Something sensible happened in the early days of the 2015 Indiana legislative session.
Yes, you read that sentence correctly.
Indiana House and Senate leaders say they won’t go along with a proposal by a Carmel senator that would allow Gov. Mike Pence to simultaneously run for re-election and for the White House in 2016. The bill — sponsored by state Republican Sen. Mike Delph — would allow a sitting governor or state lawmaker to simultaneously seek re-election and election to a federal office.
That’s a really bad idea, as noted by House Speaker Brian Bosma.
“It does not seem to me to be good public policy to give elected officials the opportunity to run for a federal and a state office at the same time, whether it is a legislator running for Congress or a secretary of state running for president,” Bosma, a fellow Republican, told the Associated Press.
Pence, also a Republican, has not said whether he will run for president, noting he will decide after the end of the legislative session in April.
His decision is not the issue. It’s that the bill could confuse and manipulate Hoosier voters that’s the concern.
Imagine stepping into the voting booth with the option of choosing Pence — or someone else — for multiple races? That doesn’t seem fair to opponents in either race, especially with the notoriety simply running for president would bring.
Also, it would send a bad message that the governor’s office is nothing more than a fall-back plan for Pence.
Or, imagine the chaos created if he won election to both offices?
Pence told the AP on Tuesday the bill was a “well-intentioned distraction,” but said nothing to discourage it.
Senate President Pro Tem David Long essentially killed Delph’s bill on Tuesday by assigning it to the Senate Rules Committee, which is a committee he leads and rarely advances any legislation. Long told reporters he believed Indiana’s current law allowing a candidate to only seek a single state or federal office was appropriate.
Delph said he believed the state should remove obstacles so that its governor could be in the national conversation for president.
We agree with Long.
If Pence wants to run for president, that’s fine. That’s his risk to take, and the governor’s office shouldn’t be allowed to be used as his safety net.