Seen a Rogue on the loose? Get in touch with our Roguemeister: JOHN SCHRAG jschrag@wweek.com (503) 243-2122 FAX: (503) 243-1115 There were so many roguish actions during the end of 1999 legislative session, it's hard to pick just one. But few were as slick as the one pulled by Republican Rep. Mark Simmons. On Thursday, July 22, the House Rules Committee shut down for the evening around 10:30, and the Democratic members wearily headed home, thinking they were done for the night. But at about 11 pm, Simmons, the committee chairman, posted notice that the committee would gear up again at 11:50 pm. The Republican members, who had been warned that the day's work might not be done, showed up; in three minutes they passed out of committee a bill no one had seen before. HB 1307 would have added $20 million to the $4.81 million school budget. The bill was largely symbolic, as Senate President Brady Adams had made it clear the schools budget was written in stone. The move was only window dressing to convince voters that they'd tried to find more money for schools. While last-minute, late-night meetings aren't uncommon in the final days of a session, it is unusual to bring up new business--especially something that had no chance of passing the Senate. It's also unusual, and extremely slimy, to exclude the minority party from the meeting. The Democratic committee members didn't know about the midnight meeting until they picked up their phone messages the next morning. Even if they'd been present, they couldn't have stopped the bill. But they could have issued a minority report that could have sparked another partisan floor debate on the entire education budget. That's exactly what the Republicans didn't want. In the end, the Republicans' efforts failed. The bill never made it to the House floor. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Willamette Week | originally published July 28, 1999