Exodus: Dems trigger Statehouse showdown
914 Comments
Seats on one side of the Indiana House were nearly empty today as House Democrats departed the the state rather than vote on anti-union legislation.
A source tells The Indianapolis Star that Democrats are headed to Illinois, though it was possible some also might go to Kentucky. They need to go to a state with a Democratic governor to avoid being taken into police custody and returned to Indiana.
The House came into session twice this morning, with only three of the 40 Democrats present. Those were needed to make a motion, and a seconding motion, for any procedural steps Democrats would want to take to ensure Republicans don’t do anything official without quorum.
With only 58 legislators present, there was no quorum present to do business. The House needs 67 of its members to be present.
House Speaker Brian Bosma said he did not know yet whether he would ask the Indiana State Police to compel the lawmakers to attend, if they can be found.
Today’s fight was triggered by Republicans pushing a bill that would bar unions and companies from negotiating a contract that requires non-union members to kick-in fees for representation. It’s become the latest in what is becoming a national fight over Republican attempts to eliminate or limit collective bargaining.
Gov. Mitch Daniels had warned his party late last year against pursuing so-called “right to work” legislation. While he agreed with it philosophically, he said it was a big issue that needed a state-wide debate and noted no Republican had run on this in the November election.
But now that his party is pursuing it, Daniels has not spoken against it. He has so far issued no statement, has held no news conference and has not been interviewed by any Indiana reporters in the Statehouse. Daniels did do a radio interview Monday with National Public Radio in which he discussed the labor fight which has caused a government stalemate in Wisconsin — where Senate Democrats have fled to Illinois to prevent a vote on a bill that limits collective bargaining --a now, apparently, his state.
Today, the union members who have filled the Statehouse — an estimated 4,000 according to the Indiana State Police — held a rally, chanting such things as “Ditch Mitch” and “Save Our Families,” which he must have heard as he worked in his nearby Statehouse office.
Union supporters say the bill which has sparked the protests, House Bill 1468 such a measure would weaken bargaining power because companies under collective bargaining agreements would no longer have to hire union members. Supporters, including the state's Chamber of Commerce, say it would makes Indiana more appealing to business and will bring jobs to the state.
Tim Kilbourne, a plow truck mechanic for the city of Indianapolis, said he and other workers would keep coming to the Statehouse until legislators kill the bill.
"All these bills here is to kill the worker," he said.
House Minority Leader B. Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, “has taken a page out of the Wisconsin Senate playbook apparently” by keeping his caucus in hiding, Bosma said. “They are shirking the job that they were hired to do.”
In Wisconsin, Senate Democrats have fled to Illinois to deny Republicans the quorum they need to pass legislation limiting collective bargaining for many public employees.
Asked at what point he would call in the Indiana State Police to attempt to round up the Democrats, Bosma said: “We’ll see how the day goes.”
Bosma said he spoke to Daniels and said the governor is “very supportive of our position to come in and try to do our work. He was not pleased that the Democrats weren’t here to do their work. And like me is just waiting to see how the course of the day proceeds.”
Austin told reporters that “it doesn’t matter where they (Democrats) are at this point. What matters is that they’re trying to figure out a way to save the state from this radical agenda.”
Asked if they were in the state, Austin said only: “They’re working hard.”
Indiana Democratic Party Chairman Dan Parker said it’s not important where the Democrat lawmakers are.
“This is a principled fight,” Parker said.
What’s important, he said, is that they are standing up to an agenda they believe will cut wages for Indiana workers, both in unions and those who do not belong to unions. They’ll return, he said, when they drop the bills Democrats see as an “assault on the middle class.”
Bosma, though, said Republicans are “counting on common sense and a sense of responsibility to prevail and that they would get back here and do the job that they were elected to do."
The last time a prolonged walk-out happened in the Indiana legislature was in the mid-1990s, when Republicans were in control and tried to draw new legislative district maps, eliminating a district that likely would have been a Democrat one, in the middle of the decade. Democrats won that standoff, staying away several days until Republicans dropped the plan.
********************************************************************************
Gov. Mitch Daniels said today that he will not send Indiana State Police to round-up Democrat lawmakers who have shut down the Indiana House over a bill they deem anti-union.Daniels, in a red-plaid shirt and with his arm in a black sling from shoulder surgery he had last week, said he expected Democrats will return when the bill they are protesting — House Bill 1468, the so-called “right to work” bill — is dead.
Democrats went into a behind-closed-doors meeting Monday, refusing to return to the floor. Tuesday night , House Democrats were holed up in Urbana, Ill., and said they will not return to the Indiana legislature until Republicans drop a bill targeting collective bargaining and another for private-school vouchers.
In their statement, the Democrats said that they want assurances that the issue won’t be revived in another bill this session, and also want House Speaker Brian Bosma and Daniels to kill the bill that gives parents tax dollars to send their children to private schools.
Democrats said they will stay in Illinois for now.
“By staying here we will be giving the people of Indiana a chance to find out more about this radical (GOP) agenda and speak out against it,” they said.
In addition to the two bills they want killed, Democrats said they have concerns about a raft of other bills targeting labor unions and education reforms.
Bosma, R-Indianapolis, reacted angrily to the demands, calling them “ludicrous” and saying Democrats need to get their “butts” back to Indiana or give up their jobs to someone who will show up for work.
Daniels, a Republican, said earlier Tuesday he supported the Democrats' right to deny Republicans a quorum to do business and the rights of labor unions to protest at the Statehouse.
“The activities of today are perfectly legitimate part of the process,” he said. “Even the smallest minority, and that’s what we’ve heard from in the last couple days, has every right to express the strength of its views and I salute those who did.”
And, he added, “I’m not sending the state police after anybody. I’m not going to divert a single trooper from their job protecting the Indiana public. I trust that the people’s consciences will bring them back to work. I choose to believe that our friends in the minority, having made their point, will come back and do their duty, the jobs that they are paid to do.”
Daniels had said in December that this session was not the right time to pursue right-to-work legislation, which bars a union and company from negotiating a contract that requires non-union members to pay fees for representation.
“My view on this is well-known to the leadership on both sides, well-known to the public. I haven’t changed a single thing,” he said today. “I don’t attempt to dictate the agenda. I’m not in a position to, really, of the separate and free-standing, superior, branch of government. And for that matter Speaker (Brian) Bosma can’t always dictate to his members when they have a strong point of view. But for reasons I’ve explained more than once I thought there was a better time and place to have this very important and legitimate issue raised.”
Asked if he’d ask the bill’s author, Rep. Jerry Torr, R-Carmel, to withdraw the bill, he said: “He knows what I think. The Speaker knows what I think.”
Of the other 22 bills that could also die if Democrats do not return tonight, Daniels said it would be “very unfortunate. These folks are paid by the taxpayers to do the people’s work. I choose to believe that they’ll come back and do the jobs that they are paid to do. There may be some places in this country where public employees, public servants, walk off the job but I don’t think Indiana is one of them.”
No comments:
Post a Comment