2010 National Convention: Thursday

Today we tied up a few loose ends with committees who had previously reported but then had to deal with a few new resolutions submitted at Convention, as well as hearing reports from half a dozen other, smaller committees (Support Services, Formal Resolutions, Safety & Health, etc.).

The Legislative Committee report produced some heated discussion. There appeared to be three "hot button" issues at this Convention that brought out strong emotions: Retirees, Veterans, and Money.

At the first part of the week, when a delegate moves to accept a committee's recommendations "en toto," (meaning *all* of the committee's recommendations would be adopted), he or she is quickly shouted down. "We're here to do the work of the Convention and deal with these resolutions!" By Thursday, however, pretty much everyone is wore down and more than a little fatigued, and the Maintenance Craft wound up having all of the committee's recommendations adopted "en toto," with little debate. (To be fair, many had met at the pre-Convention Craft Conference and gone over the resolutions already.)

This afternoon, however, was pretty much all for Bill Burrus. His 53 years of service were commended, he received a strong and long standing ovation from the assembly, and the Convention Hall was filled with celebratory balloons in the black-and-gold colored theme of this year's gathering.

For my part, I thought Brother Burrus did a mostly efficient job of running the Convention, and he kept his temper - for the most part - at an even keel and I observed him bite back cutting replies to floor delegates several times. However, he also treated the delegates rather shabbily at times, especially when they threatened to engage in discussions that he had no interest in pursuing. The best way I can describe it is that he was "professionally cavalier" in his chairing of the proceedings. At one point he said, "I'm not running for anything, I don't care what you want." He definitely sounded like a man who was ready for retirement. I wish him the best.

One last story from today. At one point Burrus had a slip of the tongue, and when calling on a delegate at a floor microphone, he said, "Resolution #2" when he, of course, meant to say, "Microphone #2." He caught his slip and corrected himself quickly and with humor. Later, however, when National Vice-President and presumptive leading presidential candidate Cliff Guffey was chairing the Convention, he had the same slip of the tongue. After he was corrected, he remarked offhandedly, "I did the same thing Burrus did."

And that, I think, may sum up his political future in a nutshell.