The Power of One Vote In Government: In The Nation's Capitol, In The State of Arizona, In The City of Mesa

There is A New Reality In Politics for Strict Party-Line Voting and Evenly-Split Votes on Policy.

Yesterday we saw that here in Mesa during an almost two-hour City Council Study Council to provide direction on the proposed draft for a new Anti-Discrimination Code when District 6 Councilmember Kevin Thompson was absent for 'medical reasons' (waiting for a kidney stone removal operation) while the other six members heard and discussed the exclusions, sending it all back - with a 3:3 even split -  for alterations by the City Attorney's Office to be scrutinized again on Monday.

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Let's skip the AZ State House for the time being and get to surprising rifts in Democratic Party unity - two "hold-outs", one a man and one a woman, Kirsten Sinema (who's the only Congress member openly declared as bisexual).

This is not about gender-orientation > she's come out against pending legislation to establish a federal $15 per hour minimum wage.

The article reference is from Politico published 02.12,2021 and makes the statement the 44-year old Democrat is one of the most quirky and interesting members of the stodgy Senate

The most influential Democrat you never hear from

By MARIANNE LEVINE

POLITICO

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Kyrsten Sinema's defense of the Senate’s age-old rules is likely to frustrate progressives eager to use every tool at their disposal to advance their priorities.

Despite being one of the youngestmembers of the chamber, Kyrsten Sinema holds views that can be as old-school as any of the Senate’s long-timers'.

Kyrsten Sinema doesn’t often make big policy pronouncements. But when she does, Democrats had better listen.

Take the $15 hourly minimum wage that Democratic leaders want to add to a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. Sinema, who became thefirst Democrat to win a Senate race in once deep-red Arizona in 30 years, is crystal clear: She’s against including it.

“What’s important is whether or not it’s directly related to short-term Covid relief. And if it’s not, then I am not going to support it in this legislation,” Sinema said in a telephone interview this week. “The minimum wage provision is not appropriate for the reconciliation process. It is not a budget item. And it shouldn’t be in there.”

Sinema’s opposition is a blow to Democrats’ hopes of bumping up the federal minimum wage through budget reconciliation to avoid a GOP filibuster, complicating follow-through on a campaign promise from Democrats and President Joe Biden. And her defense of the Senate’s age-old rulesis likely to frustrate progressives eager to use every tool at their disposal to advance their priorities in a Senate where one wayward Democrat can mean the difference between a policy breakthrough and utter failure.

Her breaks with her liberal colleagues are both a reflection of her state, which she won by a narrow margin in 2018, and her temperament. Butthe former state legislator, House member and now first-term senator has literally never served in the majority before — so she feels the minority’s pain.

It’s just one of the things that makes the 44-year-old Democrat one of the most quirky and interesting members of the stodgy Senate. . .

“She’s not someone who cares about convention and the way things were,” said Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), a friend and ally. “She recognizes the real tradition of a Republic, which is that we are elected not to put our finger in the air to determine the direction of the wind.”

Despite being one of the youngest, and let’s face it, hippest members of the chamber, Sinema holds views that can be as old-school as any of the Senate’s long-timers'. Not only does she want to keep the filibuster, she wants to rebuild it. And the end-around idea of overruling the parliamentarian to jam whatever Democrats want to in a budget reconciliation bill is not going to happen on Sinema’s watch either. . .

Sinema’s stance largely aligns with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), another senator who has narrowed Democrats’ ambitions since they won the Senate last month. Their styles diverge from there.

When Vice President Kamala Harris appeared in Manchin’s home state on TV pushing the coronavirus relief bill, Manchin retorted: “That’s not a way of working together.” Sinema was similarly unhappy, according to people that spoke with her afterward.

She decided to deal with it privately.She explained that people in her state “don't really want me to spend my time weighing in on controversies or palace intrigue. They don't care about that.” And attempts at trying to force Sinema’s hand will not go anywhere, she insists.

. . .As one of a handful of moderates in a caucus that may need lockstep unity to move Biden’s agenda, there’s plenty of political pressure on Sinema even if she chooses to ignore it. She and Manchin may have to be the deciding votes on Neera Tanden, Biden’s nominee to be White House budget chief and perhaps the toughest confirmation the new president will have to steer through the Senate in his first 100 days.

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BLOGGER NOTE: OK Bi-Sexual (no one knows if she's in a relationship of any kind or even dating) and >

“Bipartisanship is always my first choice,” she said. “I also want to make sure that we're getting stuff done for Arizonans. They need help … and I don't want to see a process that gets bogged down in petty partisanship, like you did last year for much of the year.”