When a man who has served his state and his country in elective office for decades finally retires to private life, one would think he'd like to go out in a blaze of altruistic glory.
For example, a departing elder statesman, should he by chance be one of the nation's powerful 100 senators (and one who's particularly skilled in the fine art of legislative logrolling), might as a final senatorial act use the goodwill he's amassed over the years to forge a genuinely bipartisan coalition of his fellows to establish the 21st-century equivalent of the Manhattan Project to find reliable and affordable alternatives to destructive fossil fuels.
Or he could seek passage of a signature piece of legislation, perhaps a bill setting aside millions for treatment of a rare and particularly cruel disease.
Yes, our hypothetical retiring lawmaker could promote any number of noble projects that would benefit ordinary people and thus ensure his entry into a statesmen's hall of fame.
five finger shoes Then there's our retiring lawmaker, Judd Gregg. Gregg, after a lifetime
on the public payroll, is taking his comfy pension and going home. And his final gift to the American people who have supported him comfortably these many decades?
He's trying to do the nearly impossible: Screw up the Senate even more than it is.
Quick: What is it that the nation's voters hate most about the U.S. Congress's upper chamber? That it is chronically so gridlocked that almost nothing gets done. And Gregg's contribution to the legislative logjam? Why, he kindly distributed to his fellow Republicans a detailed memo on how to bring the sclerotic Senate's already painstakingly slow deliberations to a grinding halt.
What in particular he's trying to prevent is even the possibility that the Senate might pass a comprehensive health care reform bill. To that end, he distributed to his fellow Republicans a nice little primer of obstruction that combines the most excessively nit- picking Gucci Handbags Roberts Rules of Order with the all of the arcane rules and "privileges" that over the years have stuck to the Senate like a host of parliamentary barnacles.
He devotes a lengthy section just to the mischief one can make with "point of order," a parliamentary ploy particularly well known to attendees of town meeting.
He helpfully advises his confreres that in the interests of "full, complete and informed debate" they are entitled to "offer an unlimited number of amendments - germane or non-germane - on any subject." And should health care somehow pass out of the Senate, its passage, Gregg says, can still be slowed.
"The Senate must pass 3 separate motions to go to conference: (1) a motion to insist on its amendments or disagree with the House amendments; (2) a motion to request/agree to a conference; and (3) a motion to authorize the Chair to appoint conferees. The Senate routinely does this by UC [unanimous consent], but if a Senator objects the Senate must debate each step and all 3 motions may be filibustered (requiring a cloture vote to end debate)."
Aren't you glad Gregg doesn't attend your town meeting?
Back in 2006, when Democrats were throwing up parliamentary obstacles to stuff the Republicans really wanted to pass, Gregg - surprise! - took a slightly different view. "Obstruction has become the only thing which the other side of the aisle appears to be able to do, obstruction for the pur
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