Emmanuel R. Gold Quotes
It used to be people came here, did their work for three months or so, then went home. Now we have these huge staffs we created and an atmosphere of being a full-time legislature.... Now things just drift without any direction or urgency.
Emmanuel R. Gold, Deputy Democratic Leader, New York State Senate, Quoted in New York Times, July 17, 1988
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
On this day there was a combination of weather and forest fires in New England and the day darkened markedly. Many legislators thought that the Day of Judgment was upon them and wanted to adjourn. Davenport persuaded them to continue.
Shortly thereafter administrative law judges and tribunals were incorporated officially into Wisconsin by the legislature.
The state legislature was in afternoon session when the skies almost completely darkened during a storm. Some religious legislators thought the end of the world was approaching and asked for adjournment. Frequently quoted by JFK in the 1960 presidential campaign.
Testifying before a Senate committee:
This clause was a throwback to the days before the separation of powers where the legislature could imprison anyone they thought contemptuous or interfering with their deliberation. Contrast this with the earlier constitution of Massachusetts which forbade the legislature from acting as a judge or prosecutor. See {616750} and {616749}. Also this was a clear invasion of freedom of the press and freedom of speech provided by the Bill of Rights. However, at the time, it was not clear that the Federal Constitution was binding on State Governments on State Matters. Modern law is still ambiguous on this general point, but not on freedom of speech and the press which is currently definitely binding on the states.
There are many methods of voting in a legislative body. “Viva Voce” is Latin for “by Voice” and is often called a “Voice Vote”. Voting by ballot takes longer but had the advantage or disadvantage of secrecy. The theory was that if the New York Legislators could vote in a secret ballot, the lobbies and special interests would not be as influential since they would never know for sure—unless there were a unanimous vote—how any particular legislator voted. A further advantage is that Party Discipline could not be imposed and parties or “factions” as they were then called would be less powerful—a great concern of all the patriots who tended to distrust parties. The disadvantage was that the people who elected the legislator would never know how he voted. Note the frank admission that this was an “experiment”. Americans of the era realized that almost everything they were doing was a political experiment and this introduced a pragmatic force into structure and procedures of American politics.
