| One must remember the goal is to get points... and the big points are the ones where the Governor signs his John Hancock. So I focused on the 277 bills the Governor signed in 2005 and searched for DFL Legs (my short for legislators) who had names often on those bills. Some were obvious, and were people who I had been thinking about like Higgins and Pappas, but there were a couple I had never heard of before that turned up often are near the top of my list.
When Bob Collins added the rule that we needed to draft 2 Republicans, I paused. I wondered how many DFL House members have bills that got signed by the Governor? So I actually did a quick count, and surprisingly found that about 15-20% of house bills were chief authored by Dems! And a couple Dems had more that two bills!
This tells me a couple things. First is that there is a fighting chance for Republicans on your bench to score some significant points, so don't take those picks lightly. Second, look for those DFL House members with the multiple bills... they must be hunkering to pass even more now that they control the House!
I was also trying to find if there was a connection for Committee chairs and if they ended up as authors on bills that went through their committee. This was surprisingly rare, and does not justify drafting a Leg just because they chair a committee.
Then I looked at who just plain authored a lot of bills. I was thinking perhaps these legs might just offer a boat load of bills to the floor in the first week (which is a point each). If I had one on my team I could get those early points and then reassess and get another leg who may have bills that actually will pass committees. This doesn't appear to be the way this works. There are legs who offer a ton of bills, but they are spread over the whole session, won't get points unless they pass committees. A couple of these legs made my list.
I did find one leg, a Republican in the House, who I think may be a real find. I was tempted to draft him in the first round, but moved him/her down as I don't want to miss on the big early names. It's the equivalent of drafting a kicker in Fantasy Football. A couple kickers can get you big, consistent points, but if you draft them too early, you'll miss on a better quarterback, or a top tier running back. It is one of the interesting parts of drafting for Fantasy Football.
However, I believe the bulk of points will be going to DFL legs, and strongly suggest you keep the Republicans on the bottom of your list. The other tip is to keep rookies off your team. They are learning the game right now, and have no place on your lineup until they show they can move some legislation.
So that is the 2006 Polinaut Fantasy Legislator League strategy for the Minnetonka Redress. I feel good about what I've done, and will be interested in hearing what others will do with their draft. |
