Cindi Ross Scoppe’s column on June 10, citing the opinions of Sens. Glenn McConnell and John Courson, asserts that the Senate rules (specifically, the rule governing extended debate) are responsible for the Senate’s failure to pass many, if not most, of the bills judged important by one group or another. She further states that the rules “were drawn for a simpler time, when senators shared a code of honor” and asserts that now “a senator’s words and motives” cannot be trusted. I really couldn’t let this go without comment.

Ms. Scoppe has no real sense of the history of her subject. Sen. Courson and Sen. McConnell’s attempt to join her in blaming the Senate’s performance on the Senate rules is the legislative equivalent of “the dog ate my homework.”

Most of the landmark legislation enacted in the past 25 years has been the object of extended debate and considered under rules far more stringent than those now in effect. When vital protections for our coastline were put in place through passage of the Coastal Zone Management Act, the rules required 31 votes to break a filibuster, and the motion to cut off debate could only be made by the senator at the podium. There were Herculean debates on this matter, and it was the genesis of one of Alex Sanders’ greatest speeches as a state senator.

When Gov. Carroll Campbell’s 3-cent gas tax increase was passed to help save a road system that had become an impediment to economic development, the Senate weathered a filibuster under rules requiring 31 votes to cut off debate. I should point out, though, that the rules had eased up by then, in that a senator other than the one filibustering could move to cut off debate after the filibuster had lasted for two weeks.

The Freedom of Information Act, the constitutional tax and spending limitation, PSC merit selection, the Children’s Code, the Consolidated Procurement Code, the Education Improvement Act, the Low Level Radioactive Waste Compact — the list goes on and on and on. All of these worthy and critical enactments were forged in the crucible of extended debate under rules far more onerous than those in effect today.

The essential difference is that then, unlike now, we had a leadership determined to reach a fair, well-reasoned and positive result. We had leaders who used the force of a filibuster to craft consensus, bring disparate views together and deliver a victory in which all ideas and positions were valued. We had a leadership whose only agenda was what was best for our citizens and the future well-being of our state.

The point is that we have overcome the substantial hurdles of fiercely held positions time and again and produced provable, positive results, no matter what the rules required. My own nearly three-day filibuster on the right to carry a concealed weapon occurred under less stringent debate rules than we have today. It wasn’t about the vote requirement, it was about passing a bill that would respond to the public’s demands and at the same time include the necessary life safety protections. At the time the Senate determined that this balance had been reached, it produced the 27 votes needed to sit me down, and it passed the bill.

But then, many other things have changed as well. The press in a “simpler time,” while just as tough and determined to hold the Legislature accountable, would not, as Ms. Scoppe has done, attack the character and integrity of an entire body. You used to have to be and act as what you say you are; now it seems as though you simply have to sound and look as if you have substance, and that’s enough.

After reading the closing lines of this piece, I can tell you what Sen. Marion Gressette would have done. He would have laughed out loud. He would have noted Sen. McConnell’s five-day performance that killed the seat belt bill and probably observed that Sens. Courson and McConnell do protest too much. He would be the first to recognize that it is not the rules or how they are used; it is a question of commitment, determination and leadership.

Sen. Land of Manning is the Democratic minority leader.