We asked Mr. Rapport if we could follow him around for a day when he went to the state capitol in Sacramento to attend hearings on the bill. Beyond our parochial interest in how plans for ferry funding fared, we wanted to learn about the personal emotional toll this process takes on someone like Mr. Rapport. To scientifically measure the pressure Rapport would experience, we fitted him out with a heart-rate monitor, the kind one uses in an exercise program. Behold, the majesty of democracy in action.

Ezra departs on the Amtrak Capitol Corridor, en route to Sacramento for staff meetings and a hearing before the Senate Transportation Committee concerning Senator Don Perata’s proposal to raise Bay Area bridge tolls to $3 by way of funding public transit programs, including, in part, expanded ferry service.		8:10AM		8:40am	Reading from Of Walking Beams and Paddle Wheels, the definitive history of Bay Area ferries as well as the train system that connected with them. It seems to have a calming effect.
				10:30AM	Others may be impressed by the imposing State Capitol Building, but not old pro Ezra, who is unfazed as he arrives for staff meetings to discuss the day’s plans and arrangements.
		10:45am
Trouble ahead. Ezra confers with Senator Perata’s Legislative Director, whiz-kid Gareth Elliott. Just 32 years old, Elliott coordinates Perata’s powerhouse political operation. He and Ezra go over a story in that morning’s Oakland Tribune detailing problems with the Bay Bridge retrofit that may mean huge overruns. They worry that the Chairperson of the Senate Transportation Committee, Senator Kevin Murray of Los Angeles, will want to use the bridge toll increase that Perata wants reserved for public transit to, at least in part, cover Bay Bridge retrofit overruns. Senator Perata is advised of the problem.
				11:15AM	Ezra waits outside Political Director Elliott’s office while Senator Perata mulls the Senator Murray problem. Lobbyists flock to him and the familiar experience seems to calm him down.
		Close at hand: a directory of lobbyists.
				Ezra gets REALLY jumpy at the arrival of Assemblyman John Dutra, Chairperson of the Assembly Transportation Committee. Dutra has come to parley with Perata about the bridge toll bill. His acquiescence is essential for the bill to have any hope of passage.
	11:20AM
Problem solved, and Ezra’s heart rate jumps, presumably with relief, as Senator Perata emerges from his inner sanctum to announce that he and Senator Murray are in accord.
		11:40AM
Even insiders have to wait in the security check line. Ezra is stymied as he hurries to the committee meeting at which his boss, Senator Don Perata, will make the pitch for the bridge toll plan Ezra has helped to craft.		12:45PM		1:40PM	It’s over quickly and soon Ezra is in the corridor outside the hearing room catching his breath. The Committee has already moved onto a bill having to do with motorcycle helmet laws, heavily attended by leather-wearing bikers.
1:20PM	Ezra’s heart rate hits the red zone as he sits aside Senator Perata under the steely gaze of Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Kevin Murray. But proving the adage that meetings are held to ratify decisions already held, the proceeding has a rote quality. Even the rabidly anti-tax Republicans on the panel make only half-heartedly derisive comments and Perata’s bill passes handily.
					Headed for the showers. Ezra heads down the Capitol staircase on his way back to the train station.
Philosophical Ezra. Ezra consults the muses to get to the meaning of it all as the Amtrak Capitol Corridor returns him to the Bay Area.		2:20AM		1:50AM