House Democratic Leader Pat Bauer told reporters today his Democratic caucus will return to the State House later today after their 34-day self-imposed exile in Urbana, Illinois to stop the Republican majority from enacting legislation the minority members opposed. It remains to be seen what compromises, if any, Republicans made with the terrorists who have held the legislative body hostage since February 22.
UPDATE: The Star has updated its earlier story to indicate the fines of $250 a day, which were later increased to $350 a day, to compel the Democrats attendance will not be waived according to House Speaker Brian Bosma. The Republicans have agreed to compromise on legislation pertaining to labor project agreements for public works projects. The bill, which would have originally increased the size of projects that may be subject to such agreements to $1 million, will be increased from the current $150,000 threshold to $350,000, but it will be phased in over two years, in effect making the legislation useless, as the vast majority of public works projects can still be subject to project labor agreements. Project labor agreements allow governmental units to exclude all but union contractors from bidding on public works projects.
"Terrorist," huh?
ReplyDeleteOne can now cause "terrorism" by not setting foot in a state and not committing an act of physical violence on anyone in a state?
Way to cheapen a word, Gary. Homeland Security has been salivating to define downward the bounds of terrorism.
That's on par with those morons last week claiming that "hags" was a sexist word.
Hostage takers are generally viewed as terrorists, are they not? If a mob can shut down a constitutional branch of government indefinitely until its demands are met, it is no different than taking hostages and demanding a ransom for their release as far as I'm concerned. Mob rule is how unions prefer to operate. That's why they want card check instead of elections to determine whether a workforce unionizes. You send out the thugs to confront the workers one-on-one demanding their signature voting to unionize. If they don't sign, they will be threatened and intimidated until they consent. God forbid they be allowed to cast a secret ballot expressing their preference
ReplyDeleteTSA loves to cheapen words -- such as 'weapon' -- by applying it to, of all things, fingernail clippers.
ReplyDeleteThe outrageous display by Indiana Democrats went far, FAR beyond merely making a statement. They seemed to be seeking anarchy.
They are supposed to act in a responsible and respectable manner. The past 5+ weeks did a lot more than impede the legislative process to make a point, it took a step into the abyss, destroying the 2-party system for more than a month.
Unless there is some legislative action to prevent a repeat, we can only expect the future will consist of minority rule and a permanently dysfunctional legislative process.
I agree with labelling it as terrorism. Terrorism is not merely physical harm. This event has inflicted perhaps-irreparable harm on the functioning of state government.
There are enough lawyers who post here....what legislative remedy is available to prevent this lunacy from reoccurring and how fast can we enact it?
ReplyDeleteApparently there used to be an anti-bolting law on the books that was repealed a few decades ago. Instead of wasting their time on the marriage discrimination amendment, lawmakers should be amending the constitutional quorum requirement from 2/3 to a simple majority.
ReplyDeleteWhat they should do is modify the law so if any group DOES bolt then the clock stops until quorum is restored. None of this running away to kill bills nonsense! Freeze the whole thing until they come back, then start again.
ReplyDelete