House Minority Caucus Before Floor Session

I'd heard about the House Minority caucuses held before most (all?) floor sessions.  It's a time when the Minority representatives discuss the measures coming up in the floor session.  What's most interesting about these meetings is that they are open to the public.  (There are a some rare strategy sessions, I'm told, that are closed.)

There was a floor session scheduled at 4:30 or 5 pm yesterday, so representatives headed over from the crawfish party to the caucus.  So I hitched a ride and went, in my last Sunday in Juneau, to my first caucus.  In the picture above Minority Chair Rep. Kerttula just finished taking a call from her mom and dad while waiting for a few more members to get to the meeting. 

This was Sunday and members were coming over from the crawfish boil and dressed fairly casually.   But the rules require that male representatives where a coat and tie on the floor. 

Here's Rep. Gara arriving at the caucus and tying up in preparation for the session. 

There was one reporter there for a while - there are lots of things going on in the Capitol and maybe 20 or so credentialed media, so they can't cover everything.

It turned out that the Floor Session was postponed for an hour or more while Finance was still working,  and so the meeting adjourned with an hour or more to spare.  Here  are Reps. Doogan and Gardner.