The Congressman Formerly Known as Crazy: Why Alan Grayson is now the most effective member

[cali]

of the House.



Alan Grayson is running 40 minutes late, but his reason is sound. At 11:30 a.m., the House Science Committee started marking up NASA’s funding bill, adding and subtracting whatever they could. At 5 p.m., the committee was still at it. When the members finished a half hour later, the only headline they’d generate would be about the killing of a program to “send a robotic mission to a small asteroid by 2016.”

Grayson, once again, had walked under the radar. The Democratic congressman from Orlando had convinced the Republican-run committee to adopt five of his amendments. One would bar “the federal government from awarding contracts to corporations convicted of fraud,” and another would force NASA to “consider American public-private partnership human space flight” before it partnered with foreign space programs. Each was getting him closer to an unheralded title: The congressman who’s passed more amendments than any of his 434 peers.

“We’ve passed 31 amendments in committee so far,” says Grayson. “Hardly any Democrats who put in amendments put in any effort to get to 218. They just think they've accomplished something when it’s ruled in order, and that’s the end of the story.”

<snip>

The new strategy is simple. Grayson and his staff scan the bills that come out of the majority. They scan amendments that passed in previous Congresses but died at some point along the way. They resurrect or mold bills that can appeal to the libertarian streak in the GOP, and Grayson lobbies his colleagues personally. That’s how he attached a ban on funding for “unmanned aerial vehicles,” i.e. drones, to the homeland security bill. He swears that they don’t back away from him because of his old persona—well, his relationship with Webster is “strained,” but he points out that Webster won re-election by 5,000 votes and Grayson won with 70,000. Never mind that. Are the members of Congress more forgiving than members of the press?

<snip>

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2013/07/florida_democrat_alan_grayson_is_the_most_effective_member_of_the_house.html

[Little Star]

1. He is one smart cookie & he actually has a work ethic! Go Alan!

[think]

2. K&R

[geek tragedy]

3. I have to say, Alan Grayson has shown more growth in public life than I can recall

for anyone in a long time. He's gone from a backbench bombthrower to an overachieving legislative ninja.

[blackspade]

4. legislative ninja...

Love it.

[MADem]

8. That is the way to move forward in the House--deeds, not words.

You don't see anyone in the House stepping up to say a good word about Weiner because all he did was talk. He could point to the right spot on the map, but he didn't want to do the hard work to navigate there.

[starroute]

5. That's because he thinks like an engineer, not like a politician

I know he's not an engineer himself, but he's got that technological mindset. He approaches the business of legislating as a set of problems to be solved and thinks in terms of flowcharts that can get you from here to there.

You can almost see the little yes/no junctures in the description of how he decides what amendments to push. When something gets a "Yes," it goes on to the next test. When it hits a "No," it gets routed through "Is there some way we can tweak this to make it more appealing?" And if it passes the last test, it gets, "Then go for it!"

[Egalitarian Thug]

10. Or an attorney. Ever listen Norman Goldman's show?

I'm beginning to think that attorneys are the last non-scientific profession that is taught to think objectively, and therefore are able to reach rational positions. They can and are still often wrong, but they go through a logical process to reach a conclusion.

[cali]

11. He's ripped a page from Bernie's book

this is what Bernie did when he was in the House. He used the Amendment process effectively. It's a good way to approach legislating- particularly when you're in the minority.

[Liberal_Dog]

6. K & R

Hoping that I get the chance to vote for Alan Grayson someday.

[winterpark]

9. I voted for him twice. Then the thugs in tallahassee gerrymandered districts and I couldn't

vote for him last year. But he derailed his own campaign against webster in 2010. Glad he was elected again though. He was my congressman for too short a time.

[malthaussen]

7. Someone who can get things done...

... is sorely needed, for sure. Especially when the things he wants to get done coincide with the things one wants done.

-- Mal

[sabrina 1]

12. Grayson is brilliant, a lawyer who FIGHTS for his cases. It is a thing of beauty to watch him

take on Republican morons in Congress and simply destroy them. He ENJOYS it.

I would support him for president over almost anyone else if he would run. Of course billions would be spent to prevent him, on smear campaigns etc.

But he is what this country needs right now. A FIGHTER!