House Democrats to Oppose Senate Attack on SEEC.

The final 24 hours of the legislative session are is always a perilous time. The Senate provided a vivd reminder of the danger posed by darkness. It voted 35-0 to gag the State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC) and send some other startling messages.

The bill, brought out by Senate President Martin Looney, serving his twentieth term in the legislature, would limit the SEEC executive director to two four-year terms. They have finally found a term limit they can support. It would strip the commission of its power to act in a variety of enforcement acts, including general auditing and enforcing rules on straw donors.

A tranche of dismayed House Democrats, Daily Ruction can report, has mobilized to oppose the bill and expects to be able to run the clock down on the surprise measure that is a bipartisan concoction created in the Senate.

As a curiosity, the bill contains this provision that looks like what is often called a rat:

One other odd moment: Senator Mae Flexer, who co-chairs the committee that oversees elections law, declined to bring out the bill on the floor of the upper chamber, but she voted for it.