It is not clear who is being protected from whom, though it is a fact that members say things when their microphones are off that they would not want the schoolchildren in the galleries to hear. Speaker John Thrasher wants to remove the glass on the theory that House members will shape up once the public can overhear everything. He is probably right. At the least, they may appear more attentive to debate. This seems to be the case in the Senate, which has never been glassed in.
Venue is no guarantee, of course.
The Senate had a memorable incident in 1981 when Sen. Dempsey Barron's feud with President W.D. Childers boiled over. Thrasher's suggestion brings to mind a ribald moment from the old Capitol's House chamber, some 28 years ago, when House members reluctantly agreed to take up a bill creating an official seal for the Senate, which had refused to consider any House bills until that was done. The Senate was slow to forgive him for that. Removing the glass from the galleries will do nothing, however, about an invisible barrier between the Legislature and its constituents that is of much greater concern than occasional boorish behavior on the debating floor. This produces legislators who largely see the state's needs as those of their own businesses and industries and of those represented by lobbyists.