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The never to be forgotten nine days of 2000: How the "Right to Know" bill was narrowly defeated By Sue Rockne I left the Capitol about 4:30 April 5 when we were told the House would adjourn about 5 or 6 p.m. The Senate was already done. I had dinner with my husband, went to bed and slept well UNTIL 6:15 A.M. when I awoke to the radio telling me that the anti-choice "Right to Know" bill had passed the House 89-45. Needless to say I was at the Capitol in record time, without even a cup of coffee. As I read the Journal to see what in heaven they did, the lobbyist from MMA came charging in. I said, I don't think you are going to like this. He, too, had arisen to the news. We both read the news and agreed we didn't like this AT ALL. My scooter put on many miles that day as I tried to find out who did what with whom behind my back and when it was conceived. Was this something of a miracle that somehow had appeared to Rep. Goodno from angels on high? Since I don't believe in miracles at the Legislature, I surmised a conspiracy had been in operation and, as it turned out, had been being cooked for several weeks. Let me back up to March 20 when the House passed H.F. 178, the original "Right to Know" bill as an amendment to the usual Health and Human Services Omnibus bill. This was the same scenario as last year when the House added eight anti-choice amendments to the same omnibus bill. MCCL (Minnesotan Citizens Concerned for Life) had stated at the beginning of the session that this was all they wanted. Minnesota was not alone in the attempt to pass this ugliness. There were four other states being so besieged - Alabama, Alaska, Delaware and Iowa. Colorado and Virginia defeated it earlier this year. Twelve states already have it on the books. This year, however, when it came up in the Senate on March 21 and was ruled not germane by President Spear, the vote to uphold his ruling failed 32-34 because SEN. WIGER CHANGED HIS POSITION! Clearly the two special elections in the Senate had changed it from pro-choice to anti-choice. If Wiger had held, it could have been dead by a tie. Sen. Hottinger saved the day by offering a substitute amendment that was voluntary: no physician's name and without the penalties. That passed and we knew we were going to have to spend hours in conference committee and hoped that Sen. Moe would again give us good conferees. He did. Back to April when the message from the House came up in the Senate. The NEW bill was a companion to the one already passed by the Senate, which provided for items that needed correction from last year's HHS bill and was authored by Sen. Samelson, forever ANTI. What the House had done in the wee small hours the night before was to delete EVERYTHING in the bill except the number (very unusual not to at least keep the title). As a result of the bill originally having passed the Senate, the only action possible for the Senate was to concur or not concur with the House language. Sen. Moe wisely moved to adjourn until Monday the 10th in spite of clamoring from the Antis for a vote immediately. Remember this was the day that I rose to find out that a bill had passed. Things sometimes move slowly at the Capitol, but not this time. Thank you Sen. Moe for giving us time to assess our situation. After the germaneness vote we knew we did not have the votes and that the motion to concur would pass. At least there was time to gather a few folks, make signs and prepare to greet Senators as they came to Chamber on the 10th. For once there were more of us than there were of them. On Friday night, Sen. Moe was on Almanac and called it the "Stupid Woman" bill and that caught on. That phrase really infuriated the MCCL. Too Bad! Prior to the session there was a meeting of the choice Senators to plan the debate. Sen. Kiscaden would do the Medical Association's objections, Hottinger would do his great legal stuff, Berglin would pick the bill apart as only she can, Weiner would do the righteous indignation bit, etc. We were ready even though we did not have the votes. The three-hour debate was OUTSTANDING! No walking around, no chitchat, just serious discussion of the issues. I have only seen one other debate like it and that was when the "Gay Rights" bill passed in 1993. Sen. Kiscaden never did do the MMA piece and Sen. Oliver, who attended our pre-session meeting, voted against us. Otherwise it was as we expected. The bill was sent to the Governor on a 37-30 vote. He had until Friday night to either veto, sign or let the bill become law without his signature. Immediately following the vote a large group of legislators STORMED the Governor's office and held a press conference right outside his office. They were wonderful!! A massive campaign was organized by the clinics, Planned Parenthood, NARAL and NOW (my intern is on their PAC Board) to swamp the Governor's office with calls, faxes, e-mail and letters urging him to veto. Needless to say the MCCL was ready with their AUTOMATED phone trees. The first day was all MCCL, but by the end we were even or ahead. We had been advised to "show our political strength" and we did. But what would Jesse do? One side light was the letter sent to the Governor from two House members who voted FOR the bill. Representatives Luther and Leppik urged him to veto. They saw the error of their ways. The MCCL was counting on two things: First was the Family Council Questionnaire that Gov. Ventura signed during his campaign saying he would support "informed consent," which I'm sure sounded sooo reasonable to him or a staff person who filled it out; and Second, the assurance that this bill would meet the test of "the Principles" laid down by the Governor for reproductive issue bills. The staff evidently didn't seem to realize that ABORTION is the one issue no Governor wants on his desk. They seemed also to think that the bill would go to Conference Committee and they could make it a bit more like the Senate's Hottinger amendment. Interesting that they were counting on our bicameral system that the Governor would like to abolish. Suffice it to say, I told the media that the Governor was not well served by his staff. It was not only the Stupid Woman bill, but also the Stupid Staff foray into shark filled waters. All three involved in this fiasco call themselves pro-choice! On the 14th it was announced that Jesse would make his decision known at 4:45, in time for the five o'clock news, to a group of staff members and the press. I parked my scooter right next to the door and waited with the rest of the peasants. Jackie Schweitz and Maurice Rosenberg (MCCL) were in another room with Speaker Sviggum not to be seen with the rest of us. Only Gail Jude and their two young minions were near us. As Jesse came back from the Rotunda with four guards surrounding him, his Communications Director, John Wodele, my old friend, grabbed my hand, shook it and winked. YES! He vetoed. Isn't that four-letter word just delightful? Gail Jude cried and upstairs Sviggum and Jackie whined and threatened Jesse with revenge. One reporter asked Sviggum why there was no pro-choice input on the bill and he said, "Well, I certainly didn't ask Sue Rockne." Several of our legislators again held a press conference thanking the Governor and urging Minnesotans to remember the abortion issue in November. Sen. Ranum did the wake-up call, Sen. Junge pledged no further action on the bills hiding out in the HHS Omnibus bill, and Rep. Folliard provided an emotional thank you to the Governor. We got great coverage! Both before and after the veto, the editorials were unanimous in opposition to the bill and supportive of the veto, including the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Saint Paul Pioneer Press, St. Cloud Times, Red Wing Republican Eagle and the Rochester Post Bulletin. Let us hope that all of the phoning, media coverage and stressful "Nine Days Never to be Forgotten" will lead to action in November. Too many people, young and old, thought that there was no longer any threat to CHOICE. Now they know differently in Minnesota. |