every year, as the legislative session winds down, and as legislators and staff start to plan vacations, one of my busiest times of year is just getting started.

in total, this year the legislature passed 245 bills:

• 3 constitutional amendments
• 7 vetoed
• 6 became law without signature
• 229 signed in to law

the vast majority of the bills were signed between the end of session and july 8 (roughly two months). that may seem like plenty of time, but when have to collect comments and recommendations from all the various departments, schedule time to review the bills with the governor, not to mention getting them actually signed, two months can go by really quickly.

to help the policy staff and myself keep track of everything, i print a list of all the bills enrolled, then mark them off as they become law, or are vetoed. the analysts like it because its sometimes helpful to be able to see visually how much we’ve done, or how much is still left to do. for me, it’s satisfying to cross out the bills as they’re finished.

this year, i thought it would be entertaining to do a stop-motion-type movie, showing the wall of bills get filled in over time. here’s the result:

(granted, it’s my first foray into stringing individual pictures together into a video, so it’s not the best quality, but it was cool enough to do that i’ll likely try again in the future….)

today is july 10, days after the deadline and things are quiet in the office. it won’t stay that way for very long, but i’m happy with the respite.

first, a disclaimer: i am an abercrombie appointee. i want to be up front about this, if only so i can’t be tagged with hiding it later.

in the past, a post of this nature would be written on my other “political” blog, but since it is sorely in need of an update, i’ve opted to post here until i get around to doing it….

i understand politics… well, mostly. i understand that to win, often a candidate has to appeal broadly to as many voters as possible. this means a campaign is built on easy to understand and readily digestible sound bites; talking points. it is, frankly, one of the things i dislike most about our electoral process. that’s for another time, but i bring it up here to try and frame how i (and many others) perceive david ige, the other major candidate in the democratic primary race for governor.

as i understand it, ige threw his hat into the gubernatorial race not as a result of his own desire to serve in that office, but because a handful of very powerful democrats, angry with abercrombie for one reason or another, asked him to run, promising all the support they could offer. their primary selling point? david ige is not neil abercrombie.

in an effort to help governor neil abercrombie win his primary election challenge, i took to the streets yesterday canvassing for my very first time.

i’ve been hesitant to do it previously mostly because i’m not particularly keen to talk randomly to people i’ve never met before. the idea of knocking on doors and disturbing people at home has always filled me with fair amount of anxiety. though some of you may not believe it, i’m actually pretty anti-social by nature.

over the years, i’ve forced myself out of my comfort zone in an effort to improve this particular aspect of my personality. and while i’ve gotten better at it for sure, it’s still not a trait that comes naturally to me. i’m not sure that it ever will, but i nevertheless continue to do what i can to push forward through just some of my various anxieties. canvassing neighborhoods is no exception.