Lesley Stedman Wedenbener has an article in the Louisville Courier Journal entitled “Daniels Overstepping Authority, Critics Say.” She points to a number of instances where the Governor either didn’t or may not have had the authority to take certain actions — suspending the State’s liquor laws, for example, when implementation of DST would have required bars to shut down an hour early after the NCAA’s Final Four. Other allegations have to do with extending the deadline for counties to adopt local option income taxes and hurdles imposed for transfer of casino ownership interests.
Gov. Daniels calls it “pushing the envelope.” We hear all about “activist judges.” Shouldn’t Republicans be equally against “activist Governors” or really anyone in government who assumes power they don’t have. And, as the column points out, the Governor is selective about his power grabs. Where it suits him, he is perfectly willing to hide behind a claim that he is, in fact, powerless — as he did when asked to do what former Gov. O’Bannon did years ago and suspend the sales tax on gas.
I’ll offer a partial defense of Gov. Daniels.
In the first place, there is a major distinction between an activist executive and an activist judiciary. In the latter case, their activism actually creates law, especially upon fundamental principles of government. Gubernatorial power is much less far-reaching and fixed, does not enjoy the inertia of stare decisis, and, if perverse, much more easily corrected. Further, if activism is abused, the executive is more easily removed than the justice. In short, gubernatorial activism does not pose the same threat to law and order as does judicial activism, and so is not likely to be met with commensurate outrage.
In the second place, while I agree that, in general, executives ought not to take extralegal actions, Daniels’ actions in particular have been rather mild. Most excusable is his activism on the Final Four/DST thing: the rule calling for bars to close at 2 am is arbitrary, so an arbitrary decision to keep them open longer is trivial. The administration may very well (and rightly) get spanked in court for the DLGF and IHRC affairs, but still, in all the conceivable ways in which the executive may abuse power, these seem relatively mild.
Skeptics may point to these steps as harbingers of more abuse to come, but at this point, I don’t think Daniels’ activism has reached the point of outrageous.
Good points ZW, however:
DST itself is arbitrary, and setting our clocks two hours ahead of the actual solar time is arbitrary. If we can ignore them all, that would be fine with me, but if we’re going to be forced to play by one set of stupid rules, then those same stupid rules can ruin the party even on final four weekend.
You’re barking up my tree, Jason. I am committed to abolishing EDT in Indiana for good with Federal legislation that would disallow a state from observing a time zone other than their natural geographic one. I just don’t know how to go about it.
chuckcentral
You have my vote!