Murphy: Suggestion on rules of decorum 'dumb'

DES MOINES - House Speaker Pat Murphy, D-Dubuque, called suggestions that the rules of decorum he enforced during a raucous public hearing Tuesday should apply to ceremonial events such as the governor's Condition of the State speech "dumb."

"I just think it's ridiculous to make those remarks because whoever is the leader of the state gets a good reception when he comes in," Murphy said after a House member asked him to enforce the rules of decorum consistently.

Comparing ceremonial events to the public hearing "isn't even close," Murphy said in response to comments by Rep. Betty De Boef, R-What Cheer, Thursday evening.

De Boef, in her fifth term, said in a point of personal privilege, she thought Murphy had taken the right action when he had state troopers clear the House chamber after the audience clapped, cheered, hissed and booed speakers during the hearing on legislation to end federal deductibility.

However, De Boef said there have been numerous occasions - the annual speeches on the Condition of the State, Condition of the Guard and Condition of the Court - when there has been "hooting and hollering and whistling and cat-calling and cheering" when the governor entered the chamber.

 "I applaud the position the speaker took the other evening and I would challenge him to instruct his members that they should also follow the rules here in this chamber when the governor enters," De Boef said.

 There is a difference between those events and a public hearing, Murphy said. Governors of both parties have received noisy and enthusiastic welcomes whenever they visit the chamber.