A daylong conversation with Rep. Tom Flanigan

It's 8:15 a.m. and Rep. Tom Flanigan (R-Carthage) is already deep into the first of several packets concerning tax credits.

Far too early in the day for such business, in my mind. But Flanigan pores through the thick binder, jotting down notes with a pencil, pausing for a sip of coffee.

It's been nearly six months since Flanigan was elected, more than three months since he was sworn in. In two weeks, his first session as a legislator ends.

***

Flanigan eats a small breakfast at his seat in the committee room in the basement of the Capitol. For two hours he takes notes, refills his Styrofoam cup and follows testimony line by line in his tax credit packets. It's 10 a.m. now, but there's no rest for the first-year legislator from Carthage. The House Budget Committee hearing isn't close to being finished, but the representatives are being summoned to the House chamber to begin work on the day's business.

Flanigan looks more comfortable and at home now in Jefferson City than during the early days of January. It's not that he was ever out of place, but it takes a certain number of days and weeks before one can even navigate the building without taking a few wrong turns.

"It's been a big learning curve," Flanigan says. "I've told you that before. There are a lot of things that go on. This is an institution, and with an institution there are a lot of traditions and ways things are done. It takes a bit of time just to figure it out.

"I guess the biggest surprise I've had is the amount of reading and time necessary. You've been with me today, I started off at seven in the morning because we've got to read all the stuff and be prepared for it. We're going to go tonight until probably midnight; tomorrow we crank 'er up again at 7 a.m. and sometime in there you've got to prepare for the next day. When I get out of here, when we close down at midnight, I go to my office and sit down and start reading what we're going to do tomorrow, the proposed amendments and the proposed bills. It's a lot of time, and I don't think people realize how much time is involved."

From a quick glance around his office, it is apparent the place has all the things you'd expect to see in a college dorm room. There is a microwave, mini-fridge and a small television set. Look closer, however, and you can tell what kind of a legislator Flanigan is. Numerous photos of the Jasper County Courthouse in Carthage, a black and white photo of a "Carl Junction Welcomes You" sign, framed photo of Abe Lincoln above the desk.

A thick binder with "Lobbyist Directory" on the spine sits conspicuously on a small desk near the door, but the binder sits halfway off the desk, teetering close to a trash can just below.

Elsewhere in the office, a Boy Scouts mug holding a Mizzou flag sits on a bookshelf. Numerous FY 2010 budget books are scattered around, there's an Ultra Thin Reference Bible on one shelf and a yellowed Carthage Press on the bottom.

***

As the session draws to a close, Flanigan's proudest accomplishment is nothing he did single-handedly, but rather the FY 2010 budget passed by the House. As a member of the House Budget Committee, Flanigan has spent countless days in committee hearings readying the 13 budget bills, and nine additional budget bills concerning stimulus and stabilization funds.

"What I like about this is you have an absolute cross section of people here," Flanigan says. "You have people all across the state who will come together to govern this state and do the one thing we're constitutionally required to do, a budget. You've been with me on budget and you know that's a complicated process. We've got many, many hours on the budget this year and we're not through with it yet. We've got two weeks to go, we haven't finished it yet and it may come down to the absolute last day before we finish up with our budget bills.

"Constitutionally the budget bills are due next Friday at 6 p.m., they have to be on the governor's desk," he adds. "It's going to be a long week. This week will be long, next week will be long."

Flanigan is one of two freshman legislators on the budget committee, and he expects more progress next session after learning the game and becoming comfortable with the process.

"There's no book that says day one you do this and day to you do this, it's all learn as you go," he says. "Is that good or bad? You're going to make mistakes, you're going to stumble, you're going to make a lot of friends that help you through the process, but it's just so much to wade through all of a sudden and it takes a lot of hours and a lot of time to get to where you're comfortable with it.

"The first session you kind of sit back, listen a lot and ask a lot of questions, learn your way around the floor and learn your way around committees, how they work, how they function, then you come back the next session and you're a lot more comfortable."

***

It's after noon now and the House session has recessed for a few hours, so it's back down to Hearing Room 3 for Flanigan, as more tax credits need to be studied. Lunch is served, and he takes his usual seat in the second row, right side, and cuts into a pork chop while the Department of Economic Development guides the lawmakers through nearly 150 pages of tax credit reports.

While the Budget Committee might be new for Flanigan, public service is not. He served on the Carthage City Council twice, once from '83 to '88, then again from '04 until he was elected last November. He's been mayor pro tem of Carthage, served on the McCune Brooks Hospital Board of Trustees, served as president of McCune Brooks Hospital Health Care Foundation, Boy Scouts, Ozark Trails Boy Scout Council, Rotary Club, Carthage Chamber of Commerce, Carl Junction Chamber of Commerce, the list goes on.

"You know I'm 55," he says, "I've been in several groups."