Over at WTKR, Mike Mather has done some “investigative reporting.” In light of the odd circumstances in which Tracy Thorne-Begland (here we go again) was not confirmed to be a judge, he felt it newsworthy to dig up some dirt on those who did not cast a vote for or against the said judicial nominee.
In 1,500 words, Mr. Mather managed to say this: some delegates miss votes because they are sick, have emergencies, or are busy with their constituents.
Except he made it look like members of the House of Delegates–Republican and Democrat–did nothing but selfishly avoid their public duties at all costs. He speaks of the number of “votes” that delegates have, and throws the numbers out there without mentioning at all what these votes are for.
For someone who is unfamiliar with parliamentary procedure — and that would be most Virginians — the numbers look damning.
Rick Morris missed 131 votes. So did Bob Purkey. Roslyn Tyler and David Yancey missed 110 votes each; Johnny Joannou missed 94. Pretty heavy stuff!
But what Mather does not do is try to explain what — or why — these non-votes were. In the General Assembly it is entirely possible to miss 100 recorded votes simply by going to the bathroom or taking a call from your spouse on the cell phone.
Let me explain:
When bills come out of committee, if there are no negative votes or abstentions in that committee, they go on the Uncontested Calendar, and are all lumped together in a block vote for the whole assembly to vote on. Meaning that 100 bills can come out of committee Nemine Contradicente, get bundled into a single package, voted on the floor to accept the whole package in one vote, and recorded as 100 separate votes for 100 separate bills.
Many of these bills that get bundled into the Uncontested Calendar are routine legislative minutiae. Consider this: SB 142: Amending the charter to the town of Pocahontas to shift “the town’s elections from May to November, [and] shifts the date that elected officials enter into their duties from July 1 to January 1.”
Guess what? This was a block vote… and Del. Yancey <gasp> missed it! Needless to say, it not only passed out of committee unanimously, but it also passed out of the House and the Senate unanimously.
But instead of reporting this significant little detail, Mather sensationalized non-votes in what can only be described as an effort to portray our public servants from shirking their public duties, and especially in light of the controversy surrounding Tracy Thorne-Begland.
Now, I am not saying that these minutiae votes like the one described above are unimportant–especially not to the town of Pocahontas. They were important enough for the town to bring up to the General Assembly, and they deserve its attention. But if there were dissent to moving a town’s election, opponents had every opportunity to make their case to members of the committee, needing to influence only one dissenting vote, and have their opposition considered in its own right on the floor.
But there are literally hundreds of bills like this–routine bills that require legislative approval. And to require that each bill be considered in its own right, and to expect every delegate to vote on those bills–no matter the inevitability of its unanimous approval–would make being a part of the General Assembly a full-time job.
This would not sit well with Mr. Mather. He admits that “being a member of the General Assembly is a part-time job and most have other jobs, too.” Nevertheless, this is not an excuse for Mather. He continues, “they do get elected and do get paid. And for you, the hard-working people who are paying them, you have to decide if you’re getting your money`s worth.”
Obviously, Mr. Mather does not want you to consider the money wasted spent on doing away with block votes, and would have you believe that by missing 110 votes, David Yancey was absent from his public duties an inordinate amount of time, when in fact, he could have missed all of those votes in a five-minute break.
In reality, the numbers that Mr. Mather “uncovers” in his “exposé” are really quite good, even without the “block vote” consideration. Consider Rick Morris of Carrolton, who, according to Mather, missed 161 votes. When there are as little as 2,500 votes in a session (not counting the unrecorded or voice votes), having a 94% attendance record on votes is actually pretty good. Sure, we’d like 100%, but 94% is equal to the average percentage each employee works after taking paid vacation/sick days. Is it really something worth writing 1,500 words on? Are the employers at WTKR getting their money’s worth out of Mike Mather?
In addition to this little fact, we must also consider another statistic provided by Mather. He claims that the average number of votes missed by the Hampton Roads Delegation for the House of Delegates is 61 (I won’t dispute his numbers). This makes Yancey’s 110, and surely Morris’s 161, look like they are astronomically high. [“What’re we payin’ ya for?”]
But considering that more than one vote may be recorded in a single vote it is not so strange. And Mr. Mather’s own numbers prove this. Yes, the average number of votes missed in the Hampton Roads delegation was 61. But the standard deviation on the number of votes missed was 57!
For those that are not statistically inclined, allow me to explain. Three people have an average (mean) of $2,000 in their bank account. One person has $5,997 in his and therefore looks exceedingly wealthy compared to the average. But the other two only have $1 and $2 respectively. The average is $2,000, but the standard deviation — the average amount a given individual varies from the mean — is $3,461.50. In other words, the average means nothing when comparing it to an individual.
So it is for the average number of votes missed: Yes, the average number of votes missed is 61, but when the delegation is averaging 57 votes above or below the mean, 110 total votes missed doesn’t seem like such a big deal (especially considering the block vote factor).
Statistically speaking we consider anomalies as being more than two standard deviations away from the mean. (In this case, having more or less than 114 non-votes from the average of 61). The ONLY person who fits this description in the Hampton Roads delegation is Algie Howell (D-Norfolk), who had — according to Mather — missed 209 votes. (Interestingly, Del. Howell is only mentioned in the article to say that he couldn’t be reached for comment.)
When I asked WTKR how they determine an employee’s value in regards to their attendance, they refused to address the matter, citing “Since neither Mike Mather nor any other employee is a public servant, those records are confidential.” But being a private citizen did not stop Mike Mather from doing man-on-the-street interviews, asking “Would your boss just let you go home whenever you feel like it?”
His respondents, of course, answered in the negative to such a loaded question. But how many of these private citizens have left work early because of a family emergency, or because they were sick, or because they had a pre-approved appointment? I would guess all of them. How would they respond if they were asked “How many staff meetings did you miss because of your absences?” or “How many times has your boss deferred to someone else on a question because you were on a lunch break?”
How many times have you missed work, Mr. Mather? How many times has another reporter responded first to a mass email before you could because you were in the bathroom? These are valid questions since you have not considered why the delegates in your story missed their votes. Is WTKR getting their money’s worth with you?
If Mather wanted to do the story about why the delegates in question missed the vote on Tracy Thorne-Begland, he should’ve stuck with that. But I suspect he realized the audience would understand why delegates did not stay for a 1:00am vote in which the outcome seemed inevitable anyway.
There are many examples of our hard-working public servants going the extra mile to perform their public duties despite having a private life. When passing a budget seemed bleak, Sen. Harry Blevins left a deadlocked senate to be with his wife who was undergoing a heart procedure. After he left, a deal was reached, and other members of the house and senate did everything they could to get him back, even calling the state police. Del. Barry Knight even offered to fly Blevins back to his wife after the vote. Sen. Blevins turned around, returned to Richmond, performed his public duty, and helped Virginia get a budget (the state police choppered him back to his wife afterward). Why don’t you report a story about that, Mr. Mather, instead of mountains you have created ex nihilo?
