(12-21-2018, 10:02 AM)mikesez Wrote:

(12-21-2018, 07:54 AM)The Real Marty Wrote: Committee assignments should be set by the person's abilities, experience, and interests.   For example, when it comes to the Ways and Means Committee, if one candidate is a bartender/waitress, and the other candidate is an accountant, I'd pick the accountant every time.  Judiciary Committee should have a large proportion of lawyers.   Commerce Committee should have a large proportion of business people.  

In fact, I don't know of any committee that a bartender/waitress would qualify for, unless there's some obscure subcommittee that deals with bartenders and waitresses.  

As far as seniority goes, the assumption is that experience is a strength.  That's probably a valid assumption.

Also, she doesn't just get put on a committee.   She has to take someone else's spot.   It's not like "if enough democrats want her on a committee..."   There's another person to deal with- the one who doesn't get a seat on the committee because they decided to put her on the committee.  

Look, if Bill Gates was a first term congressman, and there was a Technology Committee, then I'd say his qualifications overrode his lack of seniority.   But she has no particular qualifications for the Ways and Means Committee.

The number of seats on a committee is not fixed.
The only rule is that the majority party gets one or two more seats than the minority party.
Basing the assignments on life experience is certainly how things would run in a private business or government bureaucracy, sure, but it fails to recognize that the voters in Long island who selected AOC have just as much value and dignity as any other voter. They think that a twenty-nine-year-old former bartender has more to contribute than the more aged and experienced candidates that they rejected. Congress's method of committee assignments should respect this. Each member should get a chance to state their first second and third choice, and a random but fair process should sort out who gets what based on those preferences.

The voters in Long Island certainly do have as much value and dignity as any other voter.   I certainly wouldn't argue that one.   Problem is, there are about 234 other districts that elected democrats, and they also have as much value and dignity as the voters in Long Island.   So it's a wash on that basis.  Everybody's got value and dignity.   So the question remains- are there more deserving people, who have more experience and better qualifications?   YES.  So, unless they decide the Ways and Means Committee is going to have, say, 201 members (101 Dems and 100 Reps), she doesn't deserve that spot.

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