Enforce rules on teens, lawmakers

Supervising state legislators is like raising teenagers.

You have to be specific about the rules.

For example, you can’t just tell a teenager to come in at a reasonable hour.

He or she will drag in at 2 a.m. and you’ll have the mother of all arguments over the definition of “reasonable.”

If you aren’t specific, you lose on a technicality.

Consider the recent behavior of a particular state lawmaker when the House of Representatives voted to stop taxing groceries in Alabama.

State Rep. Randy Hinshaw, D-Meridianville, voted on his machine.

Then he went to the machines of two absent House members and voted for them.

The measure needed 63 votes to pass and — with Rep. Hinshaw’s three votes — that’s exactly how many it got.

To make matters worse, one of the absent House members later said he opposes the measure.

Apparently this is routine behavior in the House. Hinshaw defended himself by saying everybody else is doing it.

Have you ever heard that one from a teenager?

What could the honorable representative tell a high school student who is caught cheating?

What could he say to the citizen who commits fraud by voting on behalf of a dead person? Would he say it’s OK because the dearly departed was unable to make it to the polls?

When it comes to raising teenagers you have to figure out ways to keep them honest. If they say they’re spending the night with Friend X, you call Friend X’s parent and confirm.

Likewise, a responsible legislative leader — with an elementary grasp of mathematics — should demand a recall when the number of votes exceeds the number of voters.

The proposed bill would eventually let Alabama voters decide whether to drop the grocery tax in exchange for losing a deduction on state income taxes for the amount of federal income taxes paid.

But it may never come to that.

While the measure passed the House, it is hung up in the Senate, where time is running out.

Remember, however, that curfew doesn’t always stop legislators from doing what they want to do.

Sometimes they just unplug the clock.