LINCOLN- Departing Clerk of the Legislature Patrick O'Donnell, who has acted in that position for 45 years, says the Capitol has changed a lot since he joined almost 5 decades ago. "It's a different environment," said O'Donnell.

O'Donnell believes that immense polarization has changed the Legislature substantially. "The nature of the members has changed. Some of that may be due to term limits, some because of money and politics. There are people who are more engaged in political theater now than the hard work of being a good senator," stated the retiring clerk.

However, O'Donnell made clear that it isn't all bad. "We still have dedicated people," he said, "just fewer of those people. That's what made it fun."

It's speculated that O'Donnell's departure decision may have been exacerbated in 2017 when the nonpartisan Legislature's choice of committee leadership took on a very partisan tone, with Republicans ousting Democrat committee chairs and taking leadership of all but one committee. "The first place some of them want to go is partisanship now, and that started in 2017," stated O'Donnell.

And now, unfortunately, these partisan attitudes are back according to O'Donnell. The retiring clerk believes that the effort to eliminate secret ballot selections for legislative leaders would "destroy the culture and nature of this place."

With a large influx of new senators joining the Legislature in 2023, O'Donnell stated that although he'll be gone, "I'm going to pay attention."

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