(Via The Indiana Law Blog ) The General Assembly has appointed John Rowings to be the new acting director of the Legislative Services Agency. Congratulations to John. He’ll do an outstanding job. He will be replacing Phil “Satch” Sactleben (who, if memory serves, was “acting” director for quite some time before they went ahead and made his appointment permanent.)
The Legislative Services Agency, which serves the General Assembly, has three primary divisions — the Office of Bill Drafting and Research (OBDAR), the Office of Code Revision (OCR), and the Office of Fiscal and Management Analysis (OFMA). John was my boss for a few months after he became the director at OBDAR and before I became a deputy director at OCR. He was great to work for and, particularly judging from the time of night some of his e-mails were time stamped, worked hard himself. I think he has a nice balance of intelligence and communication skills. It seems to me in that position, there is the danger of having a schmoozer who can speak the language of the glad-handing legislator but who doesn’t have the time or inclination to pay attention to details. That sort of person is going to lose the respect of the staff. On the other hand, there is the danger of having a policy wonk who knows the ins and outs of every piece of legislation and every parliamentary procedure but who can’t communicate effectively with the legislators. I think John will thread that needle particularly well.
Now, I’ll be interested to see who will be taking John’s place as the director of OBDAR. I knew a few drafters in that office who are supremely capable and would do a fine job, but I wonder if they’ll want the extra hassle that goes along with the job.
When I worked there, I got along with the legislators just fine. But I only had to deal with a hand full of them at a time. Seems like a tall order to try to satisfy 150 customers, most of whom are accustomed to getting fairly deferential treatment back home, who have competing and often adverse interests.
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