It looks like Indiana Democrats are sending out mixed signals over the passage of “right to work” legislation which could be a forecast of things to come in the upcoming 2012 races.

Shortly after RTW’s passage and signage into law, House Democratic Leader Pat Bauer put out the following statement…

“There is no cause to celebrate today’s events. The joy that has been expressed is a disgrace. I am sure there will be great pleasure in the boardrooms of Indiana’s largest corporations at the Republican decision to make ‘right to work for less’ the law of the land in this state.  They are about to see their profits swell. No longer will they have to worry about paying decent wages, providing just benefits, or even whether or not their places of business are safe.  All of this comes at the expense of Indiana workers: our state’s single greatest economic development asset.  Indiana now begins its flight to the bottom in jobs, wages, and workplace safety. Our competition now will be Nevada in job losses, Mississippi in low pay, and China in worker injuries and deaths.  When the extent of this disaster becomes clear in the years to come, the governor who authored it will be safely out of office, without fear of retribution from the voters of this state. He has delivered to his corporate bosses, and that is all he cared about.  But there will be accountability demanded from those in the Indiana General Assembly who helped the governor deliver on his promise.  Indiana House Democrats will continue to make it clear who caused this mess when the unemployment numbers stay high, and Hoosiers keep earning less than workers in other states. When this policy doesn’t work, we will demand that it be abolished. We will make sure that the Republican leaders live up to their promises to get rid of ‘right to work for less’ when it does not work. Somehow, I think they will prefer to have short memories, but we will continue to remind them.”

Now compare that with the statement put out by John Gregg, the Democratic candidate for Governor…

“It’s time to move beyond this divisive issue. Indiana needs a governor and a legislature that show up for work every day and works together with one focus – creating jobs, whether it’s for a union or non-union workplace. Because in the end, it doesn’t matter if you’re in a union or not — if you get laid off, you’re not bringing home a paycheck.”

Gregg’s statement is apparently causing quite a stir in Democratic circles.  There is some speculation that his campaign may be trying to do some triangulation between House Democrats and the Republicans.  Gregg has opposed RTW, however, his campaign may have some polling showing most Hoosiers support it or they oppose the Democratic walkout, so he is attempting to walk a fine line.  There may not be much room for Gregg to negotiate.  His campaign has already been at odds with the Marion and Lake County Democratic parties over the recent debacle over the state Chairman position.

The only ones cheering at this news must be Republicans.

Just a quick FYI, I’ll be guest hosting “Unity in the Community” this Saturday from 12-1 p.m.on WTLC, AM 1310.  You can listen in on the radio or by clicking on praiseindy.com. Our guest will be Mayor Greg Ballard and we’ll be discussing whether Indianapolis is a “Super City.”   You can call in at 317-239-1310.  Yes, Abdul on 1310, it is the end of the world as you know it!

I hate to be the bad guy here, but I will likely get elected the head of the local chapter of the Aryan nation before Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard signs the smoking ban that was passed 19-9 by the City-Council Monday night.

Three Republicans joined all 16 Democrats to pass the measure which bans smoking in virtually all public places, including bars and taverns.  Cigar bars and hookah bars are exempt, as well as private clubs as long as they don’t allow minors.

The private club exemption was the point of contention between advocates and the Mayor’s Office.  Ballard has made it clear he will not sign any ordinance that doesn’t let private clubs decide whether to remain smoking.  The Mayor has 10 days to veto the legislation.

If proponents were smart, they would have taken the amendment offered by Councilor Ryan Vaughn which would have allowed private clubs to make the decision regarding smoking.  Now, because of opposition to that nuance, there will be no smoking ban in Indianapolis and people will still be able to light up in bars and taverns.

It is beyond me why someone who, once again, is about to 95 percent of what they want throws that out the window in order to get 100 percent of none of what they want.  And if they really think that calling the Mayor’s office is going to make a difference, I have some news for them, it won’t.  The handful of people who said a smoking ban was there priority voted for the person who lost the last Mayoral election.   On top of that, it didn’t help that the head of Smoke Free Indy was involved in a romantic relationship with that person’s campaign manager.

But those are just collateral issues, the real reason why Stevie Wonder will see a smoking ban before advocates do is because of simple math, there are not enough votes to override a veto.  And Democrats won’t need just one vote, they will need at least three.  It is one thing to vote for a proposal, it is another thing to vote to override a veto  Especially when the you are in the minority on the Council and your Mayor is of the same party and there 47 months left in both your terms which could either be a very long time or a very productive time.

So in the end,  what’s the final outcome, unless the smoking ban is amended nothing will happen because it is going to get vetoed.  Proponents can hope to have better luck on the other end of Market street today, but here’s a another news flash.  Lawmakers are all over the map in both the House and Senate on a smoking ban, so good luck with that one.

Smoking bans will get taken up on both ends of  Market Street Monday.  The Indiana House of Representatives will vote on a proposal that would ban smoking in most public places except casinos and racinos, cigar bars, private clubs, and hookah bars.  It would also grant an 18-month exemption to bars and taverns in order to give them time to adapt to a new ban.

At the City-County building, the Council will take up a ban that does pretty much the same thing, without an exemption for bars and taverns.  However the CCC version would ban smoking in private clubs if they allow people under 18.

From what I’ve been able to gather, both measures are on thin ice and may never become law.  On the state level, members of the House are all over the place on a smoking ban.  There are members who want a total ban, some that want no ban, some that want a ban with exemptions, etc.   And even if the House were able to get something through (which it has in the past),  over on the Senate, things are still as sketchy because lawmakers are still all over the place and there is no real concensus.

On the city side, Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard has told me that he will not  sign a smoking ban that doesn’t give some leeway to private clubs. The issue is whether a club can be smoking and still allow minors, especially if the minors and smoke will never come into contact with each other because they are on separate floors.   City-County Councilor Ryan Vaughn reportedly plans to offer an amendment that pretty much does that and the Mayor has made it clear that is the only way he will sign a smoking ban.

Democrat Angela Mansfield, smoking ban author, has accused the Mayor of flip-flopping on the issue.  Regardless, Democrats may have enough votes to pass a smoking ban, but they do not have enough votes to override a Mayoral veto, especially after the move by CCC member Vernon Brown to reduce the number of Republicans on committees. That apparently has caused a lot of bad blood and practically guaranteed that Democrats will never be able to override a veto (which takes 20 votes) anytime soon.

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.