Indiana House Democrats today notified their Republican counterparts that they were ending what has amounted to the longest walkout in state history.  Democrats originally  walked out last month over issues concerning “right to work” legislation and what they called anti-union and anti-public schools.  In a news release just put out, Democrats said they extracted several concessions including the following…

• Right-to-work legislation is off the table, preserving collective bargaining rights;

• The permanent ban on public employee bargaining is off the table in the House;

• Enabling legislation for private takeover of public schools is off the table in the House;

• Private school vouchers will be limited to 7,500 students in the first year and 15,000 in the second year, rather than the largest voucher program in the nation the Republicans originally wanted;

• Rather than an outright ban of Project Labor Agreements as Republicans wanted, PLAs still can be included with projects passed by public referendum; and

• The threshold for applying the common construction wage to projects would be $250,000 for 2012 and $350,000 for 2013, rather than the job-killing $1 million threshold the Republicans wanted.

While some may call this a victory, a close look at what Democrats received doesn’t really change the dynamics of the legislature.  The language regarding project labor agreements has been on the table for the last few weeks.  The only real change is the timeline and when it goes into effect.  The dollar amounts are phased in over two years as opposed to being implemented in just one year.

In addition, the bills regarding public employee bargaining and the “takeover” over public schools are off the table in the House.  It says nothing about whether the bills can come up in the Senate.   And the voucher legislation was already set long before the Democrats came back.

So as you can see Democrats are declaring victory, but what did they win?

I know 2012 is a still a ways off, but let’s face it.  Indiana House Democrats probably won’t be back until then anyway, so we’ve got plenty of time to look at some other things, like next year’s gubernatorial race.

Of course the heavyweights in the room are Indiana Congressman Mike Pence and former Speaker of the Indiana House John Gregg.  Both sides are making movies that signal they want to spend sometime at 47th and Meridian.  But before they do, both will have to make it through a primary.  I haven’t heard many other names on the Democratic side; however I do know Gregg may face some issues with the more “progressive” wing of his party.  The internal scuttlebutt is that if Gregg does run, he’ll pick former state Health Commissioner and Congressional candidate Dr. Woody Myers as his running mate.  But that’s another blog post for another time.

Meanwhile Pence on the other hand, may find the road to his party nomination with a few challenges as well.  I recently sat down and chatted with some supporters of one of his potential opponents, Indianapolis-area business man Jim Wallace.  They think some recent polling data they’ve done shows that the primary will be tough, but not unwinnable.

They say their polling data shows jobs, the budget and education to be Hoosiers tops priorities while social issues poll less than 5%.  Ironically, social issues don’t register for the 35 and under crowd, however they are extremely important for the 65 and over.  So the target will naturally be the 35-55 group.

I asked about how Wallace would fair in a head to head match up with Pence.  The campaign would not go into exact numbers however they did admit while Pence enjoys a healthy name identification in some places, the further you get away from the 6th Congressional District, the less people know him.  The also say Pence does poorly with women under 65 on the Planned Parenthood funding issue.  Wallace reportedly runs strong in the 1st and 2nd Congressional Districts and is apparently within 10 points in the 8th and 9th Districts.  Pence also does well in Marion County.

The Wallace camp also made it a point to tell me that as Hoosiers got to know more about both candidates, the gap narrowed immensely and they did plan to have the money to run a competitive race.  Like I said, this should be interesting.

And by the way, I did ask if their polling revealed anything else about any other candidate, the only bit of information I got was that incumbent Senator Dick Lugar was polling at about 67% with GOP voters, however that was part of the poll was taken just as Richard Mourdock was getting into the race for the U.S. Senate.

I was having a discussion with a friend recently who opposes a statewide smoking ban.  In his rant, which involved the usual references to liberty and freedom, he also decried the pro-smoking ban proponents as Nazis.  I immediately corrected him on two counts.  First, it’s not cool to call people Nazis.  Secondly, you can actually negotiate with Nazis, the pro-smoking ban crowd, not so much.

I watched nearly three hours of testimony this week in the Indiana Senate Public Policy Committee over a proposed smoking ban for the state.  It allows exemptions for casinos, bars, tobacco shops and legion halls.  And although by some estimates that would cover about 75% of Indiana businesses and workplaces, that’s not good enough for the anti-smoking crowd.  For some reason these guys want to play a zero-sum game and for them it’s either all or nothing.  Someone needs to sit down and tell these guys how the Legislature works.

First of all, the point of a legislative body is to compromise.  It’s a very rare day when a bill makes through the legislature in its original form, particularly when it is as wide reaching as the proposed smoking ban.  Everyone with half a brain and who has paid attention to the Indiana General Assembly knows that there is no way, particularly with the current make up of the second branch of government, that a total smoking ban is going to pass anytime soon.  And instead of using some common sense, the anti-smoking forces have decided to settle for nothing rather than something that gets them more of they’ve ever received in the past 15 years that this issue has been brought up.

The smoke-free crowd argues that no level of exposure of second hand smoke is healthy.  They may be correct, however there is this thing called reality that they may want some exposure to as well.  A total ban is not going to happen.  However, if they adopted something similar to the Marion County ordinance that only allows smoking in places that doesn’t allow children they can    pass that legislation tomorrow, or whenever the Democrats come back from Illinois.  Hey guys, if I may paraphrase Mitch Daniels, purity tests are only for suicide bombers and jihadists.  And 75% of something is better than 100% of nothing.  Now go put that in your pipe and, well, never mind.

Here’s the latest gossip, rumor and innuendo coming from the Capitol.  Do with it what you will…

There’s a lot of speculation about what happened in the impromptu meeting Wednesday afternoon between House Speaker Brian Bosma and Democratic leader Pat Bauer.   Bauer was in town for a “personnel issue” that involved the four legislative leaders and while he was here he asked Bosma if they could meet.  The topic of discussion was the bill offered by State Representative Bill Davis on project labor agreements and local government construction projects.  In the hour-long meeting Bauer reportedly sought some “clarification” on issues regarding the bill.  The belief is that absentee Democrats are looking any minor concession they can get in order to declare victory and return back to Indiana.  The walkout is entering into its 32nd day.

The Indiana State Senate and Libertarian Party of Indiana (LPIN) are  investigating an e-mail they say is a hoax regarding correspondence that alleges communication between State Senator Connie Lawson and a member of the LPIN regarding the marriage amendment.  The e-mail that has Lawson’s name attached to it  threatened the Libertarians if they don’t back off their public opposition to the amendment.  Senate President Pro Tem David Long called the e-mail a fake and is doing an investigation.  State Police may be brought in.  Libertarians say they tried to bring the e-mail to the Republicans attention a while back, but they had no luck until they went public with their complaint.  A late news release by the LPIN to members said the e-mail was a hoax and they said both they and Senator Lawson are victims.  A similar hoax e-mail went out a couple weeks ago involving the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Tony Bennett.

Don’t be surprised if you see an ethics complaint filed against the Indiana Democratic Party over its covering of the costs for absentee Democrats in Illinois. There’s a question as to whether contributions to the Party to pay for the hotel rooms is coming from any lobbyists of political action committees which would run afoul of state law.  Frankly, I’m surprised Indiana Democrats haven’t disclosed their list of donors to put this all to bed, especially with the noise they’ve been making lately about indicted financier Tim Durham.  And I’m even more surprised that Common Cause of Indiana hasn’t put out a release calling for more transparency and openness about the donors.

And before I forget, come join me tonight for Cocktails and Conversation and Dunaways at 351 S. East.  It’s from 5-8.  Our guests will House Ways and Means Chairman Jeff Espich and House Floor Leader Bill Friend with the latest on what’s been going on under the Capitol Dome.

It’s no big secret that I am a fan of what’s known as “right to work” legislation.  I don’t believe anyone should be forced to join or pay for a union as a condition of their employment.  If they want to join willingly, then more power to them.  However, there is a time and place for everything, and when it comes to right-to-work legislation, now is not the time and the Statehouse is not the place.

The National Right to Work Committee is planning to spend $100,000 on print and broadcast ads attacking Governor Mitch Daniels and House Speaker Brian Bosma for not pushing a vote for right-to-work and for not getting tougher on Democrats.  I don’t know what plane of existence these people are on, but apparently it’s not the same one as those of us who follow this issue closely.

Despite what the Indiana House Democrats say publicly, right-to-work was the reason they fled to my home state of Illinois and have been hanging out there for the last 30+ days.  Once right-to-work was taken off the table they decided to change the rules and are now privately are looking for an exit strategy that will allow them to keep their political manhoods intact.

The Governor has already said bringing this up was a dumb idea and it should have never happened in the first place.  Senate Pro Tem David Long has made it clear that right-to-work will go to a summer study committee.  House Speaker Brian Bosma says the bill was for dead for all intent purposes when the committee report failed to be adopted.

By bringing this back up all the right-to-work advocates people are doing is giving Democrats another reason to play political games and stay away from Indianapolis.  Instead of pushing for right-to-work, how about pushing for the right to remain silent and keep your mouth shut.

It would do everybody a world of good.

I was hoping to make the former Deputy Mayor’s news conference last week on illegal firearms, unfortunately my other obligations kept me away.  Luckily, I managed to get a hold of most what she said; the nice thing about also working in television.   And for starters, let me give Democratic mayoral candidate Melina Kennedy credit for wanting to crack down on illegal guns.  It’s a much better position to advocate than offering amnesty to gang members like she did when running for prosecutor back in 2006.

However, there were a couple parts of her plan that had me confused.  I’m all for stricter penalties for those who use weapons in the commission of crime, but Melina also wanted the current Mayor to sign a pledge proposed by the group Mayors Against Illegal Guns to show his opposition to illegal guns.  I guess the 2,000 or so illegal guns taken off the streets last year wasn’t enough to demonstrate that point.   But if the pledge is good enough for four other Indiana mayors to sign out of  460,  I guess it’s good enough for Indianapolis.

Melina also wanted to target what she says is a “loophole” in the law that in some instances a criminal can go to an existing gun show and buy a gun with no questions asked and no background check.  That’s not the entire story.  Anyone can buy a gun at a gun show without a background check if they are buying the gun from another person and not a dealer.  They can also do it at 86^th and Meridian, 62^nd and College, 115 W. Washington, 148 E. Market Street or 912 N. Delaware.  The gun show is not the issue, in fact according to FBI statistics, less than 1% of guns used in crimes are purchased at gun shows.

Ask any experienced law enforcement officer and he or she will tell you that the gun used in a crime was likely stolen or traded for drugs.  No criminal in his right mind is going to walk into a place, full of undercover law enforcement by the way, and buy a gun that can be traced back to him.  The real world doesn’t operate that way.   And if you look at latest shootings in Indianapolis, I don’t think the Indy 1500 Gun and Knife Show was responsible for weapons ending up in the hands of criminals.

Like I said early, I have to give Melina credit for wanting illegal guns off the streets.  We all do.  Of course if you go after gangs and illegal drugs the venn diagram will also show you getting most illegal guns, too.   However, if she and her campaign really wanted to do some good, they would take some of the money they’ve done a good job raising, head over to the east side of town, and start doing some illegal gun purchases and turning the weapons into law enforcement. Instead of hanging around 1202 E. 38th Street drive down to 9000 E. 38th Street. That will go much further in immediately getting illegally possessed guns off the streets than targeting a gun show.

As the stand-off between Indiana House Republicans and Democrats enters into its second month, neither side shows any sign of concession.   While returning from Springfield Sunday afternoon, I stopped in Urbanna and spoke with State Representative Vernon Smith of Gary as he was leaving the Comfort Suites and heading to church.

Vern Smith (Runtime 6 minutes)

Meanwhile, Indiana Republicans are unveiling a new website to “track” House Democrat movements both inside and outside of Indiana.  You have to admit, it keeps life interesting.

And while I’m thinking about it, here’s something else to ponder.   My colleague Jim Shella is reporting that Indiana House Democrats have raised $10,000 in small donations to help pay for the walkout.  However, a hotel stay at the Comfort Suites will cost you about $99.00 a night per person.  So at any given time 37 Democrats are allegedly staying at the hotel; two are back here on the House floor and Representative Steve Stemler decided not to participate.  That means 37 Democrats x $99.00 = $3,663.00 a night.  $3,663 x 30 days = $109,890.   But if they’ve raised only $10,000 in small donations and only had $40,000 in the bank that’s only $50,000 so how are they paying for remaining  $59,890.00?  Or am I missing something here?

By the way, if you want to express your support or opposition for what Indiana House Democrats are doing the number for the Comfort Suites in Urbanna is 217-328-3500.

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Quick update:  I’m told the Indiana Democratic party is footing up to $2,500.00 a day for hotel rooms.  That’s $75,000 for the past month.  Maybe Chairman Dan Parker stopped taking a salary.

When the Indiana Democrats walked off the floor on February 21, no one imagined they would still be gone nearly 30 days later.  By being out for so long it’s been estimated that this is the longest walkout of any legislative body in the history of the United States.  And apparently that was enough for the Republicans to tell the absentee Democrats to do the political equivalent get bent, the negotiations were over.

The Speaker of the House and Pro Tem of the Senate have agreed to shift legislation over to the Senate of things and move forward.  Senator David Long says budget hearings will begin on Monday and committee chairmen of both chambers will begin looking for homes for a number of House bills in Senate legislation.

And while lawmakers plan to follow the germane rule, which means only legislation that’s relevant can be attached to bills, that rule does not apply to the budget and anything can be attached there.

And facing that scenario, I still can’t figure out the logic of the absentee Democrats, many of them are really sharp individuals.  I can understand staying away for a few days, but a month?  Out of state?  Really.  And not a whole lot has changed.  There’s been some movement on the school voucher bill and project labor agreements on public works projects, but there’s only so much that the GOP will give in on.   I frankly don’t know what more the Democrats want,  and to be honest, I don’t think they do either.

What I do know is that as of Thursday afternoon, the political train is leaving the station.  And once it’s gone, you never what it’s going to pick up along the way.  And if you don’t like the current passengers, just wait.