Christie Goes to Sacramento!
I knew it would be a great day when I walked into the District Office of State Sen Joe Simitian at 7:45 am and saw the San Francisco front-page article on how screwed Rove is. I spent all day at the Capitol of our lovely dovely state with two fellow interns and a staff of Joe Simitian, my state senator.
We got the basic tour, I nearly died when my heel tripped over the carpeted stairs, saw Jerry Brown's interesting portrait, and walked into the reception area of Governor Schwarzenegger's office. Yes, very exciting. Oh, and over the top of his office, there's a glass placard with the letters "GOVERNOR" engraved on it. Above that, the letters "ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER" were added. When the fellow intern asked if they had to change the name every year, the tour guide said that our dear ole' Arnold was the FIRST governor to PUT HIS NAME in front of the Governor's office. Must be the Hollywood in him.
Then we got the VIP-tour, when we actually went ON to the floors of both the Senate and the Assembly (the latter much later in the day) and saw Joe's desk. Oh, since the governor signed the budget, the session was out and the capitol was beginning to cool down (according to the staff) except for the last few committee hearings. We then saw a Human Services Committee hearing chaired by Joe, followed by a painstaking Transportation/Housing Committee hearing. The open conflict and debate was very exciting, but it was difficult to grasp, in the latter, that the issue was smog and air pollution, not small businesses.
Oh, later, John and I got to go and make copies. Nothing that great, but kind of exciting because we were in the capitol office, which btw is TINY, and we felt like we were working. I've learned more today about aquafarming, cell phone usage in cars, smog regulations in California, laws regarding child care providers, and elder abuse than I had ever learned anything on a single day. And mostly by listening to the hearings, the meeting, the conversations with Joe's senior field rep in the car...
So I had a great day. Started great (seriously, the Rove stuff coming out these days are enough to make me caffeine-high with just a cup of Starbucks' Verona blend coffee), ended very happily, and Christie is very happy.
I didn't bring a camera because I thought I wouldn't be able to take pictures. (Plus, I'm an intern, and all the cool kids at the capitol would mock me for being tourist-y) Though the Senate was out, and since we got to go to the floor, I would've gotten some really amazing shots.
But anyhow, no Gubernator sightings.
We got the basic tour, I nearly died when my heel tripped over the carpeted stairs, saw Jerry Brown's interesting portrait, and walked into the reception area of Governor Schwarzenegger's office. Yes, very exciting. Oh, and over the top of his office, there's a glass placard with the letters "GOVERNOR" engraved on it. Above that, the letters "ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER" were added. When the fellow intern asked if they had to change the name every year, the tour guide said that our dear ole' Arnold was the FIRST governor to PUT HIS NAME in front of the Governor's office. Must be the Hollywood in him.
Then we got the VIP-tour, when we actually went ON to the floors of both the Senate and the Assembly (the latter much later in the day) and saw Joe's desk. Oh, since the governor signed the budget, the session was out and the capitol was beginning to cool down (according to the staff) except for the last few committee hearings. We then saw a Human Services Committee hearing chaired by Joe, followed by a painstaking Transportation/Housing Committee hearing. The open conflict and debate was very exciting, but it was difficult to grasp, in the latter, that the issue was smog and air pollution, not small businesses.
Oh, later, John and I got to go and make copies. Nothing that great, but kind of exciting because we were in the capitol office, which btw is TINY, and we felt like we were working. I've learned more today about aquafarming, cell phone usage in cars, smog regulations in California, laws regarding child care providers, and elder abuse than I had ever learned anything on a single day. And mostly by listening to the hearings, the meeting, the conversations with Joe's senior field rep in the car...
So I had a great day. Started great (seriously, the Rove stuff coming out these days are enough to make me caffeine-high with just a cup of Starbucks' Verona blend coffee), ended very happily, and Christie is very happy.
I didn't bring a camera because I thought I wouldn't be able to take pictures. (Plus, I'm an intern, and all the cool kids at the capitol would mock me for being tourist-y) Though the Senate was out, and since we got to go to the floor, I would've gotten some really amazing shots.
But anyhow, no Gubernator sightings.
posted by christie at 8:29 PM
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