Hey Adriene

Terence & Adriene's wedding [HQ]

Introducing my wonderful host Oklahoma State House Representative Joe Dorman

Joe Dorman plays a very important role as host to my fellow Legislative Fellows and I here in Oklahoma. He is an ACYPL alum himself, and thus is familiar with ACYPL and well aware of the objectives of our Fellowship which is to learn about America's government, politics and legislative processes.


Joe and his legislative assistant, the wonderful Pam King, together with their network of associates at the State Capitol, family and friends have done a fantastic job in providing the best possible learning, working, living and cultural opportunities for us here at their State Capitol (their state legislature) and in the entire Oklahoma.

I really appreciate the professionalism, and most of all the love, openness and kindness shown to us by everyone we have had met with so far, from those who are directly involved in politics and governance, to the regular Oklahomans who we happen to meet at a school benefit or a gas station for instance.

You may follow Joe's Facebook and Joe's Twitter.

About Joe Dorman 
(extracted from his web site)

... Joe began his career as an employee of the Oklahoma House of Representatives as a mail clerk and runner in 1994. Joe advanced up the ladder quickly on the House Staff, becoming the Assistant to the Research Director, then the Assistant to the Executive Director of Staff, George Moser. George provided Joe with many opportunities to learn the Legislative Process, and Joe in turn was able to turn these lessons back into an educational component for the high school pages that rotate each week through the Capitol. The Pageville program was co-founded by Joe and continues as one of the most popular aspects of the Page Program for high school students.


Joe then moved on to Washington, D.C. in 1999 where he became the Research Director for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, a campaign committee affiliated with the National Democratic Party. Joe was able to travel the nation analyzing bills passed by various State Legislatures ranging from South Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Missouri. Joe was transferred back to Oklahoma for the 2000 election cycle and left the DLCC after November to return to employment with the Oklahoma State House once again.


Joe most recently served as the Special Projects Coordinator for the House of Representatives Staff. In this position, he served as the lead staff member for the Legislator Back to School Week Program, International Student Awareness Day, the Pageville Mock Legislature and provided a daily bill summary for the Representatives regarding their legislation.  Joe resigned from the House of Representatives in 2002 to seek the State Representative position in House District 65 following the retirement of long-term State Representative Jim Glover.


Joe is involved with several organizations including the Rush Springs' Lions Club, the Bricktown Rotary, the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks, the Oklahoma 4-H Foundation, the National Rifle Association, American Farmers and Ranchers, Farm Bureau, the American Institute of Parliamentarians, the Capitol City Society, the Central Oklahoma Parrothead Association, the OSU Alumni Association and the Oklahoma Intercollegiate Legislature, a non-partisan collegiate organization designed to teach students the State Legislative Process. While in college, Joe was the only person in the history of this organization founded by George Nigh to serve as Governor, Lt. Governor, Speaker of the House and President Pro Tempore of the Senate. Joe also dedicates his free time to volunteering for 4-H and the Future Business Leaders of America as a Legislative Process instructor, emphasizing lessons in Robert's Rules of Order.


Besides his legislative duties, Joe works as an independent researcher and consultant for various organizations in the governmental and political fields, , where he analyzes legislation and voting records for candidates around the country.  This has been limited due to increased workload requirements from his legislative duties and constituent work.


Joe is a member of the Rules Committee, the Appropriations and Budget Committee, the Administrative Rule Review Committee and the Common Education Committee.  Joe also serves as the House vice-chair for the Legislative Sportsmen's Caucus, an affiliate of the Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus.


Joe enjoys golfing, hunting, attending college athletic events, especially college basketball games and spending time with friends. 

Photos of my Legislative Fellowship in Oklahoma City as I take them

 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=414271&id=554990170&l=e67019ded4

I also tweet at http://twitter.com/adriene

Representative Tibbs is proposing bill to allow domestic abuse victims to monitor GPS location of their domestic abuse perp

Eg, if victim goes to Walmart, they can see on their computer/smartphone if their perp was within 1 mile/2 mile proximity.

The bill passed by committee.

Follow me on Twitter @adriene

Hi there. Much as I would like to, I am finding it quite challenging to find time and opportunity to blog due to our tight schedules and unreliable access to internet at our home. In short, I am well in Oklahoma and happily working at the Oklahoma State Capitol and experiencing American culture in the process.

In lieu of blogging, I have found it easier to tweet of my experiences at my Twitter account @adriene . I welcome all who are interested to follow me there.

You may also like to follow our experiences and observations through the blog of Edward Ling - and his tweets - who is a fellow Malaysian on this same Legislative Fellows Program with me.

Happy Easter from Oklahoma City

Hi there! Today marks one week in USA. It's been a packed but well-scheduled week.

Am now in Oklahoma City (OKC). We arrived from DC on Friday evening, were met our Oklahoma host State House Representative Joe Dorman at the airport. He has been a wonderful as our host and guide, giving us a tour of the city and surroundings and discussing politics with us.

It is Easter Sunday morning now.  We will be attending Easter Sunday service at Joe's hometown church with him and meet his family and see his hometown. It will take about an hour's drive to get from OKC to there. Am looking forward to seeing more of the state of Oklahoma.

Got to go get ready now. Will write more later. Happy Easter and God bless!

Updated photos of LFP programme here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=408075&id=554990170&l=bd20dd3b7f

Legislative Fellows Program is in full swing

The past two days have been very productive for my fellow delegates and I. Our Legislative Fellows Program is in full swing now.

Yesterday morning (Tuesday the 30th of March) , the first thing we did was visit the Museum of American History where we took a guided tour which showed us the highlights of their museum and snippets of the most significant points in American history.

Then, we all had a meeting with Michael Toner, who is a constitutional lawyer specialising in election law. He briefed us on the Supreme Court in the US, the role of judiciary. He is also an ACYPL alum.


Next, we  met with J Cobb Mixter who is Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Affairs, from the Office of Legislative Affairs of the US Dept of Treasury who briefed us on how the executive works with the Capitol Hill in the passing of bills.

Then, my two Malaysian fellows and I had a meeting with Jamluddin Jarjis, the Malaysian Ambassador to the States where our intended topic was US-Malaysia Relations.


We then had the evening off. I scooted off to Georgetown area for some sightseeing and had dinner at an Italian restaurant called Pablo's. Highly recommended!

Today, we visited the US Department of State where my Malaysian  fellows and I met with Joseph Giblin, Economic / Commercial Officer from the Office of Bilateral Trade Affairs from the Bureau of Economics, Energy and Business where he briefed us on his bureau's observation of Malaysia's current political and economic situation.

After that, we met with Jason Vorderstrasse who is Global Affairs Officer in the Office of Regional and Security Policy Affairs, also a department within the US Dept of State where we discussed several human rights topics in Malaysia namely human trafficking, deaths while in detention (in relation to police powers).

Following that, we went to Capitol Hill where we met with Patrick Lyden, Chief of Staff of Congresswoman Mary Fallin, 5th District of Oklahoma who shared with us what work goes on in the US House of Representatives and how he and his office operates to support Mary Fallin.

After that, we had lunch with ACYPL alumni at Famous Luigi's. More pasta! :D One of our waiters is an Indonesian student who generously offered to take us out and show us around tonight.

Our last meeting for today was with Jackie Bray, Deputy Field Director, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC). She briefed us on the anatomy of an election campaign and political fundraising.

All our meetings so far have been interactive dialogues, not one-way lectures. All the fellows and I asked many questions at every meeting to clarify, find out more information, learn more. Fast moving and never dull.

Everyone whom we had meetings with, save one, understood the purpose of our meetings, stayed focused on the intended topic, came well prepared to discuss the role of their office and what they do with us, were obviously very knowledgeable in their field, shared their knowledge and experiences freely in a non-partisan manner and behaved with the utmost professionalism and dignity.

I think that this is a level of professionalism, competence and dignity that civil service, legislators, people who work in politics in Malaysia should aspire to, ESPECIALLY our diplomats.

I highly commend them all for that and express my gratitude to ACYPL, especially Program Officer Kristin, who has been fantastic in planning a fantastic learning experience for us.

My time here has been very worthwhile so far, and it's only Day 3 with 5 more weeks to go. I think one of the challenge for me with all this information, knowledge and experience is in figuring out what, where, why, when, with whom, how I can convert what I gain here into action points for Malaysia. I'm glad that there are two other Malaysian Fellows with whom I can discuss and work on this with.

There is also the challenge of retaining all the info, knowledge if what I have leant, seen, experienced so that I can share it with others back home. We Fellows are provided with a lot of information quickly and it takes some close paying attention, notes, photos, finding time for reflection to absorb and retain it all. It's very important to me that what I learn here can be passed on, and that the effects of my participation in this program does not stop with me with my return flight at the end. It must be sustainable or all this work by everyone involved in this Fellowship would have been for nought.

Photos of Legislative Fellows Program so far

Have uploaded photos here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=408075&id=554990170&l=bd20dd3b7f