At a board meeting, state board member discusses and votes on a matter that impacts a client of his firm. A public employee applies for a job with the company she regulates on behalf of her public agency. Please note that having a conflict of interest is not illegal.
If you want to understand how destructive the 2010 and 2014 midterm elections were to the long-term downballot prospects of the Democratic party, all you need to do is look at this chart via Pew's terrific Fact Tank site. In 2009, Republicans controlled both chambers in just 14 state legislatures. Six years later, they had total control in more than double that number. And that's not even the full, bad story for Democrats. Look at their numbers. In 2009, Democrats had full control in 27 state legislatures; by 2015 that number was down to 11, the lowest ebb for total Democratic control since, at least, 1978.
Approximately 1,782 women will serve in the 50 state legislatures in the 2015 legislative session. Women will make up 24.1 percent of all state legislators nationwide. This is represents essentially no change from the 2014 session's ratio of 24.2 percent. Read about women serving in legislative leadership in 2015 here.