To start, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution may be to blame for some of the sine die shenanigans in the Senate.
The circulation of a Senate sine die Bingo card created by an AJC reporter this morning has motivated more than one lawmaker to find ways to cross boxes off their sheet.
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Case in point, immediately after the Senate approved the state’s budget — the only bill the Legislature must pass each year, state Sen. Josh McLaurin, an Atlanta Democrat, made a motion to adjourn.
Making a motion to adjourn early (either jokingly or not) is a square on the Bingo card. McLaurin, who has been teased by his colleagues for the number of times he speaks from the well, also earned his own Bingo square, which can be marked if he speaks from the front of the chamber more than five times.
Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and the Senate leadership allowed McLaurin’s motion to create a bit of levity in the chamber and acted as though they would allow the chamber to vote.
On what was his third trip to the well, McLaurin passionately said that as a member of the minority party, he’s disappointed never gets the opportunity to make the ceremonial motions.
“When you look at a Bingo card, prepared by the Twitterati, and you see that there is a blank that is yet to be scratched off, it is in these moments colleagues when young and enterprising senators must stand forward and do before 5:30 p.m. what few members are willing to do,” he said. “And that is to move we adjourn sine die.”
After she first toyed with the idea of going home early, cooler heads prevailed when Senate Democratic Leader Gloria Butler of Stone Mountain took the well.
“As far as going home, I think we ought to stay here and do the people’s work,” she said.
While the chamber “debated” the motion, a House staffer called the AJC reporter who created the Bingo card — who took full responsibility for the silliness — and reminded her if the Senate adjourns before the House agrees to the budget, lawmakers would have to return for a special session.
Turns out the reminder wasn’t needed. McLaurin withdrew his motion — but not before his seatmate state Sen. John Albers ripped up a handful of paper and threw it at McLaurin as a nod to the Legislature’s adjournment tradition — and the Senate went back to work.
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