Working in the Capitol

Picture with Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer

On February 9th, I was able to go to Helena to work in the capitol building as a page.  It was an incredible experience.  My sponsor, Dee Brown, is a representative in the Hungry Horse area.  I was able to go with two of my friends, Stephanie Henson and Ruth Baer.  We had a really good time.  Here are some pictures of my week:

The paintings on the ceiling of the Senate Room

                       The House of Representatives

Rebecca(the page coordinator)  She was really fun to work with.

                   One of the Supreme Court justices

                                    The court room

The justices read one of those stacks of books every week.

                             Ethan giving a  "speech."

Usually the pages are not allowed to go back where the 

Speaker of the House stands, but one of the security guards 

let us get our pictures up there.  (Isn't that painting incredible?)

         Me sitting in the "hot seat."  :D

       The screens that would page us from the "hot seat."

                 Ed Tinsley, one of the security guards.

                                         Lou and Ed

                        The Old Supreme Court Room

                              On the House Floor

My sponsor's desk.  We were there around Valentine's 

Day so we passes out a lot of flowers to the representatives

Looking down the stair case.  There were 72 stairs that 

we had to go up and down at least once an hour.

                                Brian

Monday:  We arrived at the capitol building at 8:00 a.m.  We were given a tour of the building and learned the history behind some of the amazing paintings that are all over the capitol.  We also learned how to sort the phone messages and we worked our first session.  The sessions are so much fun!  We, the pages, would sit in front of all the representatives during the session and when one of them would need something such as drinks, copies of bills, mail, etc., we would run and get it for them.  

Tuesday:  On Tuesday I got really sick.  I pretty much just stayed home and slept all day.  The other pages met with the Secretary of State.

Wednesday:  Back to work I went!  Although I wasn't totally back to normal, I was pretty close.  Anyway, I wasn't going to miss out on Wednesday!  :D  We met the Governor on Wednesday and had our picture taken with him.  I also got to sit in on a committee about the right to life.  It was very interesting, and some of my friends from Kalispell were there to testify.

Thursday:  Thursday was probably the most uneventful day of the whole week.  Although we did sort through thousands of phone messages.  During the usual Legislative Session, which is 90 days,  altogether the representatives receive between 50 and 60 thousand phone messages.  During the time that I was there, we sorted about 25 thousand phone messages!  We were kept very busy!

Friday:  On Friday we got to meet one of the Supreme Court justices.  He gave us a tour of the hearing room and conference room.  Also, Friday was the busiest day during the two hour session.  We were constantly running errands.  One time, I had to buy the Speaker of the House a Coke and Hot Tamales candy!  It was really fun!

Working as a page was an amazing experience for me.  I learned so much while I was down there.  It is so interesting how the whole process of making laws works.  I may consider getting more involved in the Legislature in the future, but even if I don't, I now have a good understanding of how the process works because I was able to work as a page.