Question about Sonny Bono legislative colloquy

July 13, 2017 8:49 PM

So I vaguely remember an exchange on the floor of Congress I liked a lot:

There was discussion and debate over some technical issue.

Congressman Sonny Bono interjected, saying something like: "Look, I don't want to get into all this lawyer legal stuff."

Another Congressman responded: "We have to get into all this legal stuff. We are writing the law."

Does anyone else remember this? Is there a source where this dialogue was transcribed?

posted by Mr. Justice to Law & Government (3 answers total)

Well, I can't find a transcription, but I did find it, and the key word to Google is, "sausages." It was a 1995 House Judiciary Committee meeting of some kind, and it seems like the bit went into just about every one of his obituaries. I hadn't heard it before, though, so thanks!
posted by rhizome at 9:56 PM on July 13, 2017

Yep, rhizome--perhaps this, from the Chicago Tribune?

"Boy, it's really flying in here today," Sonny would say. "Why don't you guys use plain English?"

"We're making laws, not sausage," harrumphed Rep. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.).
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:57 AM on July 14, 2017

Or this, from the NYT:

Mr. Bono also spoke out at a meeting last month of the House Judiciary Committee. One of two nonlawyers on the committee, he grew frustrated by arguments over the details of a crime bill provision on searches by the police.

"When are we going to stop the games?" he asked, complaining that various members were showing too much of their legal knowledge.

Representative Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of Brooklyn, replied at the meeting: "We have to talk about the law. That's what we do here. We're making laws here, not sausages."

[Article dated Feb. 28, 1995, so the comment happened in January of that year, if you need it narrowed down.]
posted by MonkeyToes at 9:05 PM on July 14, 2017