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Abdallah Skips 36% of Legislative Votes, Calls HB 1234 “Insignificant”

Rep. Gene Abdallah (R-6/Sioux Falls) is catching all sorts of heck from wingnuts around the state. David Astin pink-slimed Abdallah with a misrepresentation of his 2006 vote against a state-mandated abstinence education bill. Now departing rookie legislator Brian Liss (R-13/Sioux Falls) attacks his colleague for missing votes:

Liss, a Republican, compiled the voting records of legislative members. To control for sicknesses or other reasons for missing votes, Liss analyzed only days in which a lawmaker made a vote and then missed others.

His analysis showed that Abdallah missed 36 percent of the floor votes, a number that Otten has cited in a flier. Sometimes, Liss said, absences are legitimate.

"Other times, they're just off smoking cigarettes or doing something at the Capitol but not their job," he said [Jonathan Ellis, "GOP Races Pivot on Swing to Right," that Sioux Falls paper, 2012.05.28].

Doing your job 64% of the time? Well, that still beats Kristi Noem's committee participation record.

Not one to mince words, Abdallah lets Liss have it:

Abdallah dismissed Liss as a "totally ineffective" lawmaker who could have been absent for 100 percent of the votes and not been missed.

"If I missed any votes, they were votes that were insignificant, in my opinion, such as the state flag, the state dessert, the state song, or whatever," Abdallah said [Ellis, 2012.05.28].

The first retort approaches Churchillian wit. But the latter defies reality. There is no if: Rep. Abdallah frequently steps out before roll call. And insignificant? Rep. Abdallah skipped perhaps the most significant vote of the session, the final House vote on HB 1234, the Governor's flagship education reform bill. Abdallah was present that day, February 29, to cast votes on measures to say nice things about Taiwan, fiddle with municipal home-rule, stop sex offenders from circulating petitions, set deadlines for transferring school districts, and revise court record search fees. He skipped votes that day on a child custody bill, Rep. Susy Blake's really good food assistance bill, and two votes on HB 1234 amendments in addition to the narrow final vote. Ten votes, five "excused": 50% absence rate... and every one of those five missed votes was less trivial than the state dessert or Taiwan's observer status in the International Civil Aviation Organization.

Abdallah proceeds to meander off into accusing his GOP primary opponent Ernie Otten of having "no record, no program, or no issue" and resorting to "age-old path of going negative and using Chicago-style gutter politics to attack me with innuendo and lies."

David Astin's pink-slime flyers are indeed innuendo and lies. But Brian Liss and I aren't from Chicago. A count of Gene Abdallah's absences from House votes isn't gutter politics. It's only negative to the extent that Rep. Abdallah makes it negative by not showing up to do the people's work.

12 Comments

  1. Jackie 2012.05.29

    Before the changing of districts, Abdalluh was my Rep. I sought him out personally when HB1234 was passed along and gave him a significant ear bending over my dissatisfaction with his vote.

    Seeing that he was listed as excused from final vote, I wondered what the deal was. Word is that he had fallen ill that day with some of the crud that was going around.

    I doubt he felt HB1234 was insignificant, he heard plenty from many of us. His response for the initial aye vote was he wanted to see how it would be changed or evolved.

    I believe that all those who did vote for HB1234 should definitely be declined support from any concerned citizens that support public education. When they allow arm bending and being bullied from Gov. and not listen to the people -- they need to be outta there. (steady, concentrated eyes on Sen. Mark Johnston -- for example.)

  2. caheidelberger Post author | 2012.05.29

    Jackie, single-issue voting usually makes me nervous. In the case of HB 1234, I make an exception. Given his absence from the final vote, the vote we have on record is his Feb. 13 vote for it. That's enough to tell me Abdallah should be voted out.

  3. Jackie 2012.05.29

    Cory, I wholeheartedly agree with you re single issue voting - HB1234 being the exception. Just communicating what I had heard regarding missing that one vote.

  4. caheidelberger Post author | 2012.05.29

    If the crud was going around, it didn't knock out any of the other Legislators on the Feb. 29 HB 1234 vote.

  5. Nick Nemec 2012.05.29

    In the South Dakota Legislature where a majority of the members ELECT, not members present, is required for passage of a bill taking a walk is essentially as good as a no. Given that why would Abdallah walk? If he supported it and a walk is as good as a no you are hurting your side. Did he not want to cross the Governor? Surely DD knows that a walk is equal to a no vote. Did he decide to oppose but didn't want his name in the paper as a Republican in opposition? Is his prostate enlarged thereby reducing the size of his bladder and increasing the frequency of his bathroom breaks? He wouldn't be the first legislator to head to the can and find that a vote had been taken during his absence.

  6. Rorschach 2012.05.29

    I wouldn't trade one Gene Abdallah for 20 Brian Lisses. Abdallah's right. 20 Brian Lisses x 0 effectiveness = 0

    Abdallah is one of the people who knows where the levers of government are located and knows how to pull them. The fact he misses votes to go out and smoke is fair game in the campaign though. People expect more than good productivity from their legislators. They also expect good work ethic. Other legislators have missed a lot of votes, and it will be an issue in the general if not in a primary.

  7. Jack Anderson 2012.05.29

    Interesting how the commenter above rates Rep. Liss's "effectiveness" as zero. I have to ask: "What exactly are the criteria that define "effectiveness" ?

    Is it defined as being on the "winning side" of certain bills that are passed in the legislature ? Is it the ability to see to it that bad legislation is killed in committee so that it doesn't get a floor vote ?

    Whatever the definition may be, I rather doubt that "political effectiveness" is defined by the habitual missing of floor votes. And rather important votes at that.

    Quite honestly, I don't care much for politicians that are "effective" if they are merely using their position to pass more bad legislation that infringes on local control of education or attempts to waste millions of taxpayer dollars by paying out-of-state companies to find employees for South Dakota businesses.

  8. Troy 2012.05.30

    Three comments:

    1) Single issue priorities you endorse is because it is a central issue to you and for others who select other issues as central are what? Narrow minded. Double standard.

    2) At the end of the day, agree with him or not, a list of the top 10 legislators with regard to shaping what happens in Pierre during the session would include Abdullah. And, he would be there if he never voted.

    3) In the early 80's, there was a GOP legislator who everyone liked and never missed a vote (floor or committee) his entire career (or at least that is the legend). And, only during the times he was a tie-breaker did he affect what occurred in Pierre. I will not name him as he is one of the kindest men to ever serve in Pierre (and maybe that was his purpose-to always improve the decorum of the body) and I would never speak ill of such a fine gentle man.

  9. caheidelberger Post author | 2012.05.30

    Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain? I'm intrigued by the suggestion that votes may be just a show concealing the real wielding of power. Should I also be alarmed?

    As for pricking my narrow conscience, I will contend (as all single-issue voters do, I suppose!) that HB 1234 is a different issue, a much bigger issue. It deals with a fundamental, constitutionally mandated policy area that consumes more state and local public resources than any other single budget item. It reflects a policy-making attitude inimical to the effective functioning of our K-12 system. Support for HB 1234 demonstrates a willingness to ignore popular opinion, expert professional advice, and evidence and waste millions of dollars on policies that don't work. And it's a kick in the shins to organized labor. HB 1234 is more than a single issue; it's a microcosm of everything that is wrong with one-party conservative rule in South Dakota.

    Besides, I'm hard-pressed to get voters to pay attention to even one policy issue. Focusing their scarce attention on HB 1234 is much healthier for the Republic than focusing their attention exclusively on abortion, guns, or gay marriage.

  10. Troy 2012.05.30

    I don't think you should be alarmed. One of the most critical components of effectiveness is how you manage personal relationships to build coalitions (who wants to be an army of one and how much does that accomplish?). It is what we do every moment in everything we do, whether it be with friends, colleagues or in our charity work.

    The legislature is just a microcosm of life. I mentioned the legislator above who voted but didn't move/change much. There is also another who held court to all the new legislators often in his small office before caucus where anyone could bring their bag lunch or after session and have a cocktail. He was a power because he developed relationships of trust.

  11. caheidelberger Post author | 2012.05.30

    So is that kind of personal/political capital actionable in a campaign? Can the effective legislators of whom you speak say to voters, "Look, it may not look like it from my voting record, but I've got pull; I have lunch with the freshmen, drinks with the leadership at the pub"? Or does that pull/charm/effectiveness manifest itself organically as candidates work the rooms and parades the same way they work caucus?

  12. Stace Nelson 2012.05.30

    Tory's endorsement of the perversion of the representative government of the people of South Dakota makes me want to vomit.

    Legislators are SUPPOSED to vote on the merits of each bill; however, instead we have gotten politicians who will do everything but that in the hopes of eeking out some personal benefit or hurting another's opportunities. Could you imagine if the ugly monster that Troy's tout's as effective & normal would have been in place when our Founding Fathers considered our Declaration of Independence?! and we wonder why our country is so screwed up. Just because someone in the peanut gallery 100 miles away claims this and that does not make it so.

    Repost that nice comparison of Lee Schoenbeck's first term accomplishments and this "ineffective" legislator's first term accomplishments to get the proper perspective.

    Granted, SDGOP party platrform Republicans are outnumbered in the legislature; however, the times they may be a changing.

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