened next? More below the fold.
I waited until Noon for the gavel to come down. The House was called to order. There were many children on the House Floor – it turns out that on this one day, Congresspersons can bring children and grandchildren to an active session of Congress – if they are between 5 and 15 years old (I’m guessing about that age range, I never did get it with any authority). Jerry’s children are adult and out of the house – the youngest taking a PhD in BioPhysics at UCDavis. So, they had to have tickets and sat in the gallery.
There was a roll call. That means that the Members of Congress came up and told the clerk they were there. You might imagine the pandemonium! 435 Members trying to get to the clerk amidst hand shaking, back clasping, and general good will – along with 25 or 50 children. A clock counted down, but by they time it got down to zero, there were only 423 Members logged in. They gave the rest a break, and soon all 435 were officially present.
Then, nominations for the Speaker of the House were called. Two were nominated: Boehner (R-Ohio) and Pelosi (D-California). A roll call vote was then cast – each Member, called in alphabetical order, was asked to vote for Speaker by stating the candidate’s last name. 435 Members. Each asked individually. Of course, simply stating ‘Boehner’ or ‘Pelosi’ was the exception, More often, some flowery phrase, such as ‘I proudly cast a vote for our daughters and granddaughters by casting it for Nancy Pelosi!’ She was even voted for in Jesus’ name once. All sorts of women were named – former slaves, former Congresswomen, daughters and granddaughters. And each time, there was a round of applause. 435 Names. Of course, the vote was strictly down party lines, and the Republicans tended to stick with ‘Boehner’ or more often ‘John Boehner' than anything more flowery.
At about 2:30pm, the roll call was over, except for one who had not responded when his name was called. No idea. It was called again, this time he was present and cast his vote. The vote had then to be tallied by 4 independent observers, I think it was two from each party.
Then Boehner, as acting Speaker, did a little speechifying – mostly about bipartisanship, since the Republicans were so good at it, he hoped the Democrats would practice it, especially since it was Pelosi who had recommended it when she was in the minority.
Then an ad hoc committee including several High Power Members and ALL of the California delegation was formed to escort the Speaker-elect to the podium. The committee and the Speaker-elect were excused, only to re-enter in a kind of victory promenade. She took the podium.
Lots of cheers and applause. She spoke. I’ll let others handle the content. Every sentence she uttered elicited standing and applause. It took a while.
She made a comment about the gavel; owned, like everything else in the room, but the people it served. She said many of the children had asked to touch it, and she invited them up for a touch. They all came up, like children in a Sunday service invited up to the altar for a story from the preacher before being dismissed to Sunday School and before the Adult Sermon. And I thought, what a grandma thing! Grandpa, no, Grandpa would never think of this. Make the children part of the process. It was brilliant.
It came to be time to swear in the Members, en masse.
Then there were two questions, both about FL-13. The Democrats wanted to know if seating the person certified by Florida as winning that election would prejudice in any way any lawsuits which may be pending, and the Republicans wanted to know if the person about to be sworn in was actually certified as winner in that district by the State of Florida. Again, I’ll let other bloggers handle the content and implications of these questions.
And the Oath of Membership was administered.
I left, as did most of those in the gallery, but Congress was in Session! In fact, 2 and ½ of those 1st hundred hours were expended upon ceremony – so business was conducted and several votes taken. I saw Jerry make a statement on C-Span. He was passionate, explicit and terse. He had two minutes, took 30 seconds, and yielded the rest of the time. He didn’t need it, and didn’t take it.
Later, there was a reception. Jerry with his family members, come campaign workers, and constituents, went to get photos with Nancy Pelosi. My thought was, a long day for her, what a trooper! And she was very gracious. A nice person, with a hint of steel along that backbone. We’ll see.
I met some other bloggers, there, Tracey in Hell’s Kitchen, Matt from Saynotopombo. I met Lisa V, the political journalist from the Bay Area. She said she was no stranger to Washington, she worked a beat there before. But it had been long ago, and she had forgotten a lot. Still, we had a nice conversation, she wanted the secret stuff about Jerry. We’ll see how that plays out in her article in the CC Times tomorrow.
As with all governmental processes, it was at once exhilaratingly exciting and grindingly boring.
Once in a lifetime. Two years from now, it’ll be old hat.