Early to rise

I'll tell you what fires me up -- looking out the window at 5:15 a.m. and seeing Budget Chair Bruce Maloch (D-Magnolia) in a suit walking over to his office at the Capitol. Most of House leadership took the night off from reading and comparing bills after yesterday's exhausting vote and enjoyed talkin' turkey and looking ahead on the House agenda.

We're now shifting the agenda on our end of the Capitol and will take up legislation to implement the lottery approved by the voters last November. As chair of Joint Budget, Maloch will play a key role on this issue. We've had a couple of ad hoc committees working on the two main components of the lottery, and Speaker Robbie Wills will unveil legislation soon.

House Democrats will meet this morning, and we'll discuss the importance of maintaining a bipartisan spirit in the House, which is important after a passionate vote that falls largely down party lines like HB1204. I'll also give the floor to Robbie, who will brief the caucus on the lottery and a couple of the other issues that lie ahead. Freshmen Democrats will miss the meeting due to an invitation to have breakfast at the Governor's Mansion.

Side note: Missing from last night's bull session was Rep. Gregg Reep, who drove down to the Warren Chamber of Commerce Banquet under the ruse that he needed to give someone an award. In actuality, he was named Man of the Year by the organization -- big day for him yesterday.