Jim Wayne: Make better decisions by legislating in openness, honesty and mutual respect

Joe Gerth’s recent column “Here's how a bill really becomes law in Kentucky,” captures in a humorous way the tragedy of how representative democracy functions in our commonwealth.

The culture of the legislature in Frankfort has evolved over decades to deliberately distance legislators, especially their leaders, from the everyday citizen. Unless you are somebody with loads of money to pay high priced lobbyists and fill lawmakers’ campaign coffers, you stand outside the room where power is exercised.

Read Joe Gerth's column:Move over 'Schoolhouse Rock!' Here's how a bill really becomes law in Kentucky

Rules are designed, as Gerth points out, to appear to insure openness and participation by everyone. But a closer examination reveals these rules create the illusion of dialogue between interested parties, with the final decisions in the hands of an small elite operating behind closed doors. These (mostly white males) direct all legislation according to their own need to enhance their positions of power and status.

Several years ago, the late Representative Darryl Owens introduced a bill, co-sponsored by several of us, to cap payday loan interest at 30%, which is the limit set by the U.S. military for such loan sharks near bases. In Kentucky these greedy financiers were known to charge up to 600% for struggling workers needing short-term loans to cover immediately due bills.

The House leaders delayed calling the bill up for a hearing and vote in the committee where it had been assigned. At a meeting of legislators, Rep. Owens asked to be recognized. “I want to know when this bill will be considered in the committee for a vote,” he politely requested of the leaders.

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Dead silence for several seconds before the chair of the gathering looked across the 50-plus legislators in the room and asked who else needed to ask a question.

With little effort one can find the reason the bill was never given a hearing: money. The pay-day lenders had padded the campaign coffers of the leaders and the sitting governor with donations. Legal bribery, as the late Sen. John Berry correctly called it, was at work once again.

Today poor working Joes and Janes continue to get gouged by loan sharks with more store fronts across the state than McDonalds has burger grills.

Those legislative leaders and that governor have all come and gone and the current crop of Republicans have cloned, and in some ways worsened, the rules of the game. These rules ensure the privileged, proud and possessive get what they want while hard working parents, those on the fringes of our communities…children, elderly, physically and mentally disabled, undereducated…and the arts, education, social service and environmental groups are shut out of the legislative process, as Joe Gerth correctly described.

In contrast, this year we honor the oldest legislative body in Kentucky. It is not the House or Senate in Frankfort. On a lonely road in rural Nelson County the monks of the Abbey of Gethsemane will celebrate 175 years in our homeland. These men are the present link to a chain of monks who have mastered the deliberative process of rulemaking dating to St. Benedict of Nursia (c 480-550). A visit to the monastery reveals a method to live in harmony in the way the furniture is place inside the cloister. To emphasize the importance of mutual respect and inclusion of all points of view, the church, the dining room (known as the refectory) and the main meeting room of the community (the chapter room) are laid out with the monks facing each other, half on one side of the room and half on the other. They pray, eat and make community decisions face-to-face, in open dialogue and authenticity.

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Frankfort can learn some things from the 1,600 years of success of those who live by the Rule of St. Benedict. We make better decisions when we legislate in openness, honesty and carry an attitude of mutual respect.

Several years ago, a small group of us representatives researched best practices for legislatures. We produced a set of forward-thinking reforms to our leaders. The response received was as cold as the reception given the late, great Darryl Owens.

Perhaps some archivist will unearth that package of reforms someday, measure it against the Rule of St. Benedict, and create a truly representative democracy in our commonwealth. It can’t be soon enough.

Jim Wayne served in the Kentucky House of Representative from 1991-2019 from Jefferson County. He is the author of the award-winning novel "The Unfinished Man."

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: What Kentucky legislators could learn from the monks - openness