It’s amazing just how partisan things can become in the state capitol. You have to really focus on not allowing yourself to fall into the trap of team-based, hyper-partisan thinking during the legislative session. All of us, myself included, have probably been guilty of it at some point in the past.

Politics, in some ways, is a team sport I suppose. That said, as time outside of Jeff City accumulates, the less apt you are to consider the partisan political angles to decisions. This is usually a good thing.

The big reasons for this are obvious. Republicans are in power in the House and Senate, so they control the chamber itself as well as every chairmanship. This profoundly shapes the legislation that makes its way out of the House. That is evident to any observer.

But there are also little things about the capitol that make it the way it is.  Stuff I never would have thought about until I took office. Let me give you some examples.

The House and Senate chambers are on the third floor of the capitol and the elevator moves pretty slow. Most legislators use the stairs. The party in power gets first dibs on offices, of course. For Representatives, this means that pretty much all the Republicans have offices on the third or fourth floor. Usually pretty nice offices with spacious outer areas for staff and guests.

If your office is on the third floor, you can easily spend time during floor debate in your office working on legislation, returning emails, meeting with constituents, etc. With the audio feed from the floor debate streaming live through your computer on the house website, you can listen for the bill you’ve been involved with and then walk across the hall to give a speech.

When there’s a vote (and there are certain parts of session where there seems to be a vote every ten minutes), the bell rings and you have more than enough time to walk right across the hall, push your button, and return to your office.

However, if you’re a Democratic member, your office is on the first or second floor. If you’re lucky, it’s big enough for a two-seater couch, a couple chairs, and your desk. My office is pretty decent for a freshman in the minority – I have room for one very ugly half-couch (come and see for yourself) a couple chairs, and my desk. The staff space is a common area shared by the staff of about five other legislators (there’s a little cubby hole in the wall just big enough for one intern provided they’re not too tall – the picture on the right is a simulation).

One drawback is that I’m on the top floor of a makeshift mezzanine that was put in to make sure more members of the minority party could be stuffed onto the first floor. A good friend of mine, Rep. Jake Zimmerman (D – Olivette), has the office just below mine. The floor is so thin that if I want to ask Jake a question I just ask it at a volume slightly above normal conversation level. Every time someone takes a step in my office, Jake’s ceiling sounds like it’s about to fall on his head. When people ask for directions to my office, I like to tell them that “I office on Jake Zimmerman’s top bunk.”

I’ve tried working out of my office a couple of times during floor debate, but it never really works. When the bell rings for a vote, a few Democratic representatives take off out of their offices and up the stairs at a dead sprint. It’s pretty hilarious. You then go careening down the aisle of the House chamber – sweat forming on your brow – trying to politely navigate the crowd to press the little button on your desk.

I learned my lesson pretty quick and just started working from a laptop on the side gallery of the House.

I’m not trying to complain about the office arrangement or say that the majority party is somehow unfair. I’m sure this is how the Democrats probably did it when we controlled the House and I’d be willing to bet the mezzanines were originally created to fit more minority party Republicans onto the first floor.

In fact, I make it a habit of not complaining about the location of my office because I realize that, ultimately, my office is located in the capitol and that’s something to be proud of. I’d prefer my party were in the majority of course, but that’s about exercising a greater degree of control over policymaking.

I only tell you this story to relay to you one of the little details that the public doesn’t see that contributes to the partisan nature of things in Jeff City.

Here’s something else. Americans always use the expression “the other side of the aisle” when referring to the opposing party. Maybe I’m really dense, but before I took office, I never stopped to think about whether or not that was literal. I should have known – I’ve seen the state of the union speech every year and watched one side stand and one side sit depending upon what was said. So I of course knew that it was literal, but I had never thought about it.

But it really sinks in when you see it for yourself I guess. There is literally an aisle down the middle of the House chamber. Democrats sit on the left and Republicans sit on the right. Each side has a set of double doors to the hallway and, in the back, there’s a member’s only lounge with coffee and comfortable couches. Even the lounge in the back tends to have an imaginary partisan line down the middle.

I’ve caught myself many times walking all the way around the chamber to enter from the double doors on the left without even thinking about it. This makes no sense given that the doors on the right make for a shorter route from the stairs to my desk on the floor.

I’ve decided to start ignoring these boundaries as much as possible this coming session and see how it affects my ability to think in a bipartisan way. I’m going to enter the chamber from the right side as much as possible and I’m going to sit on the right side of the chamber a lot more often, as well.

A couple of my colleagues are trying this little social experiment, as well. I’ll let you know how it turns out.