newsminer.com

A few minutes before the House went into its floor session this morning, the governor came downstairs and held a rare (unprecedented?) open caucus with House members. The subject was those vetoed projects in the supplemental budget, which the House is scheduled to vote on today.

Well over half of the House -- Republicans and Democrats -- crowded into House Speaker John Harris' chamber. Every seat was taken, and Rep. Coghill was squatting between chairs. Legislative staffers were there, the gov's budget chief was there, and an army of press was there, complete with Gavel to Gavel and two TV stations.

Palin sat at a desk between Harris and her chief of staff, Mike Tibbles, and presented the administration's offer (with Tibbles' help). Palin asked House members to pull back the bill and sit down with the Senate and administration to work out an overall spending plan for the current fiscal year and the next one. In exchange, the administration would let lawmakers add individual projects requested in their districts to the capital budget, and would not scrutinize them quite as closely as it did last year (and, presumably, not veto them).

"We respect your power of appropriation," Palin said. "I really feel that this is a way forward that can be a win-win for everyone."

Tibbles suggested the so-called discretionary spending could be about $1 million for each of the 40 House districts.

When the governor thanked Harris for the opportunity to make her offer, Harris made a crack about doing it in an "open and transparent environment," and everyone laughed. The room was packed, and there was a crowd in the hallway outside the open door to the chamber.

The meeting lasted about 15 minutes. Then lawmakers walked down the hall onto the House floor, chatted for a while, and gaveled in. It's unclear whether they'll take the governor up on her offer.