INDIANAPOLIS —House Republicans have scotched the idea of a "Charlie White rule" that would allow Gov. Mitch Daniels to appoint a replacement if a lawsuit seeking to eject Indiana's embattled secretary of state from office is successful.
White, a Republican, is facing seven felony charges, including voter fraud. He registered to vote last year using the address of a house at which he did not live.
The Indiana Democratic Party has sued, alleging that since his voter registration was improper, he was ineligible to be on the ballot.
If their lawsuit, which is currently before the three-member Indiana Recount Commission, is successful, the office would go to the No. 2 vote-getter — Democrat Vop Osili.
But the Republican-led Senate last week amended language into a bill that would change that law and allow the governor of Indiana to appoint the replacement, instead.
House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, said he is "not comfortable" intervening in an active lawsuit. He echoed Rep. Kathy Richardson, the Noblesville Republican who authored the bill that the Senate used to carry the White-related rule.
Bosma said the compromise the House and Senate are likely to strike would keep the Senate's idea of having the governor fill state-level offices that are vacated because the candidate is ruled ineligible, but apply that law only to elections that take place in 2012 and beyond.
Illegal immigration
A deal on legislation to crack down on illegal immigration in Indiana is close, said Sen. Mike Delph, the Carmel Republican who is the bill's author.
Delph originally proposed Senate Bill 590 as an Arizona-style crackdown that would have law enforcement officers check the legal status of anyone who they had reasonable suspicion to believe is unlawfully in the United States.
But at the urging of Daniels, the measure was amended in the House to focus on businesses, prodding them to use a system called E-Verify to check the legal status of workers and disallowing tax credits to those that do not.
Delph said his fingerprints have been "all over" the bill each step of the way. "We're very, very close," he said. He declined to reveal the details of a potential compromise bill because he said he did not want to risk scuttling it before an agreement is final.
Daniels' future
Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels says he hasn't decided yet whether to run for president in 2012.
Daniels told The Indianapolis Star Thursday that he wouldn't announce a decision this weekend on whether he'll seek the Republican presidential nomination. He says "you can't announce a decision you haven't made."
Daniels has previously said he'll make the decision sometime after the legislative session ends Friday. Daniels told the Star that he will take some time to reflect on his decision, though he won't keep people waiting too long.
Daniels has been encouraged by many to run and says he feels "some responsibility not to just keep them dangling."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.