Ala. Senate kept in session, forcing lt. gov. to urinate under desk
AP News Service
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) _ The Alabama Senate's fight over operating rules turned into a marathon Sunday, prompting Republican Lt. Gov. Steve Windom to urinate in a jug hidden underneath the presiding officer's podium because he feared he would be replaced if he left his seat.
``It´s absolutely absurd,´´ Windom said in a telephone interview from the podium. ``They want to go around the clock, 24 hours a day, to keep me from going to the bathroom, from eating and from sleeping.´´
Windom is the first Republican elected this century to preside over the Democrat-dominated Senate. On Jan. 12, before Democrat Don Siegelman moved up from lieutenant governor to governor, he presided over the Senate as his Democratic allies voted 18-17 for new rules taking away most of the power of his successor, including appointing Senate committees.
On March 2, Windom's first day in the Senate's presiding officer's chair, he gaveled through new operating rules on an unrecorded voice vote that restored most of his powers.
Since then, feuding between Siegelman's allies and Windom's supporters has kept the Senate from considering any legislation, including the governor's plan for a state lottery. To try to force a resolution, Siegelman called a rare special session during what was supposed to be the Legislature's spring break. Senate President Pro Tem Lowell Barron, a Democrat, said keeping the Senate meeting long hours during the special session is the only way to break the standoff.
The Sunday meeting began at 4 p.m. and continued into the night, with Barron's side talking about going nonstop. Barron said that if Windom leaves to use the restroom, the state constitution allows him to replace Windom in the presiding officer's seat.
www.abcnews.go.com/wire/US/AP19990328_151.html
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- bk40
[This message has been edited by bk40 (edited March 29, 1999).]
AP News Service
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) _ The Alabama Senate's fight over operating rules turned into a marathon Sunday, prompting Republican Lt. Gov. Steve Windom to urinate in a jug hidden underneath the presiding officer's podium because he feared he would be replaced if he left his seat.
``It´s absolutely absurd,´´ Windom said in a telephone interview from the podium. ``They want to go around the clock, 24 hours a day, to keep me from going to the bathroom, from eating and from sleeping.´´
Windom is the first Republican elected this century to preside over the Democrat-dominated Senate. On Jan. 12, before Democrat Don Siegelman moved up from lieutenant governor to governor, he presided over the Senate as his Democratic allies voted 18-17 for new rules taking away most of the power of his successor, including appointing Senate committees.
On March 2, Windom's first day in the Senate's presiding officer's chair, he gaveled through new operating rules on an unrecorded voice vote that restored most of his powers.
Since then, feuding between Siegelman's allies and Windom's supporters has kept the Senate from considering any legislation, including the governor's plan for a state lottery. To try to force a resolution, Siegelman called a rare special session during what was supposed to be the Legislature's spring break. Senate President Pro Tem Lowell Barron, a Democrat, said keeping the Senate meeting long hours during the special session is the only way to break the standoff.
The Sunday meeting began at 4 p.m. and continued into the night, with Barron's side talking about going nonstop. Barron said that if Windom leaves to use the restroom, the state constitution allows him to replace Windom in the presiding officer's seat.
www.abcnews.go.com/wire/US/AP19990328_151.html
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- bk40
[This message has been edited by bk40 (edited March 29, 1999).]