Need a reminder to help me smack a co-worker with...

[tekriter]

I seem to remember a situation when the Repubs ran Congress where the Democrats on some committee or another were not allowed into a meeting or a hearing of some sort...one that the Repubs had no right to close to the Dems.

Am I remembering correctly or not?

Thanks in advance!

[Warpy]

1. The mainstream news stories have disappeared

into the archives, but a quick search turned up

http://www.yuricareport.com/Corruption/RogueRepublicanBillsUnconstitutional.htm

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B00E5DB133DF930A35756C0A9629C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,591322,00.html

Most of the recent articles infesting Google are of GOPs whining and moaning that they're afraid they're going to be excluded now that they're the minority party. It hasn't happened, of course, but like all bullies, they're terrified they're going to be treated the way they treated everybody else.

[Bozita]

2. I remember Sensenbrenner turning off the lights and microphones on the Dems.

It's not the exact thing you're looking for, but it's close.

on edit: This was taken from the Rolling Stone linked in reply #4:

The GOP's "take that, bitch" approach to governing has been taken to the greatest heights by the House Judiciary Committee. The committee is chaired by the legendary Republican monster James Sensenbrenner Jr., an ever-sweating, fat-fingered beast who wields his gavel in a way that makes you think he might have used one before in some other arena, perhaps to beat prostitutes to death. Last year, Sensenbrenner became apoplectic when Democrats who wanted to hold a hearing on the Patriot Act invoked a little-known rule that required him to let them have one.
"Naturally, he scheduled it for something like 9 a.m. on a Friday when Congress wasn't in session, hoping that no one would show," recalls a Democratic staffer who attended the hearing. "But we got a pretty good turnout anyway."

Sensenbrenner kept trying to gavel the hearing to a close, but Democrats again pointed to the rules, which said they had a certain amount of time to examine their witnesses. When they refused to stop the proceedings, the chairman did something unprecedented: He simply picked up his gavel and walked out.

"He was like a kid at the playground," the staffer says. And just in case anyone missed the point, Sensenbrenner shut off the lights and cut the microphones on his way out of the room.

[demmiblue]

3. I think there was an article in Rolling Stone about this. n/t

[demmiblue]

4. Here it is:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/12055360/cover_story_time_to_go_inside_the_worst_congress_ever


Edited to add a quote:

"Thomas is also notorious for excluding Democrats from the conference hearings needed to iron out the differences between House and Senate versions of a bill. According to the rules, conferences have to include at least one public, open meeting. But in the Bush years, Republicans have managed the conference issue with some of the most mind-blowingly juvenile behavior seen in any parliament west of the Russian Duma after happy hour. GOP chairmen routinely call a meeting, bring the press in for a photo op and then promptly shut the proceedings down. "Take a picture, wait five minutes, gavel it out -- all for show" is how one Democratic staffer described the process. Then, amazingly, the Republicans sneak off to hold the real conference, forcing the Democrats to turn amateur detective and go searching the Capitol grounds for the meeting. "More often than not, we're trying to figure out where the conference is," says one House aide."

"In one legendary incident, Rep. Charles Rangel went searching for a secret conference being held by Thomas. When he found the room where Republicans closeted themselves, he knocked and knocked on the door, but no one answered. A House aide compares the scene to the famous "Land Shark" skit from Saturday Night Live, with everyone hiding behind the door afraid to make a sound. "Rangel was the land shark, I guess," the aide jokes. But the real punch line came when Thomas finally opened the door. "This meeting," he informed Rangel, "is only open to the coalition of the willing.""

[zbdent]

5. are you talking about the time the Repukes objected to the Dems actually reading

the legislation, leaving one Dem on the floor, and the Repuke on the gavel brought down the gavel on the last syllable of "Any objection?", cutting off the Dem, then they arrested him?

(The Dem was on the floor so that they couldn't call for unanimous consent ...)