Legislative update: No shortage of wisdom, ideas over morning coffee

REP. DAVID FLOYD

By Rep. David Floyd
50th District State Representative

Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013 — Coffee with Dave starts again Saturday at the Rooster Run General Store. We begin at 10 a.m. and run for an hour or so, talking about whatever comes to mind for you. I’ll have the latest Legislative Record and we can look up any bill you like.

These meetings are important because it’s the best way I know to tap into wise counsel. I only hold these Saturday Coffees while the General Assembly is in session.

But the wisdom is there year-round; what a shame to remain isolated from it nine months of the year. So I just go to those same places on a regular basis where on most mornings, you have folks gathered for coffee, sausage biscuit, and conversation. It’s not a scheduled meeting, but it happens all the same.

The talk is about local events: who got in trouble, who was in an accident, who died, who won the ballgame, who had a baby, fishing, hunting, golf. One morning I learned a lot about dynamite – shooting rock.

The venue is about anywhere the early morning crowd gathers, in or around Culvertown, Bloomfield, New Haven, Chaplin, Fairfield, Greenbrier, Howardstown or Bardstown. The people are farmers, factory workers, construction workers, business owners, retirees or a combination thereof.

If you ask them what they think about the latest idea out of Washington or Frankfort, you’ll get a quick response, a gut reaction, and it’s usually right on the money. They’d call it common sense.

It’s the same with a legislator. You get a gut reaction to a bill. Then someone wants to explain things further, go into expansive detail, provide alternative rationale, and what initially might have seemed a bad idea can appear to have some good sides to it. So you compromise and give them some of what they wanted in the first place. Sometimes it works out, but other times you end up with bills that have unintended consequences.

If you picked 100 men and women at random out of one of these corner grocery stores and placed them in Frankfort, you’d probably have a better (and more efficient) House of Representatives. Send them up there whether they like it or not – it’d be a civic responsibility, like jury duty.

But that’s not real practical. Maybe a better idea is to require every legislator to spend five days of the month at a rural gathering spot in their district. No putting on airs, just drinking coffee, eating sausage biscuits, and listening. That should keep us properly grounded.

The best part of my job is hearing from you. Call me at home or leave a message at 1-800-372-7181. This week’s coffee is at Rooster Run General Store, the next Saturday will be at the High Grove Grocery.

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