The Associated press is reporting that Indiana Democrats are running out the clock because of bills they believe are Republican power grabs. Apparently high on the list was a bill (or an amendment — the AP was pretty vague) that would create a board that oversaw funding for the Colts stadium and allowed Gov. Daniels to appoint members on that board. The clock keeps ticking, appropriately, for DST which hasn’t come to a vote yet. (As long as we’re playing with time, maybe the Dems could offer a version that unexpectedly advances the clock enough to cause the bill deadline to kill any remaining bills, such as DST, they find offensive.)
Update: Michele McNeil has an article on the subject that I think is much better than the Associated Press article. She explains that 2/3 of the Representatives must be present in the House for a quorum to conduct business, and that’s how the Democrats are able to bring the House to a halt. The article also explains, “Monday, they stalled for nearly seven hours because of a crush of last-minute amendments, one of which would steer control of a Colts stadium project toward the governor.”
According to the article’s sidebar, on the line today are several bills of note:
I’m sure many of these are fine bills, but my general philosophy is that the government that governs least, governs best. So, any time government finds itself gridlocked, I’m generally happy about it. That limits the amount of damage the legislature can do while in session. Gridlock is good!
(Also, the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette has an article too. I find it amusing to hear Bosma complaining about the Democrats “not doing their job” and Bauer complaining about Republican legislative maneuvers. Both guys were doing pretty much the same thing as their counterparts when the shoe was on the other foot. Remember how Republicans left because the institution of marriage was supposedly in mortal peril without a Constitutional Amendment?)
Leave a Reply