Indiana needs pluralism in its state government. Divergent opinions provide healthy checks and balances.
In the halls of the Statehouse, that counteraction is currently almost nil. Voices of opposition get drowned out by the controlling, super-majority party. Republicans dominate the Indiana Senate, 37-13, and the House, 69-31. They’ve also held the governor’s seat for the past decade. Reasonable Hoosiers of any political persuasion can see the accountability problems created when officeholders face no significant political consequence for denying the public will.
The dysfunctional relationship between Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz offers a prime example of the sour byproduct of one-party rule.
Ritz, a Democrat who attracted the votes of 1.3 million Hoosiers in 2012, has seen her authority circumvented by the Indiana State Board of Education (all appointees of Pence and former Gov. Mitch Daniels), Pence, the General Assembly and a new agency created by the governor that stands in conflict with the existing Indiana Department of Education, which Ritz oversees. The embarrassing mess reflects poorly on the state in one of its core missions — the administration of our public schools.
The lopsided nature of Hoosier government re-entered the spotlight Friday. Evan Bayh, a centrist Democrat who served as Indiana governor from 1989 to 1997, announced that he would not run for his old job in 2016.
Bayh’s decision undoubtedly deflated hopes within his party of regaining a strong spot in the governance of Indiana. Bayh was a popular governor who controlled fiscal spending, but also worked effectively with legislators of both major parties.
Not surprisingly, Hoosiers later elected Bayh twice to represent them in the U.S. Senate. But Bayh, a native of Vigo County, left the Senate in 2010, exasperated with the polarization in Congress. That body now functions on political extremes, and Bayh saw little attention being paid to Senate members willing to seek compromises. So he abruptly chose not to seek another term, and he has worked outside of public service since then.
The opportunity for a bipartisan atmosphere isn’t much better in the Indiana Statehouse. It’s doubtful that super-majority Republicans would work effectively with a governor of the rival party, even one so generally well-respected as Bayh. Even without a relevant Democratic presence in the House or Senate, the GOP still fractured into ideological factions in last winter’s session of the General Assembly when faced with a decision on placing a same-sex marriage ban into the state’s constitution.
Bayh passed on the chance to govern alongside that group.
What’s left, now, is a challenge to the Indiana Democratic Party to find a connection with Hoosiers without Bayh’s name recognition. Alternative candidates for governor — former House Speaker John Gregg and Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. were awaiting Bayh’s decision before making their own choices — are only part of the equation.
If Democrats fail to mount a viable campaign in this fall’s legislative campaigns and don’t crack the GOP’s super majorities, the detriments of one-party dominance — from the dysfunction in state education management to ethics questions — will continue unimpeded.