New wave: the emerging generation of legislative staff leaders may change and challenge the way legislatures do business.

• Author: Boulard, Garry

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As baby boomers head for the exits of state government over the next several years, the emerging legislative staff leaders will come primarily from what demographers like to call Generation X.

This transition from boomers to the those born between 1965 and 1980 heralds significant change and challenge for legislatures.

"When compared to baby boomers, this generation is very much bottom-line focused," says Tammy Hughes, the president of Claire Raines Associates, a demographic studies group. "They don't need complete sentences or paragraphs to get the idea of anything. Just give them the bullet points, and they're off and running."

They also are the first generation to grow up in the world of computers, notes Peverill Squire, co-author of the recently published "State Politics Today--Politics Under the Domes."

"Their techniques for gathering information are so dramatically different than any previous generation that it is bound to have an effect on the type of jobs they hold," says Squire, a political science professor at the University of Missouri.

"For legislatures, particularly in states that don't have the same access to resources as California or New York or some of the other larger states, this means an ability to access much more information, more quickly than at any time before," says Squire.

That urge to do things quickly, however, brings with it a downside, says Hughes: "In any workplace setting, but particularly one with a big bureaucracy that has a lot of meetings, this particular generation could become easily frustrated. They don't want to talk about solving a problem as much as they want to actually solve a problem."

Frustration levels aside, says Squire, the emergence of members of Generation X in leadership positions at the state legislative staff level is destined to change the way legislatures do business. "They represent a totally new energy," says Squire. "And with any institution, that is always a good thing."

State Legislatures talked with 10 staffers who are part of this emerging generation or younger about how they see their role.

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BLAINE BRUNSON

Age: 36

State: Texas

Position: Chief of staff to Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst

Blaine Brunson already has spent more than a decade in Texas state government. He worked for the Legislative Budget Board after earning a B.A. in business at Angelo State University while also working for the House Appropriations Committee. He earned his M.B.A. at Texas State University.

"I like working inside the process, especially when it comes to budgetary matters," says Brunson.

After serving as staff to the Senate Finance committee in 2000, Brunson went to work for Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst in the spring of 2003 as a special assistant for budget policy. This fall, he was named Dewhurst's chief of staff. Dewhurst has a dual role, serving as president of the Senate and lieutenant governor.

Brunson's varied duties at the Texas statehouse have left him with a sense of awe. "I know that some younger people say they are disillusioned with the political system, but I have never felt that way here," he says. "And I think that's because I have been very lucky when it comes to the quality of people I have worked for."

Brunson is aware of how large life can be inside the Texas...