Do-Nothing Assembly
Of course, I am absolutely delighted that the legislation switching Indiana to Daylight Saving Time is virtually dead. This was the silver-lining to the Indiana House Democrats’ boycott of legislative business yesterday, which ensured the expiration of 132 pending bills. Of course, walk-outs aren’t unprecedented, but the pretext for this one is shabby indeed. Democrats fell on their swords to preclude an Inspector General and a requirement to show a photo-ID at the polls. The former objection reflects poorly on them, while the latter could easily accommodate their paranoid fears about disenfranchisement. I suspect this was just a power play by a disaffected minority still smarting from their recent electoral defeat.
So how personal has this gotten? Gov. Mitch Daniels, from his campaign through his State of the State address, avoided attacking the character of his political opponents . . . until today, when he held a press conference and singled out House Minority Leader Pat Bauer (South Bend).
As Greg Garrison noted today, the only person who should be more irritated than Daniels is Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson, who had the two pillars of his administration knocked down by members of his own party: funding for the new Colts stadium and Indianapolis Works!
As Brian Howey might say, the Lilliputians are winning.
3 Responses to “Do-Nothing Assembly”
Democrats in the Indiana House
In the Agora has a brief overview of the legislative games going on here in Indiana.
Mitch Daniels, a great guy who has to date avoided impuning the character of his oppenents, today went on the attack:
“Indiana’s drive for growth and reform was …
For this Ohioan, the Daylight Savings Time bill would only remove an opportunity for a joke at the expense of our neighbors, but the photo ID requirement for voting is an important means of fighting fraud. I’m not familiar with any widespread fraud in Indiana, but in Wisconsin, same-day registration without photo ID appears to have allowed regular and repeated attempts at voter fraud in the city of Milwaukee, a topic which I have discussed here and here.
I don’t understand your apparent opposition to Indiana going on DST. Consistency would seem to be a virtue in regards to timekeeping and having an exception dead in the middle of the country doesn’t seem to serve interstate travellers and businesspeople very well. If we could get the other states to drop DST that would get us to the same place, but really, that’s not very realistic.
So are you just contrary, worried about those cows or what?