Journalist: Destiny Lugo (ORU)
Interview with Lilly Plane from the University of Tulsa, member of the Senate and floor leader.
DESTINY LUGO: We are here today with Lilly Plane from the University of Tulsa and I’m Destiny Lugo representing Oral Roberts University. Today I have the great joy and privilege of asking her a series of questions about the Senate, starting off with asking her what her experience has been in the Senate and why she loves O.I.L.
LILLY PLANE: Well, in the Senate we love to think of ourselves as the mind of the people, of course, and we consider ourselves to be the more intellectual body. We take great pride in that. We pride ourselves on careful deliberation of bills and making sure that the decisions that we make about legislation are about the execution and the content of the bills. The House has their heart in the right place though. As the floor leader at this go-around, I think I want to make sure that bills are really getting their due diligence. We’ve had some issues in the last couple of sessions about some members of the Senate choosing to abstain from votes a lot.
In a very small legislative body, when compared to the House, every vote is very important. And so we’ve really tried to encourage people to give every piece of legislation due diligence and give respect to authors who work really hard. And ultimately we’re here to, as an intellectual exercise, to have conversations- to think critically about things and so it’s very important that I encourage the senators to make decisions and not shy away from having conclusions about legislation, especially when they’re complicated. You know, all that being said, I’m very excited for this session. I think it’s going to be really great. We’ve got a great leadership team in the Senate, and we’re going to be as efficient as we always are. We’ll hopefully have some fun. Hopefully, we’ll see if we can. It’s hard for us sometimes. We take ourselves a little bit seriously.
I think maybe some members of the body shy away from having definitive opinions about things, especially when they are more complex. And I would encourage them to not do that. you know, that’s ultimately what they’re here to do- is make a change. Yeah, to make decisions, to think critically about things. A lot of the time that means disagreeing with other people. And so I can imagine that maybe some people might have more of a challenge taking a stance on something, especially when it’s a contentious issue. I hope that won’t be an issue this session. We’ll see. Even between one session to the next, like everybody is just so different. Every Senate body…there’s like a definitive energy in the chamber and it really just fluctuates every single session.
So we’ll just see how this group shapes up, but I think we’ve got a lot of zero stars with lots of potential and lots of people returning who are wonderful and great additions to our body. So I think it’s going to be a good session.
DESTINY LUGO: Do you think that neutrality could ever be a means of making progress in the Senate?
LILLY PLANE: No. I definitively do not.
DESTINY LUGO: Do you think that they grasp that?
LILLY PLANE: I hope so. And if not, I hope that I can impress that upon them. It’s not my job to tell them how to cast their votes, and I certainly wouldn’t. But I would encourage everyone to vote. You know- use your vote wisely. Especially, like I said, the Senate is a smaller legislative body, getting three votes per delegation and so it’s important to know like you know your alternates from your school like they might have opinions, they might like to cast a vote in a way that is meaningful and I just think using abstentions superfluously is just a waste really.
DESTINY LUGO: Thank you so much again, Lillian, for this interview. And I think that you have definitely shared some really interesting insights about the Senate. It is smaller, and I think that people definitely have a lot of frustration over the people that they voted into office who don’t even vote. I think that that just sheds light on frustration that needs to be addressed. And for whatever reason, some people just cannot vote to save their life every now and then.
LILLY PLANE: Hopefully that’s not a problem that we have this time. We’re hoping, but… I’m optimistic.
DESTINY LUGO: Well, thank you again, Lillian.
Some Questions to Ponder:
- Are Senators truly honoring the privilege of their governmental positions to represent the people, when they choose neutrality?
- When it comes to voting on bills, does the concept of neutrality exist? Or is so called neutrality just a representative opting for the “easy” way out instead of investigating a bill further?
- Should Congressmen be required to vote, instead of being allowed to remain neutral?
- Do you think that there are times when neutrality is actually beneficial to the process of passing bills?