Process Matters: An Op-Ed On Mining, Redistricting...And Baseball

The Sunday Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Crossroads section carried commentary from me inspired by the mining bill, secretive redistricting and Ryan Braun's collision with Major League Baseball's drug-testing program.

In a nutshell, process matters:

Open and evenhanded process matters because without it, fair and credible dispute resolution between people and groups with power differentials is blocked, even corrupted, and a basic tenet of living in a democracy is sacrificed...

As it turned out Tuesday when the Senate rejected the mining bill, one of the pivotal issues was whether mining application reviews in Wisconsin would continue to include a contested case hearing before the permit was issued.

The bill failed in large measure because holding the hearing after the permit was issued - which was part of the final compromise package - was too drastic a departure from the process.

Process, process, process is writ large throughout these two major political and legal issues - redistricting and mining - roiling the political world in Madison and Milwaukee right now.

It's fascinating that baseball, as often happens in the culture, provides a salient truth and path to enlightenment. But right now, important players in the political game won't play ball.