Dorcas Speer Interviews Rep Elizabeth Shaw (WOI News Clip 452)

Elizabeth Shaw is a Republican from Davenport this is your third term in the house and how does it differ from the term before well I would say it certainly becomes more exciting because one becomes more part of the operation of the legislature more knowledgeable about how to proceed and has more voice in the decisions and that makes it more fun okay now before we get into the background part what legislative committees are you on this year I'm chairman of the House Committee on constitutional amendments and reapportionment now you would not have been able to have had that chairmanship oh so it is certainly not a fisherman our never Committee Chairman occasionally second-term members our Committee Chairman but more often that I have served as the ranking member of that committee for both of my preceding terms is this like vice chairman in a sense exactly chairman I also serve on the Judiciary Committee on the school's committee now going back to some of your your background they said I don't want a campaign speech but that was a few of your qualifications because my impression is that the women are very well qualified that become members of the legislature well women who choose to run at least certainly have some kind of a background in government I think they have to be motivated to do it by work they've done or other officers they've held community activities in which they've engaged I did study political science in college it was a matter of some interest to me I had relatives who were active in government both in party organizations and I had an uncle who served in the legislature many many years ago when I first met my husband he asked me to marry him and go to law school with him in the same breath so I said yes to both of the proposals and I did graduate from law school as well and did practice law and I I think that practice in the legal area is a good it's good training and background for the legislature it's certainly not in this but it does cause people to think a lot about the type of laws which are being passed no it has the benefit of being able to to recognize the implications of legal materials and this is actually how laws are written in this language in it yes I think so and it leads people to make a closer scrutiny of the language of laws and so on many many times bills are passed which do not read and therefore are not interpreted as they were intended to what happens when you recognize this before you get even out of that session of the legislature Wow by and large the law well it's possible to amend a bill before the end of the session and this has been done this is the happier instance of what happens sometimes it's not discovered until sometime later that the language actually does not do what was intended and then perhaps some hardship is right now of the committee that committees that you participate in are there any that perhaps have priority in your mind well of course I would have joined the committee of which I'm the chairman first it is an area that I've long been interested in because of my political science background and also work as a member of the League of Women Voters who take a good deal of interest in keeping the Constitution current and also in reapportionment matters that was a group which was one of the earliest proponents of redistricting of the state legislature and of fair districting of Congress and their premises have been proved true by Supreme Court decisions and we really have come a long way and we'll complete the work now as we redistricting the 1970 census the redistricting that was done in the legislature last time was on the one-man one-vote principle but it was on the basis of the 1960 census so we're about to enter the final step and then of course because of the census here we are also redistricting our congressional district and that is a tremendous challenge now who does this does the state legislation ooh this - yes now what will be the big issues in this well the biggest issue is that we now have seven congressmen and we'll only have six so it means we're we're redistricting somebody out of a district and that's that's the the very great problem what are the major reasons for the various fights I mean we know we have to get rid of one well it's an on basis of total population and that there are only a certain number of representatives in Congress as population grows and other states grow more rapidly than Iowa then we we lose a congressman well I was meeting within the state though as to where the lines are drawn what are the main issues and fights as to where you draw these lines it was which districts somebody the first consideration is where existing congressmen dwell this is not a persuasive consideration but it's one of considerable interest to the incumbents we have a constitutional provision that prohibits the crossing of county lines and congressional districting and yet at the same time the Supreme Court has said that that's not a valid reason to draw a district which isn't equal so we will first of all have to make some kind of an assumption as to whether the Iowa constitutional provision governs or or whether the supreme court mandate governs or whether perhaps they aren't necessarily mutually exclusive whether we can continue to have one-man one-vote or have earned assam spiritually equally equal districts and still observe our county lines and we're rolling in the process right now of analyzing some computer runs and in trying to make some plans of our own and in doing a study job on it rather than doing anything in an actual way now of course money isn't going to be a very very important factor affecting all legislation I would assume yes it is and my second most important committee I would say as appropriations I omitted to mention it when you asked me earlier but I consider that apart from being a chairman of a committee I consider the Appropriations Committee the most challenging and it's also the most demanding of a legislators time but I think it does give one the opportunity to make some of the final determinations and where the money goes and how it's spent which determines how the government functions now you also want the Education Committee I can remember schools it's cool / our education and schools and I'm on school now between appropriations and schools are you going to have any conflicts of getting the the once on the one hand and financing upon the other well that's always true because we keep having greater demands for state money but not any more from the educational sector than from all of the others I think good deal of our state money does go to education but a good deal of it goes to building roads and many other things now at this particular stage of the legislature what sort of work takes up most of your time in this early part of the session I think the committee work is of the utmost importance early in the session some states actually only meet in session two or three days a week in the early part of their session the remainder of the time is allocated to committee meetings we determined that we would stay in session for five days a week but that our sessions would be shorter on each day and in the work is being done on the bills and committee and until they're considered by subcommittees and reported out there's not as much work to be done in general session now how could any constituent affect your attitude are there particular legislators attitude best and at what point well any legislator in my view who his worth is solved observes as much as he can the wishes of his constituents I I think any legislature must equate that with things he knows perhaps which the individual who writes about some particular issue which is paramount in his mind does not know this is a perennial question and there's not any easy answer it's one that legislators struggle with continually when particularly when a constituent wishes you to proceed in some fashion that you've determined isn't in the general interest and yet you must modify your constituent often it's not possible to change his mind because he has one thing in his mind and it's his primary consideration and he's not disposed to consider the general welfare he wants his consideration to come first and we thank Elizabeth Shaw Republican from Davenport and we have to realize her position of representing the poor of the rich the educated the uneducated the young and the old and thank you very much