This was original posted at Capitol and Washington by Mike O’Brien.  You can call him a partisan, but it does raise some interesting questions.

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Get informed! This isn’t all about the Right to Work bill, where have you been! The worst legislation is the so called education “reform”. I wont bother wasting by breath explaining my position, your a Klein supporter, so I never had your vote in the first place and even if I did the last thing I’m worried about is my next election. Frankly, I could care less what uninformed people like you think. If I run and I lose, it was worth it. At least I can look myself in the mirror knowing that I did everything possible to protect public schools and working families.

Alright, who didn’t figure this was going to happen?

Aiming Higher Ad

This post originally appeared on the Capitol & Washington blog by my friend Cam Savage.   I thought it was worth re-posting here.  While partisan, Cam does make some very salient points that are worth considering.

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With the announcement that Indiana House Democrats will not return to their duties at the Statehouse Monday, it is now evident that we are witnessing the last gasp of a once great Democrat Party in Indiana.

Devastating losses in the 2010 elections accelerated the party’s decline. They lost two Congressional seats, four state senate seats, and twelve seats in the state house of representatives, and as I’ve chronicled before, decimated what little bench they had.

Gone are bright young stars of the future, Ellsworth, Van Haaften, and Oxley the younger. Gone is the old warhorse Baron Hill. Now extinct are the once powerful southern Indiana conservatives, Robertson, Bischoff, Lewis and their ilk.  Demographic and philosophical changes have contributed to the extinction of this subspecies of Indiana Democrat.

Having carried the party on his back for two decades, Evan Bayh has exited stage left. Mayor Weinzapfel wants none of it; he’s out. Things are so dire, party regulars pin their hopes to Joe Donnelly, a thrice-elected Congressman from South Bend with no statewide network or even recognition, who survived the 2010 elections only by dually attacking his own party and his opponent in one of the most negative campaigns in state history. Urging Donnelly to run for statewide office in 2012 is a tacit admission that, were he to run, he would lose his seat in the next election.

Indiana Democrats, with 53 of 150 seats in the legislature, three of eleven representatives in Congress, and no statewide constitutional offices since 2005 are on the verge of becoming a permanent minority party. Less a party really, than a coalition of special interests that exists only in urban centers, university towns, and decaying rust-belt communities and subsists on the dwindling forced dues of union workers.

What voter, if given the opportunity to peer into that hotel conference room in Champaign/Urbana, would willingly choose those forty people to run the state?

Michigan City’s Scott Pelath as the face of the party? What have Republicans done to deserve such good fortune?

We are witnessing the death rattle of the Indiana Democrat Party.

It is time for Dan Parker notify the DNC that the Democrat Party is surrendering its position in Indiana. Their leaders have sought sanctuary in Illinois. A voter-imposed exile in a holy land of high taxation, debt, expansive government and public corruption.

Politics, of course, is cyclical. With every political death there is hope of resurrection. It has happened before. Evan Bayh was once the party’s messiah.

But the retention of throwback politician Pat Bauer as their leader augurs their confidence in their own future and delays the possibility of a resurrection. Whether Bauer and company physically return to Indianapolis soon is immaterial. Without a change in course and leadership, Indiana Democrats need to become accustomed to living in exile.

I saw this posted in the comment section of the on-line edition of the Springfield State Journal-Register regarding a news story about Indiana Democrats who are hanging out in my home state of Illinois.   I thought they summed things up pretty well with respect to the Statehouse Stalemate.

1. Life isn’t fair.
2. You don’t always get what you want.
3. If you don’t like the situation you find yourself in but can’t change it, deal with it and don’t whine.
4. Nobody gets out alive.
5. Know when to quit, especially when you’re ahead.
6. Don’t take yourselves too seriously.
7. Perception is everything.
8. In a hundred years , it is doubtful any of this will matter , certainly not to us.
9. What goes around comes around.
10. Read Indiana Barrister and listen to Abdul weekdays from 6-9 a.m on Newstalk 1430 AM, WXNT.   (Okay, I admit to making that one up.)

It looks like the Indiana “Statehouse Stalemate”  will continue through Monday.   House Democratic leader Pat Bauer put out the following statement Friday afternoon…

“Our members will be staying in Urbana, Illinois, this weekend.  We will not be returning for the House floor session on Monday.  There has been no progress in negotiations.”

Depending on when the clock started, the House Democrats have been out all week, and as Republican Speaker Brian Bosma says costing the taxpayers $90,000.

While Democrats say they won’t come back until they get assurances about collective bargaining legislation and education reform it’s unlikely the Republicans will cave on either of those issues.   Where it will get interesting is what happens with the Democrats’ paychecks.

Although the Democrats say they are not taking per diem,  that doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t or haven’t been paid.   It is my understanding that lawmakers are paid in advance for their work in January and February.   There was more than  $6 million allotted for House salaries in the last budget and you can roughly assume that 40% of that goes to House Democrats.    So if they’ve already been paid and aren’t showing up for work,  will they pay that money back?

There’s also an issue of mileage.  Mileage is included in reimbursement costs so have any of them submitted mileage requests?

And what role, if any will State Auditor Tim Berry play in this?  Will he send Indiana Democrats a bill for their missed work?  Will he let us know if any lawmakers have reimbursed the state for time away?  The average Hoosier may not understand the intricacies of the the school funding formula or unemployment compensation, but they do know that if you don’t show up for work you shouldn’t get paid.   It just gets better and better as the days go by.

It looks like some Indiana House Democrats may be back in town this weekend.  I just pulled this information off the Indianapolis Education Associations website.

Click below for flier!

Rally Tear Offs[1].pdf

A RALLY FOR Public Education will be held on Saturday, February 26, 2011 from 11:30a.m. – 1:00 p.m. at the ISTA Shadeland Office Parking Lot, 6910 N. Shadeland Avenue.

Guest speakers at this time will include State Representatives Jeb Bardon, John Barlett, Ed Delaney, Greg Porter, ISTA President Nate Schnellenberger and the ISTA Executive Committee.

All educators and supporters of Public Education in Marion and surrounding counties are asked to make a special effort to come and show your support.  Bring your family and friends and help show your support of Public Education.  We will have placards and banners available or you may bring your own that shows support of public education.

Music will be provided by ISTA’s  own Chad Hunter and we will have hot dogs and drinks available at the rally.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Me too.

Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard delivered his State of the City address tonight.  If you’re a Republican, you liked it.  A Democrat, you probably boycotted it.  I’ve embedded the speech here so you can read it for yourself. I’ll have some thoughts later this weekend.

House Speaker Brian Bosma says he’s been told by Democrats that they won’t be back today or tomorrow, denying the chamber a quorum.   House Democrats Scott Pelath, Cherish Pryor and Steve Stemler were present.   The Speaker, Governor and Senate leader have all agreed to extend the passage date of all bills to next Friday.

Meanwhile, Pelath took a few minutes to speak with us media folks on the House floor.  Here’s his interview.

Scott Pelath

For the latest updates you can follow me on Twitter (AttyAbdul).

I know this is going to sound weird coming from me of all people, but sometimes you need to know when to stop talking, declare victory and immediately run like hell.    This advice I give to Indiana House Democrats who are holding out in my mom’s hometown of Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.   (For the record I told one of the State Reps who’s staying there that if she sees someone who looks like me walking around that’s probably my cousin.)

You got your victory when the Republicans acknowledged that “right to work” legislation was dead for this session.   Pack up your bags, get back to work and tell your union friends to go back home because there’s something wrong when only seven people can stand around those work sites and do nothing all day.   You guys have a lot of work still to do.  I know you aren’t crazy about education reform.  I know you don’t like restrictions on collective bargaining for teachers and public employees unions.   I know for a fact you are not thrilled about redistricting.   You can live with the state budget but you really don’t have much choice because there’s no money.

I know you guys aren’t crazy about a lot of things, but if were you, I would learn to accept the fact that you live in a “brave new world that hath such people in it”.  The sooner you accept that fact the better you will feel.  And when you feel better you’ll have more energy to take your case to the voters in 2012.   If you think you have the message, take it to the people.    You are much better at waging your fight in Plainfield,  Danville, Franklin, Clinton, Madison, Bloomington and Washington,  Indiana not Illinois.

I’ve been speaking to a lot of Hoosiers lately who are not thrilled about their elected officials not showing up for work and getting paid.   And yes, I know this has been done in the past, but neither Republicans nor Democrats of  legislatures past have ever left the state.   I know some people went to Ohio Street, not the State of Ohio.

By the way, I did some checking.  After five days lawmakers are no longer eligible for per diem, so after Monday the money stops flowing.