The Terri Hodge Saga

If you remember, in my last post I mentioned that State Represenative Terri Hodge lit up a cigarette on the House floor.

It began in January with the determination of the House rules. During previous sessions, members have been able to smoke in the member’s lounge which is just off the House floor. However, during this legislative, the rules voted on by the members no longer allowed smoking in the lounge. Well, this infuriated Rep. Hodge who felt that she was being discriminated against as a smoker. (Capitol Annex has some on it).

The House was supposed to designate a place for members to smoke, but haven’t. For a while some members were apparently hanging out the windows of the member’s lounge and smoking.

But in the end, Terri Hodge found a loop hole. During the last week of last month, she asked the Speaker a parliamentary inquiry regarding the rules. She asked if smoking was not allowed on the House floor. They hemmed and hawed for a few minutes, but they had to tell her that there was nothing in the rules prohibiting a member from smoking on the House floor.

Promptly, Terri Hodge went to her desk and lit up.

I’m betting that next session they’ll let her smoke in the lounge.