The second year of the Senate brought the first real legislative fight.
The access to legal representation bill that I had been building since my first day in the chamber had cleared committee in June with a vote that was tighter than I had wanted. Eight to seven. One vote of margin.
The floor fight would be harder.
Senator Raymond Cole from Alabama had been the loudest voice against it in committee. He was not a stupid man and his argument was not simple. He contended that the bill as written created federal obligations that exceeded appropriate authority over state bar associations and that the program funding formula was designed to benefit large urban centers at the expense of rural communities.
He was partially right. The rural implementation gap was real. I knew it was real. I ha
