Mary Nolan interview

I'm Dana Haynes, the Public Affairs Manager for Portland Community College and this is one of a series of public affairs broadcasts that we're going to be airing on Cable Channel 27 and also on the college's Web site. Joining us today is Rep. Mary Nolan. She serves in the House of Representatives, she's a Democrat who serves portions of Southwest Portland. She was first elected in 2001, and we re-elected in '03, '05 and '07.

Mary NolanQuestion 1
The 2007 session was a step up in responsibility for you, because you were named one of the co-chairs for Ways and Means; that's the budget-writing committee that includes the House and the Senate, Republicans and Democrats. Can you tell us a little bit about the budget-writing process and how that works?
Mary NolanQuestions 2 and 3
It's worth reminding ourselves that one party had both the House and the Senate. Was that the reason why the system seemed to go so much more smoothly this last spring?
The Ways and Means Committee itself was broken up, and I think I can say, without fear of contradiction, that that led to one of the longest sessions in Oregon history. Do you agree?
Mary NolanQuestion 4
2005 was not only one of the longest sessions but it ended with a 26- or 27-hour session that went until 8 a.m.the next day. As opposed to '07, which ended on a Thursday with a broad-daylight drop of the gavel and everyone was out, like, a day earlier than some of the predictions had been.
Mary NolanQuestion 5
There was more money for Head start, there was more money for K-12, the community colleges, the Oregon University System, there were construction projects, capital projects, on many campuses. Tell us a little bit about how that was possible this year; how come that came about.
Mary NolanQuestion 6
Another thing that I forgot to mention was the Oregon Opportunity Grant, which has been renamed the Shared Responsibility Model; you virtually doubled the amount of money. It's now more money for more students, and more middle-income students, too. Can you talk about that for a second.
Mary NolanQuestion 7
This was the first year that you were able to create a rainy-day fund, too. It's a pot of money to help Oregon through recessions. How did that come about?
Mary NolanQuestion 8
On the topic of change, since statehood, the Oregon Legislature every other year on the odd-numbered years but in February '08 you're going to test-drive an annual session. How do you see that special session working?
Mary NolanQuestion 9
We're looking at significant turnover in the House and the Senate between now and the 2009 regular session. Some of those folks are retiring, some are running for statewide office, some of the representatives want to run for the Senate. What do you think the impact of that much turnover is going to be? Can you predict that?
Mary NolanQuestion 10
You're running for re-election and I have a very serious question for you, which is, "Why?" It doesn't pay well. It requires a ridiculous amount of knowledge to retain. It requires you ignoring your business for a period of time. Why does anybody run for the Legislature?