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Indiana Democrats: Total Capitulation

By: Leon H. Wolf (Diary)  |  March 29th, 2011 at 05:00 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Although far less publicized than the Wisconsin Democrat Temper-Tantrum, Indiana State Dems have staged a walkout that far exceeded the Wisconsin walkout both in terms of time wasted and ultimate futility. Last night, the Indiana Democrats staged an ignominious return in which they were forced to explain why they accomplished absolutely nothing after wasting half a million dollars in taxpayer money.

See, unlike in Wisconsin, when the Dems left town, the Republicans took the opportunity to shelve the right-to-work legislation (the stated reason for the Great Democrat Flight) and get down to passing the rest of their legislative agenda sans Democrats, including the budget (balanced) and redistricting. As the Indianapolis Star put it:

For five weeks, Democrats in the Indiana House based their ill-conceived walkout on the sentimental and self-serving premise that by holing up in a Central Illinois hotel they were somehow standing in solidarity with working-class Hoosiers. That claim might have had more credibility if House Democrats had returned to the Statehouse a month ago, right after Republicans pulled right-to-work legislation off the table.

But the extended boycott, with no recent victories of substance, has served only to further undermine the wayward Democrats’ relevance in the Statehouse. Republicans, after giving up on Democrats’ imminent return, moved forward with the budget bill and other legislative priorities. The message from the GOP’s leadership was clear, and largely accurate: We don’t really need the minority party to push ahead with the people’s work.

Well, the Democrats are now back, and they are more unpopular than ever. And they are in the unenviable position of having to explain to the voters why, in these economically troubled times, with Hoosiers everywhere fighting for their jobs, the Indiana taxpayers had to foot the massive bill for their out-of-state jaunt, with absolutely nothing to show for it in return. In this fight, the IN GOP has scored a near-total victory.

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  • LibertarianHawk

    …is that they’re desperately trying to claim “victory”. Every quote I’ve seen from every wayward Democrat to this point has been “We won…we got the Republicans to capitulate.”

    And, for the life of me, I have a hard time seeing a single thing they won. About the closest they can come is that Republicans wanted to raise the cap on public projects allowing project-labor agreements (where building trade unions are essentially guaranteed the work) from $150K to $1M. The Republicans agreed to only raise it to $350K.

    Beyond that, that’s it. RTW was off the table a month ago…and at the behest of Gov. Daniels, not the Democrats.

    The Republicans did also lower the number of school vouchers authorized. But, according to Speaker Bosma, that was done to win some soft Republican votes…not any Democrats (who are all going to vote against the vouchers anyway).

    Daniels won everything he’s been seeking — with the lone exception of Township Government reform. And it was Republicans, not Democrats, who spiked that.

    • aesthete

      leadership and experience are: it isn’t Daniels’ first crack at the pi?ata (or, for that matter, Bosma’s). God bless him for giving it a shot, but Walker really is a political novice in many respects: this hurt him both because he didn’t know how to handle the media in the big leagues (notice that Daniels was on TV more than Walker, despite the fact that IN’s struggle was playing second fiddle to WI’s), and because he just didn’t know the options at his disposal. It’s too bad that we couldn’t get RTW, but in honesty that wasn’t a possibility, and we did get pretty much everything we wanted besides.

      • LibertarianHawk

        Sometimes I feel lonely in discussing this here. As if people just don’t quite understand the underlying dynamics here.

        I wish we’d have gotten RTW. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that Mitch Daniels wishes we’d have gotten RTW. If the guy has any discernible guiding philosophy, it’s a pragmatic form of libertarianism. He’s asked to cite some influential books…and he comes up with people like Charles Murray, FA Hayek, and Virginia Postrel for crying out loud.

        So some look at his words/actions regarding RTW as some kind of ideological capitulation or apostasy.

        I look at it as picking fights you know you can win….and saving fights you’re likely to lose at the present time for a different day.

        There are two schools of thought on this. Some would say it’s better to fight for the right ideas and lose than to postpone losing battles until they can be won.

        I think Daniels’ way is better. And, you’re right, he got almost every single item he set out to get. The only exception is the township reform….and the problem there is the deeply entrenched interests within both parties. It was Senate Republicans who did that bill in.

        • redneck_hippie

          Scott hearts Mitch, too

          http://twitter.com/ScottKWalker/status/52139710151262208

          (also posted on the WI governor’s FB page.

          You’ll like this ad from Aiming Higher, Daniels’ PAC

          http://www.aiminghigherindiana.com/blog/aiming-higher-welcomes-house-dems-home-insist-stay/

          Mitch has lots of friends. They just don’t post here much.

        • chrisofrights

          And, in fact, he gave up nothing while being able to appear magnanimous. RTW was dead before the Dems left. It was never going to pass the Senate, and in fact had already been referred to a study committee (a polite way of saying it had been tabled until the next session).

          So, even the ONE thing that the Dems can claim victory on, was no victory.

          This was nothing but a complete waste of time and money by the Dems. And every campaign ad against them next year has already been written.

          “Vote for me! I promise to show up for work!”

          • thurman

            I know it’s fashionable for all the rabid SoCons and kneejerk checkbox conservative types to bash him, but Daniels has been masterful handling this. It will be a nice feather on his cap to end an amazing 8 year run

            I hope everything runs smoothly from here on out so he can seriously reconsider running for POTUS again instead of being distracted by this manufactured drama

            Indiana has much more sensible right-center voters than Wisconsin, so the Dems will not get away with this kind of garbage there. They have created a Republican minority in the state for a generation with their embarrassing behavior here.

            I tip my hat to Daniels here, I hope thoughtful conservatives are paying attention

          • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

            But would you mind clearing out? The adults are trying to talk.

          • thurman

            Take your snarky attitude somewhere else. The irony of you calling yourself an adult while making your juvenile little comment makes you look like a jackass.

          • redneck_hippie

            to give you another chance. He’s a moderator. Get it?

          • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

            You’re the one who left the comment full of namecalling talking points practically lifted from the Planned Parenthood guidebook.

            I just called you out for what you are: someone pretending to have serious points while others actually have them.

          • redneck_hippie

            another good Republican governor in order to score points. You’d look better if you stayed positive rather than trying to be a smart-butt. There’s a great crop of governors to be proud of, let’s don’t act like the donks and propagandize their accomplishments.

        • lineholder

          putting a cap on the number of charter school student vouchers. I’m not sure that compromise was necessary either, under the circumstances.

          http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/03/indiana-legislative-compromise-could-hurt-mitch-daniels

          • redneck_hippie

            Some pundits wish to give the “victory” to one side versus the other side. I’ve seen articles that gave the win to the donks, and I’ve seen other articles that gave the win to the reps. Certainly there are not many major reform agendas that are passed without amendments.

            I know that the reform of the township governments was killed by a bipartisan effort of donks and the establishment representatives. To not give credit where credit is due would be a mistake, in my opinion.

            People should be able to see that Gov. Daniels is keeping his promises to his constituents to the best of his ability. Not good enough for some, I guess. His reforms are going to be very important to Indiana going forward. And the caps are only temporary if I’m not mistaken.

          • lineholder

            Repubs in general are badly prone to make conciliatory compromises when it isn’t genuinely necessary.

            After the way the wayward Dems had acted, I think Daniels would have been able to pull this off and achieve his goal on the charter school student vouchers without making the compromises.

            I would have liked to see him stand his ground on this one, that’s all.

          • redneck_hippie

            armchair quarterbacks are nitpicking because of their antipathy to Daniels over the truce. I’m not saying that you are doing that, because I’ve talked with you before and you seem fairminded and inclined to listen to both sides. My point of view is that I would trade Gov. Daniels and his last 6 years of accomplishments in my neighboring state (which I have been hearing about more and more frequently as the ’12 silly season looms ever closer) in a New York heartbeat, for the cesspool and pre-Armeggadon that is going on outside my front door.

            Would you think that the people of Indiana are carping over the amendments when they are going to get expanded charters and school vouchers, along with other tax-saving reforms that are causing the liberals’ heads to explode?

            Daniels is hated like a snake by the welfare class and unions in his state. He’s been at this for 6 years, so I trust his judgement to do what is best.

            Again, all the opposition to reform does not come from one party only, and if Daniels and the Republicans had to include some amendments for passage, then I think the citizens of Indiana will be satisfied. I assume you are from another state. How do Daniels’ policies and reforms stack up against those of your governor. Has your legislature ever perpetuated the longest walkout in modern American history?

            Daniels stood firm and made the donks look ridiculous. 66% of Indianans disapprove of the walkout. The next election will be even better for Republicans in Indiana. I just saw there will be a rally for school choice tomorrow at Indianapolis. Should provide more fodder.

            Big #schoolchoice rally at the Indianapolis State House tomorrow w/ Michelle Rhee, Mitch Daniels & others. 11-2 EST.

          • LibertarianHawk

            First of all, these aren’t “charter school vouchers”. The vouchers can be used at any school that will accept them (some likely won’t — as I’m sure they’ll come with strings attached).

            There is a separate bill that expands charter schools — including empowering mayors and private colleges to establish them.

            Second, there were always going to be limitations on the vouchers of one kind or another. The original bill allowed for 10,000 the first year — the amended bill takes it down to 7,500. Also, the earnings cap for eligibility was lowered.

            Third, Bosma didn’t have the votes within his own caucus to push the voucher bill through as originally drafted. A number of Republicans are opposed to vouchers in general — and some needed them to be limited in order to vote for them.

            So, yeah, a compromise was necessary. But that’s OK — we really need to stop letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. We’ve got our foot in the door and the teachers’ unions know it.

            We’ll be able to grow the program in the future.

  • f2000

    It’s great that some other states have been able to get things done. The judicial election and recalls may change the outcome of that fight, but we ought to take a much broader view of the accomplishments of the last couple months. Then see where else further inroads can be made.

  • melissatx

    were out; wish that had happened to a greater degree in Wisconsin.

    The Dems deserve every thing hurled at them for their two-year old temper tantrums.

  • gawken

    Wisconsin and Indiana Democrats have each staged a walkout..fleeing to Illinois for a period of time. The success, or failure of that tactic will be debated for some time. It was unique…hadn’t been done since Texas dems took a powder a decade bak to try and block redistricting.

    I suspect that some people, who know in their hearts and minds that the Dems were wrong to run away, still gave them a pass.. a sort of grudging admiration for sticking to their guns.

    However, as a strategy, I think it’s a one-trick pony. If they tried it again, to forestall another piece of legislation, or even the same one that caused the original walkout…they’d suffer for it. The voters wouldn’t tolerate it. It reduces, and debases, government to a child’s temper tantrum…

    • msctex

      . . .people might not be as forgiving as you think. Granted there are many variables at play, but anyone paying an ounce of attention in Indiana will note the contradiction between claiming victory while achieving nothing.

      Hopefully Indiana will serve as a template for other States. If Dems are dumb enough to abandon their jobs, take full advantage of the fact in every way.
      One Progressive weakness is that they have to insist that their opposition play by their own twisted definition of what constitutes “fair.” It should be exploited mercilessly, until they get the message.

  • blownawayin5

    ….to go over their northern border and teach the clueless, gutless, and spineless RINOs in Michigan (who are supposedly in “power”….) how it’s done??? Anybody???

  • grandma

    Now, I can only hope that the Dems will walk out of my neighboring stat of IL. He, he, he! I’ll put them up, and cook for them till the Republicans clean up IL.

  • carolina

    today. The House committee made a few changes to the Senate Bill – which should just make it easier to get it through the full House, then back to the senate, and on to final signature. Maybe OH will take some of the attention off of WI for a while…..
    Meanwhile, I think Daniels has done a great job with the IN senate dems. Too bad this didn’t get more press, though I respect the way Daniels kept an adult attitude about his WI copycatters. The IN senate dems look really stupid. Good!

  • Adjoran

    Surely the vacationing legislators had to pay their own expenses, right?

    Do you mean the cost of keeping the legislature going? Wasn’t that going to be incurred anyway?

    Please clarify – thanks!

  • eldstenorge

    had a much more difficult job that Daniels. Walker is a new Governor and is a much, much, much more Democrat oriented state. Kasich also deserves tons of credit. Daniels caved immediately telling everything right to work should be taken off the table. Since when is it wrong to want to be able to have a job, support your family, and have your freedom too by not being forced by government to join a union to be able to do so?