If they were Laurel and Hardy, the Republicans and Democrats could look at each other and say, “Well, here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten us into.”
There is one exception to than analogy — Laurel and Hardy were funny. The chaos in the Indiana Statehouse is not.
The responsibility for the mess cuts both ways.
The Republicans, in overwhelming control of the Indiana House and Senate after the November elections, did exactly what their governor, Mitch Daniels, urged them not to do. They took their resounding victory at the polls as an unbridled mandate to ram through laws on every pet concept ever dreamed up by social conservatives, regardless of their extreme nature.
Of course, the Nov. 2 election results were more about the nationwide backlash against big government. But the twisted translation by the Indiana GOP was to inject state government into private schools (through taxpayer-funded vouchers), immigration (by burdening local police with enforcement of federal immigration laws) and public safety (by trumping local ordinances with a state law that would allow guns to be carried into school board meetings and hospitals). Not to mention laws concerning collective bargaining rights (the so-called “right-to-work” bill), same-sex marriage, and yadda, yadda, yadda.
With big majorities in both chambers of the General Assembly, the Republicans saw a wide open gate at the legislative barn lot, shoveled everything onto the flatbed and drove in.
Then there are the Democrats.
Clearly outnumbered, they used a drastic, but not-unprecedented tactic to stop the “right-to-work” law, which would have prohibited companies and labor unions from entering into a contract in which union membership and dues paying is required by employees. So, on Feb. 22, the House Democrats walked out of the Statehouse to deny the quorum necessary to do business. To avoid being physically compelled to return, they sought refuge across the border in Urbana, Ill.
But after Republicans back in Indianapolis agreed to drop the “right-to-work” bill, the Democrats added demands and remained in Urbana. Their primary concern then became the extensive education reform package of bills championed by Daniels. The Democrats’ decision to extend their walkout did give the public time to understand the scope and details of these aggressive changes to public education. In response, Republicans hinted at amending the bills to address the public’s concerns.
That time of enlightenment, though, has long since passed. In terms of public support, the shift in momentum gained by the Democrats, initially, has now receded. Labor and education groups may want the Dems to stay in Urbana indefinitely, but many people in the middle of the spectrum — folks who might have been saying, “hey, the Democrats are onto something; some of these bills go too far” — are now wondering what the AWOL lawmakers are trying to prove. At some point, the arguments have to happen on the floor of the Statehouse.
Daniels was right. His party’s lawmakers over-reached, setting up the explosive diversion he warned about. The House Democrats retaliated, and have now over-played their hand. The result? Fines of $350 a day for the absent Democrats. An ultimatum from House Speaker Brian Bosma (the top Republican) that he’s done talking long-distance with his departed rivals. The Legislature will now hop along on one leg, with the still-intact Senate moving on with its duties, while the feuding House remains stalled.
The political gamesmanship is obvious, but where’s the leadership? At the moment, there is none.
Instead, legislative partisans have sunk the process into a mess … another nice mess.
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