Bring Prime Minister's Questions to Oregon
By Brian Grisham of Salem, Oregon. Brian is a public and private sector consultant and is running for Oregon State Representative in district 19.
One of my favorite television programs is the entertaining round of British back and forth known as "Prime Minister's Questions" which airs here on C-SPAN. PMQ is the practice in the British House of Commons of bringing the Prime Minister to the floor to answer questions for one half hour every week while Parliament is in session.
For those who love great debate, this is unfiltered and, except for the first few questions, unscripted discussion. For those who enjoy hearing more substantive answers to specific concerns, it doesn't disappoint and spotlights issues surprisingly similar to our own. For those who want fewer sound bites and more explanation, this event fits the bill. Unfortunately, I hold little hope we can copy this event nationally.
For reasons including those listed above, however, I submit we establish the practice of Governor's Questions in the Oregon Legislature.
This would be much more than just great entertainment for folks like me but a real contribution to the level of debate on the issues. Picture it. During our legislative sessions, the Governor would come to the floor of the House, say, every two weeks during session, and take questions from each side in turn. Those who agree or disagree with the Governor or the opposing party would make their points under the scrutiny of more than just their media advisor or local reporter. The media need not worry, though. This bi-weekly event would provide them with even more material than before.
Governor's Questions would benefit any Governor by giving them a forum to push their agenda. Governor's Questions would benefit legislators by increasing the profile of the session, not to mention the profile of those participating. It would also force those who talk a good game to a camera lens to put up or shut up. Most of all, it would benefit the public by giving them more than the "session's over, here's what passed" wrap up in the Summer. If all goes well, we could extend the invitation to the Executive Cabinet as well.
Across the pond, they refer to each other as "The Right Honorable Gentleman/woman." Maybe, if more elected officials were compelled to back up their rhetoric in this environment, their perceived honorability would go up along with their effectiveness.
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May 20, 2006
Posted in guest column. |
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May 20, '06
I agree. Great idea. I've often wished we had such an opportunity to debate our U.S. president in a similar manner, since the press seems inept in this day and age. It would definitely be cool to set an example in Oregon by having that kind of public Q&A with our own governor. Ted K would also score points with me just by being the first to do such a thing. This is supposed to be a government of the governed, right?
3:09 p.m.
May 20, '06
I remember that Clinton thought about doing just this - during the first year of his presidency.... but then that good idea got hammered by the consultants, because they were scared and they couldn't control it. Ugh.
3:31 p.m.
May 20, '06
Would this mean our legislature would get to meet for more than 3 out of every 24 months?
May 21, '06
I'm sure the 96 people who actually follow state politics in Oregon would find this illuminating.
Perhaps there are ways to entice the 99% of the population that practices lazy cynicism?
1) Publicly execute legislators who ask grammatically incorrect questions; 2) As they do in boxing, have a scantily clad woman read the title of a bill under discussion; 3) Advertise it as a reality show in which 91 totally different people with dysfunctional lives are forced to meet in a crowded chamber in Salem, Oregon; 4) Set-up a "real-world" confessional booth for legislators or the governor to escape to for debriefing sessions. They can talk about how humiliated they were by particular questions. Or perhaps how they were double-crossed by their supposed friend from Wilsonville. 5) There must be a continuous on-screen crawl at the bottom of the picture announcing the latest real news while these people are talking about healthcare, education, and other boring topics. Example: Tonya Harding weighs in at 195....credits her KFC sponsorship. 6) Finally, to save production costs, the local station airing this Governor's Questions could simply replay Prime Minister's Questions from England since most Oregonians don't seem to really know or care who their elected leaders are anyway.
Okay, gotta' go.....I hear there's a breaking story about the quintuplets!
10:56 a.m.
May 21, '06
Kari--
I didn't realize that about Clinton, but I do remember a few years back Tony Blair created a minor firestorm by threating to sanitize England's Question Time. In my view, it was the worse thing he'd done up to that point (this was before the Iraq War).
I'm a big fan of Question Time, even if I'm not really holding my breath for its adoption here. It's not like the Legislature and Governor are held in such high regard now that they need to worry this isn't dignified enough for their offices.
<h2>A constant challenge -- and bipartisan one at that -- is to engage citizens and get them interested in what's happening in Salem. Every year, less and less time is being devoted to local political coverage. Question Time would make for good TV -- and that's not really the worse thing in the world.</h2>