Our Steps May Be Uneven, but We Keep Climbing

The marble steps of the Capitol sag inwards where the steps of thousands have worn them away. With the Capitol's centennial birthday coming up, this amazing building has seen decades of Governors, State and Federal Legislators, State Employees and citizens all come and go. 

At each marble staircase there's this sign [top right] reminding visitors to tread with caution as some steps end up being varying distances apart from the extensive wear and tear. 

As I climb between the two lions protecting the Capitol's east facade and begin my assent up the marble steps inside, I think about the thousands of people that have worn the steps before my grandparents were even born.

Similarly, our own historical steps are often uneven, disjointed, and at times, we even stumble and fall down. After my struggle passing the bar and finding work, we thank our Heavenly Father frequently to be gainfully employed, and blessed to be able to support our lifestyle with just me working. We're especially grateful to all the love and support from family members as we kept climbing through the difficulties. 

For members of the Legislature, Executive Branch, and staff, the legislative session is the busiest time of year. Beginning on the fourth Monday in January, and continuing 45 days after that, the session makes the Capitol explode with life. The legal crew gets an intern to help us manage the extra work, rural congressmen from out of town get a hotel room or apartment in the city, and we all buckle down for some long days and nights.

Working the session is the best time of year, despite the long hours. [Pictured above is a professional picture of the House in session; Right was my point of view when I was on the floor]. 

The congress is in session several hours a day, and committee meetings are scheduled throughout the session. Part of my job is legal review of the bills as they come down the pike and advising the Governor and senior staff as to the constitutionality of the proposed changes in law. (You'd be surprised how 

often the legislature manages to pass unconstitutional bills.)

Another awesome part about working for the Governor is knowing "the rest of the story" behind the night's daily coverage of the session. This year started out with some fireworks as the Governor and the Speaker of the House traded barbs in their public speeches. In the speaker's opening speech, she called the Governor an "inaction figure" in the governor's office. She then went on to propose a $300 million dollar education plan which was by it's most charitable description, ambitious.

Anyway, the Speaker's bloated plan failed miserably upon the Governor's threatened veto and I got to be part of what was pretty much an unmitigated victory for the Governor. Many of the legislators even of her own body saw the move not as a way to effectively further education in the state, but as a way to springboard the Speaker into the Governor's office in 2016. Additionally, with no planned tax increases, putting an iPad into the hands of every K-12 student struck people as wasteful as well as ineffective.

My boss, the Governor's general counsel, ordered a Gary Herbert "Action Figure" and presented it to him at the Session wrap party. It appears the Governor's job is safe for now.

 Lastly, I didn't get in many pictures during the session. We always were busy with one thing or another. However, I managed to photobomb the governor in one shot here with a member of the media team. This picture [right] was taken around 1 AM on the last night of the session after the Governor gave his wrap up speech to the House of Representatives.

All in all, it has been an excellent experience that has taught me (to paraphrase Dory from "Finding Nemo" to "just keep [climbing]."