« BACK  |  PRINT

RS

MEMBER DIARY

Scott Walker’s Good Example and Mitch Daniels’ Bad Example

By: Ben Domenech (Diary)  |  February 23rd, 2011 at 10:31 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Download Podcast | iTunes | Podcast Feed

In American politics, all eyes this week have been turned toward Wisconsin, where the clash over the bargaining process and entitlements for public employee unions has sparked protests and legislator walkouts. Today on Coffee and Markets we’re talking with Mark Mix, head of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, about his views on the battle in Wisconsin and elsewhere over public employee unions. We also talk about Mitch Daniels’ surprising attitude towards right to work laws in Indiana.

We’re brought to you as always by Stephen Clouse and Associates. You can find our iTunes feed at CoffeeandMarkets.com. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

Mitch Daniels Salutes Dem Lawmakers Who Fled IN to Avoid Labor Vote
Rubin: Two Governors, Only One Ready for Primetime
Indiana House Passes Right to Work Bill
Barone: Public Unions Force Taxpayers to Fund Democrats
National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation
NRTW on Twitter

Tags: , , , , ,

COMMENTS

POSTING RULES  |  LOGIN TO COMMENT  |  REGISTER TODAY
  • LibertarianHawk

    This didn’t come out of nowhere. He’s got his eye on the ball of education reform — and he knew that the House Democrats could thwart the entire legislative session by walking out as they have.

    Now, there’s a genuine risk of neither one getting done because the House GOP didn’t listen to Gov. Daniels’ advice.

    The thing people HAVE to understand is that there’s a built-in time limit in Indiana House rules. They only have a limited amount of time to take up a bill passed out of committee before it expires — and once it expires, it can’t be brought back up until the next legislative session.

    Daniels knew this and knew Dems would deny the quorum. Unlike Wisconsin, they don’t have to stay away for weeks or months. They just need to stay away for days and the clock runs out.

    This is a long-standing House rule.

    What Indiana Republicans should do is take his advice: run on right-to-work in 2012, win, get Mike Pence elected, and then get moving on RTW….which is precisely what he and they have done with the education reform he’s pushing.

    • http://twitter.com/bdomenech Ben Domenech

      Very risky to miss this moment.

      • LibertarianHawk

        But without the imprimatur of an electoral mandate to do this, the Democrats have pretty much free rein to nuke not only the RTW legislation, but the entire session.

        Daniels predicted exactly what’s happening right now — including the imperiling of his education reforms (which includes a statewide voucher program, expanding charter schools, instituting merit pay for teachers, and various other things).

        I think his point was: why not win the battle we’ve been fighting for a number of years before taking up one we haven’t been fighting and are likely, for the moment, going to lose?

        I want the RTW statute as much as anybody. But the minority party in the Indiana House has a lot of power because of the time limit for a bill to be taken up on the floor after coming out of committee.

        This isn’t the first time this has happened here — in fact, it isn’t the first time it’s happened since Daniels has been governor.

        • grandma

          This Indiana Grandma thanks you for writing both of your comments.

  • Stinger808

    as a governor, then how will he handle the Presidency?

    If there’s a terror attack on the homeland, and a Supreme Court nomination to shepherd through the Senate, will he say:

    “Not right now fellas, I’ve got this school uniform initiative to focus on”?

    In a way, I’m not surprised that he’s doing this.

    The temperament that leads one to call a gratuitous”truce” on core issues often leads one to shirk other fights.

    It’s good that we’re seeing this now, instead of when he might have been the nominee or a kingmaker.

    • LibertarianHawk

      …up against any governor’s in the country. And I’m relatively confident his would come out on top.

      That includes social issues, BTW. For one thing, he’s about to get the first, broad statewide school voucher program that would allow families to send their kids to private, religious schools with their education voucher.

      • http://www.nighttwister.com NightTwister

        Any religious school that accepts vouchers is foolish. As soon as they accept those vouchers the government can start telling them what to teach, what not to teach, and how to teach it.

        Always consider how a law can be implemented in the worst way, because eventually it will be.

        • LibertarianHawk

          Schools will be free to reject the vouchers, of course.

          And, besides, I really don’t expect too much problem with that here in Indiana. Maybe I’m being naive — and I know that the secular humanists can be awfully persistent.

          But the law was crafted to more or less avoid that.

          The point is: conservatives have been pushing for vouchers for a long time (Friedman was talking about them in the 60s….Daniel Patrick Moynihan tried in vain to get Democrats to embrace them).

          And we’re finally getting a statewide program…and we’re all ready to throw the man responsible for it under the bus.

          It’s nuts.

          • http://www.nighttwister.com NightTwister

            I don’t really see it as a positive or negative though.

            I’m really surprised though that someone with “Libertarian” in their name wouldn’t assume the worst from government.

            I don’t think anyone’s ready to throw him under the bus, there’s just a bunch of us saying he’s done things that make me not want him as our Presidential candidate. There’s a big difference between supporting someone as a Governor and supporting the same for President.

          • LibertarianHawk

            You realize that Milton Friedman, one of the earliest proponents of school vouchers, is one of the patron saints of libertarianism.

            In fact, it was a cause he devoted time, money, and energy to all the way to his death. Go look up the Foundation for Economic Choice — which was fka the Milton and Rose Friedman Foundation.

            And, if you don’t like school vouchers, then don’t get one…and don’t send your kids to a school that accepts them. Simple enough.

            I’m big on the concept of choice, in case it isn’t obvious. ;)

            (And, no, not in the case of abortion)

          • http://www.nighttwister.com NightTwister

            I’m all in favor of school choice. We have it here where I live, and charter schools too. My kids are almost done with school, so I don’t have any skin in this game. I think there’s a place for vouchers (e.g. failing schools), but I wouldn’t be in favor or general availability, and again, I think religious schools would be crazy to accept them.

            Interestingly, this has been all over the news recently. The most conservative county in Colorado is considering a voucher program.

          • grandma

            in my class back in the ’60s at PU. Loved him from day one. Now they are teaching keynesian econ according to a student I spoke with last summer.

  • eileenforfreedomliberty

    Well…it is a good thing…that Daniels run for the presidency has been nipped in the bud by his cowardly act of coming against his own taxpayers who are paying the bills for all the public pensions and healthcare!

    America…I will say it again…never…ever put your trust in any one man/woman!

    Vet…vet….vet! Don’t be so quick to get on the bandwagon of someone who ‘appears’ to be presidential. Watch and listen…and sooner or later they will show who they truly are…and this one is a mdoerate ‘fence sitter’ to be sure…and we don’t need another one like Johnnie ‘come conservative too late’ McCain!

    ~~~

    BANISH THE UNION ?GOONS? ? IS YOUR STATE ?RIGHT TO WORK?? – http://www.nrtw.org/rtws.htm

    A TESTIMONIAL OF A FORMER UNION ?GOON? –

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/us/22union.html?_r=1

  • sharonmcp

    Governor Walker’s office confirms prank Koch call

    http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2011/02/governor_walkers_office_confir.html

    The Internet is burning up with the news that Governor Scott Walker may have been pranked by a caller claiming to be David Koch, and a spokesman for the Governor, Cullen Werwie, emails a statement confirming the call is legit:

    The Governor takes many calls everyday. Throughout this call the Governor maintained his appreciation for and commitment to civil discourse. He continued to say that the budget repair bill is about the budget. The phone call shows that the Governor says the same thing in private as he does in public and the lengths that others will go to disrupt the civil debate Wisconsin is having.

    More on this in a sec, but for now, suffice it to say that this will reinforce perceptions that Walker is in way over his head.

    I just heard about this on FOX News, the governor’s office is confirming that it is his voice on the call.

    • hoosierteacher

      Read the Weekly Standard breakdown here.

      http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/scott-walker-takes-prank-call-blogger-posing-david-koch_552383.html

      • sharonmcp

        I’ve been reading a few of the left wing’s blogs. Of course they’re salivating over the comment he made about the baseball bat.

        • hoosierteacher

          …Just for different reasons.

          : )