More Decorum, Rules Needed In WI Legislature

Wisconsin legislators are adding more rules to button things down over at the Capitol.

Assembly members are going to have to wear dressier clothes (maybe a suit coat one size too large to cover up that concealed carry holster bulge) and citizens in the galleries who wear hats or carry even the smallest signs or who are overcome with an attack of First Amendmentitis and shout out "mountebank"or "slugabed" at offending or offensive lawmakers can be barred from the building.

The Senate is following suit, so to speak

A few more suggestions.

If you want to have a dress code with teeth in it, go after the guys still wearing white belts and shoes. You know who you are.

Sources are also sending me names of legislators who are arriving on the floor allegedly three sheets to the wind. I have not published these names, but if decorum is the goal - - and if credible OWI reform is on the agenda - - some members have issues to address that call for more than a cleaner shirt and a handful of breath mints.

Clearer heads might also spot the damage their rules for decorum in the galleries are doing to the First Amendment and the reputation of the Legislature.

And you know who you are, too.

Finally: Legislators should stop playing with their cell phones and other electronics during debates, and especially public hearings. A smart phone is not a fashion accessory.

And if signs are grounds for banishment from the Capitol, understand that a cell phone toyed with during debate and in front of citizens is a sure sign of banishment-worthy behavior.