There are no shortage of things that come out of St. Paul or Washington, D.C. that make us go, “Huh?” Sometimes it’s partisan bickering, sometimes it’s wasted money, sometimes it’s pork barrel politics, sometimes it’s hypocrisy…and, sometimes, it’s unnecessary legislation, like what St. Cloud DFLer Tarryl Clark came up with last week.
Clark, who’s running for higher office, specifically, against none other than U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s Sixth District, came up with this doozy of a bill: She wants state workers from here on out to, when they’re on state business that requires them to stay overnight elsewhere, not stay in hotels that show pornographic movies that promote violence. It cleared its first hurdle earlier this week and is headed to the senate floor.
If approved and signed into law, the state would come up with a list of lodging facilities that show violent pornographic films on their in-room televisions, and from then on it would be a no-no for state employees to stay at those places. “Adult movies” that don’t include violence tied to porn are, apparently, A-OK.
No offense to Clark, but Minnesota kind of has a lot on its legislative and budget plates at this juncture, so, would it be asking too much for our legislators to not waste a minute of their time, and Minnesotans’ time, coming up with legislation like this? It’s frivolous, it’s unnecessary, and it seems entirely out of left field.
What is Clark trying to accomplish anyway? What is her motivation? Does she want to show conservative Minnesotans that she’s a left-winger who cares about moral values and is against violent pornography as much as they are, even as much as the ultra-conservative, ultra-right wing Bachmann, who once hid in the bushes outside a gay wedding ceremony?
Just picture it: You’re a state worker and you have to spend the night in some city because you have a work-related task to accomplish there. But, before you or someone on your staff books a room, you have to consult the pro-violent-porn-movies-hotels list that covers the lodging facilities in the city you’re traveling to, and then make sure that you make a reservation at a hotel that makes available a full menu of “adult” films that don’t link violence and pornography. Thankfully, if the town you’re traveling to has limited lodging facilities and you simply can’t avoid a pro-violent-porn-movies hotel, the bill does include an exemption. Whew!
Laissez-faire, Sen. Clark…let it be, and leave it alone. This isn’t making a mountain out of a molehill, this is making a molehill out of absolutely nothing.
