“House Democrats selected a pro-life, pro-gun Democrat as their new leader Monday in a private caucus.”
The leader of the Indiana House Democrats, Scott Pelath, announced that he will not be seeking re-election and stepped down from his leadership position. The House Democratic caucus picked Terry Goodin, from Austin, Indiana. He is the Superintendent of the Crothersville Community School Corporation in Jackson County.
The other main contender was reportedly Phil Giaquinta out of Fort Wayne.
For years, Pat Bauer controlled the House Democrats. After a couple of walk-outs and electoral shellackings, the Democrats ousted Bauer. Rep. Linda Lawson served as an interim leader before the House Democrats picked a more permanent leader in Pelath who served in that position since 2012 (but there hasn’t been much in the way of an uptick in Democratic fortunes during that time.)
I don’t know much about Goodin. (I’ve never been that well versed in the State House power dynamics, and I haven’t been paying as much attention to the legislature in recent years as I once did.) But, he seems to have been a Bauer loyalist. The only blog entries about him that I can find indicate that he proposed legislation in 2007 and 2008 regulating the sale of “sexually explicit products.” That legislation was struck down as unconstitutional by Judge Barker in the Southern District.
On social media, the Hoosiers on the left that I follow seem pretty uniformly disappointed in the choice. (See, e.g., the Indy Democrat Blog). The main theme I see about the reason for the disappointment has to do with his opposition to same sex marriage. From what I can tell, morale hasn’t exactly been high among state Democrats for years. (In the House, I believe they are outnumbered 30 – 70.) This doesn’t seem to be helping. At the moment, it looks like there is an anti-Trump wave building for 2018. From the grumblings on social media, I’d say Goodin probably isn’t the best choice to energize state Democrats to take advantage of that wave. But, I’ll hurry to add that I’m no political strategist, and the grumblings of the voices I hear aren’t necessarily representative of anything.
It’s a judgment call: are political parties most successful when they focus on their most loyal members . . . or when they focus on shifting toward the other major party to try to pick off its supporters? My guess is that the Democratic calculus here is that, with only 30 seats, Hoosiers have spoken, and they like what socially conservative Republicans have to say. If that’s what they’re thinking, I’d call it a mistake. I think voters dislike inauthentic even more than they dislike policies they’re opposed to. Maybe it’s a political analog of the uncanny valley. But, like I said, I’m no strategist.
Indiana went for Trump by 19%, so I doubt if who the Democrats pick will make any difference. anyway. That being said, why not test the waters and pick the MOST progressive and liberal member of the caucus? That’s the only way to see if there are actually any progressives anywhere — in the whole state.
If not, then we know to just shut it down — and become Republicans so we can have a voice.
We moved here (Michigan City) in 2007 from Chicago, hosted an Obama volunteer, knocked on hundreds of doors, and watched him be voted into office with the help of Hoosiers. We have been in shell shock ever since. I don’t know what in the world is going on with Indy Dems, but putting someone in the minority leadership position who is either genuinely uptight about sexuality or thinks these are important strategic positions for Democrats to take, seems like a giant step backwards. Dear Indy Dems, why should I support you?
Among the thoughtful people who call themselves “Republicans”, I wonder how many actually subscribe to the radical right destructive nonsense. In the past (as Sheila Kennedy has pointed out) there have been some pretty sane Republicans, but they seem to be hiding or something. Surely they don’t fall in line with some of the stuff that the radical right seems to love.
I think of Indiana as a one-party state, much like the southeast and the high plains states. Democrats only hold power in urban areas and high quality of life college towns like Bloomington. Even a tsunami year at the national level will not bring Democrats back control in the House. There just are not enough prospective candidates to provide credible competition in local races and there is little electoral infrastructure. I was from a somewhat politically active family. At one point my rural county favored Democrats. We spent election eves and election days walking neighborhoods and passing out campaign materials. Poll watching and driving older folks to the polls. Reagan’s election knocked a lot of good Democrats out of local offices. House district gerrymandering in the Census of 1980 moved the town that was the Democratic hub out of the local house district and threw it in with a farm county. And over time older party leaders retired, passed away, or moved to the sunbelt. Things never reversed.