Representative Frankenst . . . errr . . . Bosma, with the assistance of Rep. John Ulmer (R-Goshen) and Rep. Troy Woodruff (R-Vincennes) has brought DST back to life. In an article entitled, House passes daylight-saving time bill, Mary Beth Schneider and Kevin Corcoran report that the vote stood at 48 to 49 against Daylight Saving Time with opponents calling for Bosma to close the voting. He didn’t. Reps. Ulmer and Woodruff were prevailed upon to renege on their vote, and Rep. Bosma immediately closed the vote once he got the result he wanted. Democracy in action. Presumably the villagers with the torches and the pitchforks will show up at the next election.
The roll call vote is here. I see that Rep. Lehe (R-Brookston) switched his vote from Yea to Nay. As you recall, he could have killed it on the first go around, but voted “yea” and kept it alive long enough to go to the Senate. Reps. Gutwein and McClain stuck with their flip-flops.
The Star has some related articles:
-1883 The railroads come; changing God’s Time (noon is whenever the sun is overhead) to Railroad Time. Noon Railroad Time comes at 12:16 p.m. Indianapolis God’s Time.
-1917 to 1919: Time Zones and Daylight Saving Time.
-1919: Daylight Saving Time repealed nationwide
-1942 to 1945: Daylight Saving Time implemented because of WWII.
-1945: Daylight Saving Time repealed nationwide
-1949: Indiana on Central Time – passes law mandating Central Time and no Daylight Saving Time. Counties in the east continue to do what they want.
-1956: Statewide referendum shows a majority prefers Central Standard Time. No Daylight Saving.
-1966: Yet Another National Daylight Saving Time bill enacted.
-1971: Indiana exempts itself from Daylight Saving Time.
-2005: The DST bill that couldn’t quite live and couldn’t quite die squeaks into law, and Indiana is on DST again.
Update 4/29/05 8:38 p.m. (HST): The Evansville Courier Press has an article that makes it sound like Rep. Woodruff (R-Vincennes) wasn’t happy in his role as the final flip-flop necessary to pass Daylight Saving Time. Some quotes:
House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, then held the vote tally board open for several minutes as arms were twisted.
Finally Woodruff flipped, casting the 51st, tie-breaking vote. The measure passed 51-46. Woodruff repeatedly had said in recent weeks that he would not support the measure because Eastern Daylight Time is not popular in his district.
When Woodruff’s vote came on the board, Bosma immediately closed the machines and supporters cheered. Several Republicans patted Woodruff on the back and when reporters approached, he was immediately ushered into the Bosma’s office with the doors closed.
Gov. Mitch Daniels’ chief of staff entered, as did the House Republican campaign director. After a few minutes, an ashen Woodruff emerged to talk to reporters.
“It became pretty obvious to me that this had become a partisan issue,” Woodruff said. One Democrat who supported the bill in the Thursday morning vote switched to no and a few other Democrats who were soft supporters voted no.
Woodruff said with a shaking voice that the supporters said the measure could bring new jobs to the state.
“People in my district certainly don’t know that there’s any value in it,” Woodruff said. “I’m trying to move the state forward. Some things are more important than re-election. And I think this is one of those issues.”
When asked why he would vote with his party, but against what he had said his district wanted, Woodruff said, “At the end of the day, I’m going to have to explain this vote to my constituents. If you can’t explain why you did something one way or the other, then you probably shouldn’t have done it.”
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