During tense budget negotiations in the Senate president's office between delegations of senators and representatives, Rep. Lance Harris received a text message from Rep. Brett Geymann that read, "Please say 'fiscal' instead of 'physical.' You're making us look stupid over here."
Others try to make their cultural references hipper, in a '60s kind of way, such as Senate President John Alario did on the final attempt by Sen. J.P. Morrell of New Orleans to bring up a bill decreasing marijuana penalties. "This is the third puff on the motion," Alario quipped.
The no-nonsense House faction of "fiscal hawks," with their insistence on budgetary discipline, gave flight to a flock of metaphors, such as Rep. Geymann's description of liberal Democrats: "They call themselves hummingbirds because they like to be able to back up."
The hawks managed to ruffle some feathers, particularly among fellow Republicans, causing one to blurt out, "What you guys need is a falconer."
In his rift on natural vs. man-made disasters, Sen. Fred Mills instructed a committee, "They used to have dinosaurs. Where they at? Man killed them. . . . There are no more dinosaurs."
And in a building full of lawyers, there is plenty one can learn about the constitution, for all the good that does. On legislation to prohibit the federal government from enforcing laws restricting the sale or possession of semi-automatic weapons, Rep. Joe Lopinto stood tall to say, "I have $100,000 in student loans that says this is probably unconstitutional. But I like the bill."
"He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that." JS Mill
