Phoenix, AZ
5:22 PM
I just got back from my first exposure to the political arena. Anthony and I went to the kickoff of the 2006 Arizona Legislative Agenda. It was put on by the Arizona Chamber of Commerce. We were hosted by Len, who I interviewed about his diverse path in the morning. He’s an interesting guy. Some people retire and relax. Len is retired, but at 70 the former Air Force colonel and medical doctor is on many boards. He’s giving a talk on Friday on the potential flu pandemic. Cool guy and asked us to come to the kickoff. The Democrats and Republicans stated their goals for the year, as they go back into legislative session on Monday. The Republicans control the house and the senate, but the governor is a Democrat. We were at table 33 with a house rep that talked all during everyone else’s presentations, a few people from the physical therapy arena, two guys from the retirement commission, and Len. It was extremely interesting to have a birds eye view that we did.
The main points both groups hit on were what to do with the budget surplus, increasing wages to retain state employees, education, and how to handle immigration. It was interesting to hear the points made from both sides. They both stated their cases and had some similarities. The R were more eloquent than the D’s. It’ll be interesting to see how that plays out.
I could sense the schmoozing going on before and during the lunches. Handshakes were given all around and words like agenda, stance, and constituents were thrown about. I was there in a nice dress shirt, but I didn’t have a tie on and the sleeves were rolled up casually. Contrast that to the suits and power attire that were there and I felt uncomfortable, but I was a fly on the wall and guessed similar expensive lunches were going on in all 50 states.
Very intersting stuff, but some of it seemed fake and I’m not sure if politics is for me.