I’ve been involved in government, media and politics for 20 years.  And one of the first things that I learned is that it is never what it is, but what it looks like.  For example, take the guy who works in a sheep barn and has a formal event that night.  He brings a change of clothes so he can go to the event after work.  After finishing his day he goes into the back of the barn and takes a shower.  As he comes out of the shower naked and dripping wet, and surrounded by sheep, the farmer walks in.  It’s not what it is, it’s what it looks like.   The union protesters and Indiana House Democrats should have heeded this advice.

As I have watched the entire debate unfold as Indiana nearly completes its journey on the road to becoming the 23rd Right to Work state, I’ve noticed multiple missteps by opponents of RTW.    For example, the day the Governor’s office bowed to public pressure and lifted restrictions on the occupancy limits at the Statehouse, House Democrats could have proudly staged an event and walked into the chambers to the cheers of thousands of screaming supporters, declared a major victory for the people and held a rally about how they will fight RTW to the very end.   What did they do instead?  They started the first of a series of walkouts.  So instead of the headlines reading “Daniels Opens Statehouse” the news of the day was “Democrats Walk Off the Job”.

Another PR mistake in the fight over RTW was done by the unions.  In Terre Haute, the Local IBEW #725 sent a letter out to charitable organizations that it’s given money to and “requested” they send letters to their state lawmakers opposing RTW.  The union also said in the letter, that if the charity wasn’t going to write a letter in support then it should not expect any support from the union in the future.   Nothing like a little blackmail and extortion to endear yourself to your community.   And by the way,  why would the local little league baseball organization or group home for developmentally disabled young adults want to get into the middle of a fight over RTW?  Also many of these groups are forbidden from getting in the middle of political debates or they could lose their non-profit status.  And don’t even get me started on the unions showing up at the Speaker’s home in suburban Indianapolis to protest RTW.

But I guess, the biggest PR disaster has yet to occur, the proposed protesting and possible disruption of Super Bowl festivities in downtown Indianapolis.   To date the unions have yet to say they won’t disrupt activities leading up to the event.   Police and authorities have two protest zones set up, one of which is the south side of the Statehouse the other at Illinois and South.  There has been some chatter about Teamsters bringing semi-trucks downtown so they could “break down” and obstruct traffic.  As one colleague told me over breakfast, traffic will be so bad downtown that would anyone notice that it was the unions who were responsible for the backup.  In addition, if anyone thinks a semi-truck is going to get anywhere near Lucas Oil Stadium that hasn’t been checked by Homeland Security and state and local authorities might want to reconsider.   And let’s say the unions did manage to disrupt activities during the Super Bowl over RTW, what would they really gain?   Apart from making a lot of people really upset.  Think about being mad about being forced to go to dinner with your parents so you embarrass them at the restaurant.  You know what is going to happen when you get home.  So you might want to have child protective services on speed dial.

Those are just a handful of examples of PR mistakes that opponents of RTW have made which have not helped their cause.  I frankly think they would have been better off keeping their fight to the Statehouse floor, videotape every member who supports or opposes RTW and then start making campaign commercials and gear up for the fight in November.  Showing up at someone’s home, threatening charities and trying to disrupt the world’s largest sporting event is no way to win friends and influence people.  All it gets you is either a 54-44 or 28-22 vote in favor of  RTW.

Despite shouts and protests, the Indiana House of Representatives voted Wednesday, 54-44, to make Indiana the 23rd right to work state in the nation.

Under RTW, an employee cannot be compelled to pay union dues as a condition of employment.  The arguments on the floor were reflective of the debate that had taken place for the past few weeks in the Statehouse.  Republicans said RTW was about creating jobs and worker freedom.  Democrats said RTW was union busting and was about lowering worker wages.

The debate was contentious at times, at the beginning of the debate House Democrats opened the chamber doors so protesters shouts could be heard in the room.  The Speaker allowed them to stay open.

While there was never any question that Republicans had the votes, there was some question as to how big the margin would be.  It was anticipated that there were 53-55 votes in favor, but most eyes were on State Representatives Wendy McNamara of Evansville and Mike Karickhoff of Kokomo who had been in the undecided column.

McNamara went to the floor and said she was voting “yes” because she wanted workers to have the freedom to choose whether to be part of a union and that RTW was about job creation.  She said if she thought RTW would bring one job to her area, it was worth it.

Karickhoff voted no.

State Representative Mark Messmer was excused from voting because he owns a construction company and has a conflict of interest.

The measure had already passed the Senate on Friday 28-22.   And Governor Mitch Daniels has made it clear he will sign the bill.  Democrats, in both chambers, had tried to offer an amendment to the bill to have a referendum on the subject, but that measure was defeated.

RTW had also been the crux for numerous daily protests at the Statehouse and the House Democratic walkout which has resulted in $4,000 fines for denying a quorum.  A judge has placed a temporary restraining order on collection of those fines via wage garnishment.

As Indiana lawmakers get ready to make Indiana the 23rd Right to Work state in the country, I wanted to put up two interviews that I conducted this week.

I spoke with JR Gaylor of the Associated Builders and Contractors of Indiana and Brent Voorhies of the Central Indiana Labor Council.  Both offer some interesting perspectives on the issue and are worth a listen.

JR Gaylor – 10 minutes

Brent Voorhies -  7 minutes

The Indiana Senate passed RTW Monday 28-22.  A final vote House vote on RTW could come today if there is a quorum in the chamber.

With the possibility of  union protests during the Super Bowl over “Right to Work” I spoke with Super Bowl Committee Chairman Mark Miles about whether they are ready to deal with demonstrators.  You can hear his comments below.  It runs about 5 minutes.

Mark Miles

While I am all for free speech, I think the unions would be engaging in a public relations nightmare if they were to interrupt the event.  And anyone who thinks they will be able to drive a semi-truck by Lucas Oil Stadium on game day and not expect to be stopped needs to pay a quick visit to Homeland Security or their psychiatrist to have their head examined.

Usually when writing about political events things move at a relatively steady pace.  An event occurs, we scribe about it, a subsequent event happens after that, we write about it and so on and so on.  However, with the “right to work” debate over at the Indiana General Assembly, events have been moving so quickly and so fluidly that by the time you began writing about one incident, the subsequent event had already taken place. So now that there is brief lull in the storm, let’s take a second to catch our breaths and see where we are and how close are we to this being over?

Right now, the Indiana Senate has just gone through second readings on the legislation.  Democrats offered up a number of amendments, all of which were defeated.  The most important amendment was a referendum.  In a nutshell, if lawmakers approved RTW it would have gone into effect on Nov 5, the day before the election, however the voters would get their say on Nov 6 and if they voted it down, RTW would not go into effect.  House Democrats have offered up a similar amendment scheduled to be heard on Monday, provided they show up.

Republicans argued the amendment violated two provisions of the Indiana Constitution, Article 1, Section 25

No law shall be passed, the taking effect of which shall be made to depend upon any authority, except as provided in this Constitution.

And Article 4, Section 1.

The Legislative authority of the State shall be vested in a General Assembly, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The style of every law shall be: “Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana”; and no law shall be enacted, except by bill.

By allowing the public to chime in via referendum, Senate Republicans say the measure violates those two provisions and therefore would not pass Constitutional muster.  Democrats say the only way a measure can be found unconstitutional is if a court makes that decision.  And they also pointed to a number of measures whose constitutionality were debated on the floor, but later upheld by the court, i.e. school vocuhers.

The reality of this is as the Senate has moved forward and defeated the referendum amendment, it has given the House Republicans who might have been on the fence about an amendment to vote it down since they can now argue that the measure won’t pass the other chamber so there is no point in voting for it when the House is scheduled to take up the issue Monday afternoon.

Do not be surprised if RTW is passed out of both Chambers by the end of the week.

The Indianapolis Bar Association has released its rating of this year’s judicial candidates for Marion County.  The ratings are based on surveys by attorneys conducted by the association’s political arm, the Judicial Excellence Political Action Committee.

The candidates are rated on several categories such as  knowledge of the law, judicial temperament and trial experience.  The highest rated judge Robert Altice, Jr. with a 96.7% approval rating.  The lowest rated candidate was Judge Becky Pierson-Treacy with a 30.7% approval rating. She is also the wife of  Marion County Democratic Chairman Ed Treacy.

The full list of candidates and their ranking are below. An asterisk indicates they are not currently sitting on the bench.

Democrats

• Greg Bowes* – 52.7%.
• Linda Brown – 69.9%.
• Thomas Carroll – 68.5%
• John Chavis* – 78.8%.
• Steven Eichholtz – 68.8%.
• John Hanley – 67%.
• Grant Hawkins – 78.8%.
• Mark King* – 53.4%.
• Becky Pierson-Treacy – 30.7%.
• Jose Salinas – 79%.
• Mark Stoner – 95.7%.
• Heather Welch – 95.6%.

Republicans

• Robert Altice – 96.7%.
• Lisa Borges – 69.8%.
• Shelia Carlisle – 94.2%.
• Clayton Graham* – 60%.
• Amy Jones* – 84.8%.
• James Jovan* – 68.1%.
• Michael Keele – 95.4%.
• Helen Marchal* – 86.3%.
• William Nelson – 84.9%.
• Carol Orbison – 72.6%.
• Clark Rogers – 84%.

The ratings are based on responses given by 1,150 emails from attorneys in the following groups: -Indianapolis Bar Association, Marion County Prosecutor’s Office, Marion County Public Defender’s Office and attorneys who have entered an appearance in the past three years before an incumbent judge seeking re-election for whom an email address was available.

I was already to scribble down a thought or two tonight about the latest on the walkout (TRO issued on fines, whether Dems will be back next week, Super Bowl protests, etc).  And then this came across my laptop.  Enjoy…

Call it a threat or promise.  A letter sent out by the IBEW #725 in Terre Haute to some southwestern Indiana charities and other not-for-profit organizations is asking them to either write letters to Indiana lawmakers in opposition to “right to work” legislation over never ask again for donations, sponsorships, or services from the union hall.

In the letter dated on January 13, IBEW #725 Business Manager R. Todd Thacker asks receipients to write letters to members of the Indiana House and Senate to reject the bill because it would lower the wages of both union and non-union workers.  However the letter also states…

If you feel you cannot send a support letter because you have a philosophical difference, please send me a letter explaining why.  Unlike legislators trying to push this bill through we want to hear everyone’s opinion on Right to Work for Less, as we have found a majority of Indiana workers and Indiana legislators do not understand the bill.

If you feel you cannot do this because you have a philosophical difference, please refrain from requesting any future donations, sponsorships, or services from the union hall as we will have limited funds to pass on to our community.  Please do not perceive this as a threat, it is just the prudent thing to do with our member’s money.

The letter requests a response by this week.  You can read the full text of the letter here.  It is saved in Slideshare which may be incompatible with some Apple products.

Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma says if Democrats don’t show up for work at 9 a.m. Wednesday, he will start levying $1,000 a day fines.  Democrats say they have no intention of paying.

The fines are the result of a tumultuous afternoon at the Statehouse where Democrats refused to come back from an afternoon caucus after learning their amendment for a statewide referendum on right to work legislation might be unconstitutional.

Bosma said Democratic Leader Pat Bauer gave his word that they would return and allow for amendment votes on right to work, but Bauer reneged on the promise.

Bauer said Democrats needed more time to study the Constitutionality of the issue, but agreed to help move other bills.

You can hear comments from both men below, brought to you by Leon Tailoring.

Interview: Brian Bosma Run Time – 5 minutes.

Intervew: Pat Bauer Run Time – 7 minutes.

Under the current House rules the Speaker can levy fines without invoking the anti-bolting statute.  Democrats say the fines are unconstitutional.

I know that headline may seem like you’re reading something from the Bizzaro universe, but it is true. A comparison of two polls commissioned by the Indiana AFL-CIO within 6 weeks of each other shows the number of Hoosiers opposing “Right to Work” dropped from 47% to 36%.

The Union released a poll Monday showing that more than 70% of Hoosiers think a referendum should be held on “Right to Work” legislation.  The survey of 500 registered voters also gave a breakdown of support for RTW.

• 33% – Support.
• 36% – Strongly or Somewhat Oppose.
• 30% – No Opinion.

Now compare those numbers with a similar poll also done by the AFL-CIO in December.

• 38% – Support.
• 47% – Strongly or Somewhat Oppose.
• 15% – Not Sure.

You can see the breakdowns for that poll here.  The union did not respond to a request to release the breakdowns of the January poll.  However both surveyed interviewed about 500 Hoosiers and had a margin of error of +/- 4.4%.

However, it is interesting to note that according to the Union’s own polling data, which they are using to push for a referendum on “Right to Work”, the percentage of people who opposed RTW was twice as large as the drop off of people who support it.  And an even closer look at the poll seems to show they are going into the “no opinion” category.

Now I know my union friends, I do have some, are probably going to accuse me of some major spin and the ones that aren’t are out looking for some tar and feathers.  With all due respect, I did not make these numbers up, these are their poll numbers.  I for one would love to hear them explain how after all the shouting, walking out and commercials they have run about “right to work for less”, their own polling shows the number of Hoosiers who oppose RTW dropped 11-points in a little more than a month.

I for one will be fascinated by the response, if I actually get one.

As I sat down and started to think about what to write for my annual MLK Day post, I went back to look at some prior writings.  I came across this one from last year.  The scary part is that when I look at the people who are still fighting school reform and defending bad education systems that do untold damage to Black children, i.e.IPS bureaucrats, teachers unions, their friends in the Indiana General Assembly, the post applies even more so today.  So why reinvent the wheel?

******

As the nation commemorates the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,  I personally can’t help but think and ponder what would have happened if Dr. King had not been assassinated in 1968 but instead lived to see today.  The sarcastic side of my nature immediately takes me to an episode of the Boondocks, however the more serious side of my nature forces me to believe that Dr. King’s fight today would include doing battle with the opponents of Indiana’s school reform.

It would not take a lot of effort to point to stories and statistics about the plight of black males and education, particularly those in predominantly urban environments.  Just take a step into a typical Indianapolis Public School classroom and look at the educational malpractice that takes place everyday.  The graduation rate amongst Black males is almost criminal. Black students are being turned into a permanent underclass.  And the education establishment and their allies in the Indiana General Assembly are more concerned about their jobs and political contributions than they are in educating children.

If Dr. King were alive and walked into a typical urban classroom he would be furious.  He would agree that who needs Jim Crow laws, dogs and water hoses,  and whips and chains to keep a segment of  society in bondage when all you really need to do is give them a poor education and no means to escape and you can keep them intellectually enslaved all you want.   The opponents of choice, accountability and reform are the real educational bigots here.  If they were serious about the education of Black youth they would embrace change and open the flood gates so reform could sweep through this state and cleanse the educational landscape of the weeds and thickets of  mediocrity, complacency and low standards.

I was listening to radio broadcast this past week of an Indiana lawmaker who alluded that the real reason behind school reform was to attack and harm black children.  I’m not sure what planet she was on, however looking at the educational landscape and who has been running the schools,  I don’t think the reformers are Black children’s problems, the lawmakers and policy makers who look like them tend to be their worst enemies.

What is it about school choice that frightens these individuals?  What is about accountability that makes the collective hairs on their backs stand up?  What is so wrong about giving parents the ability to choose an accredited institution of learning that works best for them?  We ask these questions and we are accused of hating public education and not caring about children.  Well no offense, but who is the bigger threat to the future?  The people who want to reform education or those who want to protect the status quo, while giving only lip service to reform?

Luckily, Indiana has a reform-minded Governor, Superintendent of Public Instruction and a Legislature willing to unshackle the educationally oppressed.    I even had a conversation with a Black lawmaker on Thursday who told he was sick and tired of seeing children in his district being condemned to lives of  poverty simply because a union wanted to protect a bad teacher so it could continue to collect dues.

I realize the words I’ve written today may seem harsh, but the truth hurts.  Deal with it.  But you cannot tell me that if Dr. King was alive today, that he would be satisfied with the status quo in the education of Black youth.  I doubt seriously that he would pleased with educational homicide that Black students are being subjected to while being forced to stay in failing urban schools.

If Dr. King were alive today, he would still lead a chorus of  “We Shall Overcome” however, he’d be singing about education.