Indiana

No More Mr. Nice Speaker

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma says his caucus? patience with absentee Democrats is wearing thin. I frankly don?t blame him.  Democrats have been gone since February 21.  Their absence has cost the taxpayers of Indiana more than $368,000 in lost productivity.  Their list of demands has gone from one to 11 to four to three and if the last exchange of letters between the Speaker and Democratic Leader are to be believed the two sides are now down to two (vouchers and project labor agreements on public projects).

So far, the GOP has only made one major concession, pulling right-to-work legislation off the table.  Democrats have conceded everywhere else.  Their latest concession seems to be on charter schools and if you take a close look at the Democratic Leader?s letter (I’ve embedded both leaders’ letters in this post), they seem to be agreeing to Republican tinkering with vouchers.

What?s also interesting in all this is that as the GOP works on bills to make it more palatable for its own members; it seems that Democrats are using those changes as reasons to drop their objections.  This is a brilliant strategy for a group with no real end game.  As Republicans work out their own issues on legislation, slowly take them off the table.  And if I were the Republican Speaker, I would not appreciate being played like this and I?d start planning a little retaliation.

I would not bring back right to work legislation, but whatever I could do to politically screw the other guys, I would.  And I?d do it by not only going after them, well I would with some redistricting in the six or seven remaining competitive districts, but I?d also make sure to work with friends on the second floor and across the rotunda that there were extra special budget cuts in appropriations that went to the absentee members districts.  And that?s just to start.  The list of possibilities is endless . I know this because I?ve had plenty of time to think of this stuff as members have been absent.

As a famous Chicago humorist once said, ?politics ain?t no bean bag?.  Mr. Speaker, it?s time to stop getting played, pick up gavel, and start using it as a hammer.

Full post as published by Indiana Barrister on March 16, 2011 (boomark / email).