LEWISTON – In the Bates College courtyard, Matt Heffernan holds the book “14,000 Things to be Happy About” and a microphone.
His voice rings out, “Chocolate pound cake. Fireworks. Upper New York state. Marinated vegetables.”
Passers-by giggle. But for Heffernan and the other people slated to take turns at the microphone Tuesday, the half-hour stream-of-consciousness was much more than silly talk.
It was a political rally.
“I’m doing this ’cause I’m not happy about losing the filibuster. The filibuster is one of my 14,000 things to be happy about,” Heffernan said.
On Tuesday, Bates students and faculty waged their own mock filibuster to bring attention to the controversy in the U.S. Senate. For hours, people took turns speaking their minds or reading aloud, much like senators do when they want to obstruct the passage of a bill.
The only rule: Someone had to be speaking at all times.
“Hi, I’m Nick. I’m the one who set this up. Um, I’m not talking to anyone right now, but hey …,” said senior Nick Violi, jumping to relieve Heffernan, his roommate, even though the courtyard was empty.
Princeton protest
Students at Princeton University began the mock filibuster trend April 26 to protest changes proposed by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., a Princeton alumnus. Soon, college students in Massachusetts and Connecticut were holding filibusters. According to Princeton’s Web site, students in Ohio, Kansas, Pennsylvania and Tennessee joined this week.
At Bates, Violi began planning his filibuster Sunday after getting a call from a friend at Princeton. Violi, a 21-year-old math major, began recruiting friends, classmates and roommates for a talk-fest.
He hoped to keep the filibuster going for 24 hours.
“We’re going on as long as we can,” he said. “I just hope to get the word out and get people around here to know what’s going on.”
But when the filibuster began at 11 a.m., only a handful of people had signed up to speak. Two of them were Violi’s roommates. One was the college president.
Between turns at the microphone, Violi passed out fliers, urging students and faculty to save the filibuster.
And to take a turn talking.
Most students accepted the fliers. A few were drawn to the table covered with reading material.
Slowly, people signed up for their own 30-minute slots.
Meryl Glicksman, 21, a psychology major and Violi’s second roommate, read from the Bible. An astronomy professor dropped by to say he had a book of 10,000 random digits if Violi needed him to fill some time.
Brendan Jarvoe, 18, a member of the Maine College Democrats, grinned as soon as he saw the table with its colorful “Save the filibuster” poster. His organization wanted to do something similar, he said, but it hadn’t gotten it organized.
Jarvoe signed up.
“I think it’s great. It raises awareness in a creative way,” he said. “If someone learns something they didn’t know before, it’s worth it.”
By midafternoon, people had filled all of the slots through 1 a.m. One man agreed to take 5 a.m.
Speakers agreed to go without sleep, TV or dinner if it meant getting the filibuster through.
Heffernan skipped work.
“This is going to affect the rest of our lives,” Heffernan said after reading from “14,000 Things to be Happy About” for a while. “I can go to work tomorrow.”
BREAKOUT >>
At issue: The filibuster, a 200-year-old rule that allows U.S. senators to debate an issue – and sometimes talk nonsensically – for so long that a motion dies.
Currently: A supermajority, 60 of the Senate’s 100 members, must vote to stop a filibuster.
Proposal: Require only a simple majority of 51 votes to halt a filibuster when confirming a federal judicial nominee. Such a change would allow the majority party to push through a vote on any judge it wants. Republicans are now in the majority, with 55 members in the Senate.
Needed to change the rules: Fifty-one Senate votes. Maine Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins are critical swing votes. Snowe has said she doesn’t like the proposed rule change. Collins remains undecided.
A vote on the filibuster is expected this week or next week.
Source: Bates political science Professor John Baughman
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