Legislative Wrap-Up
Avoid Partisan Language
While we do want the Wrap Up to have a narrative and be a more enjoyable reading than one of our summaries, you will need to place a lot of emphasis on the voice that you have in your piece. Lets take the following example:
Illinois’ 97th legislature was an outlier in the 2012 legislative session, due to having a busy schedule debating controversial social issues like gun laws, immigration, environment, education and gambling all within the same session. Scandal even hit the Illinois legislature when Rep. Derrick Smith (D-Chicago) was dismissed due to criminal allegations of bribery, decreasing Democratic representation to 71 in the House.
We would not want to use any word as strong as "scandal" to describe the actions of someone (even if it fits the occasion). Lets take one more example:
The legislature tackled the controversial issue of abortion by passing the following 5 bills
Here, the phrase "tackled the controversial issue" sounds as though PVS has a stance on the issues addressed in that legislature by deeming one as controversial. Instead, to express the same notion, we will let quotes from lawmakers, a strong issue position, and a close vote demonstrate how "controversial" something is, without having to say the word.
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