Citizen-legislators lend the Indiana General Assembly the perspective of everyday Hoosiers. The 150-member body includes small business owners, teachers, bankers and real estate brokers, each bringing experience to inform state laws and policy.
It works well, except when members forget their primary responsibility is to constituents and not their employers or business interests.
In the current session, with Republicans holding a super-majority in each chamber, that important principle is willfully ignored. Consider some examples:
•House Speaker Pro Tem P. Eric Turner, R-Cicero, offered an amendment to a bill that would pave the way for Insure-Rite, a Utah company his daughter represents as a lobbyist, to secure a multi-million-dollar contract with the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles. Also, a company Turner co-founded with his son, Mainstreet Property Group, would receive $345,000 in tax credits and aid from the Indiana Economic Development Corp. to relocate its headquarters from Cicero to Carmel.
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