I think Ohio’s 99 has a good balanced feel to it having spent time trapsing around several state house districts over the last four years.

As for salary, I firmly believe that legislators, whether at the state of federal level need to get a significant amount of pay that allows them to focus on the work they are to do and not have to hold down another job at the same time, something that would only ever work at the state level.

I also think at the federal level, the government should build a series of secure dormatories for our DC critters. They don’t have to be terribly fancy but part of the reason they have to get so much money is that most maintain two homes and housing in DC is terribly expensive.

I start to think about what seem to be basic questions: what’s the legislature’s role? How does it get filled – how is best filled? By whom is it best served – are we best served?

And then: do we even get the luxury of meeting any of those ideals?

I just really never thought about the no pay thing – I didn’t know that was the case. I’ve always known it didn’t pay well and it wasn’t typically full-time. But the way in which the NH one works has just really confounded my making sense of how a state legislature is organized and functions in the first place.

For Ben and Lisa Renee re: who is attracted to such a legislature and how salary plays a role in other states, NCSL put out this pdf out a few months ago I think.

This is another interesting article w/some cool facts in it – the women are called OWLs.

I’ve got an email into someone at NCSL for more info – got an autoreply that she’s out today. But those links were just from googling. I don’t possess any innate knowledge – which is why I’m so curious.

At times I wonder how impossibly difficult it must be for some of the wives of the General Assembly members from my area, especially those with young children. These women voluntarily take on becoming basically single parents for stretches of time.

It takes dedication and a desire to serve, similar in some ways to those who serve in the military. It’s not just those who actually serve who give more of themselves and sacrifice at times, it’s their families too.

It is progress because at one time men were in the majority, so clearly at one point in time men thought it was “worth it” and personally the suggestion that the only reason why there are more women is because it doesn’t pay is kind of an insult not only to those serving but to the concept of what our government was supposed to be all about, not career politicians in it for the money or the power, but the citizen legislator serving out of a love of their country…