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Acknowledging that the excitement level in the House far exceeds that in the staid Indiana Senate, the Indiana Democratic Party still completely disregarded the role of the Senate on Tuesday when it sent out a premature news release.
After the House vote on the budget bill in late afternoon, the Senate began debate. And the Senate debated a lot. Nearly every Senate Democrat took to the microphone.
Finally, at 6 p.m., the Indiana Democratic Party issued a statement saying the General Assembly had passed a budget that avoided the shuttering of state government.
The only problem was that no vote had been taken yet in the Senate. That didn’t come for almost another hour.
Even worse, the e-mail ended with a veiled call for donations – “While this legislative session may be over, the fight to protect public education in Indiana is far from finished. Your invaluable support will help to ensure that your voice does not go unheard as this struggle continues.”
Talk about never missing an opportunity.
Sometimes it takes a spouse threatening to leave before a couple can truly focus on maintaining its relationship.
That appears to have happened with Fort Wayne and Allen County governments.
Just a few days after Mayor Tom Henry announced city government would be leaving the City-County Building, the county commissioners said they now want to house the sheriff with the city police in the Renaissance Square building. Last fall, the commissioners rejected that idea as being too expensive.
“We believe the mayor’s proposal offers the opportunity for the city and county to revisit the idea of a joint location for Fort Wayne’s public safety agencies and the Allen County Sheriff’s Department discussed most recently last September,” they wrote.
In other words, “Honey, please don’t go.”
As a former governor, Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., is sympathetic to state legislators who struggled to pass a budget this year.
Creating a budget is normally tough, but the slumping economy makes it even more difficult, he said during a brief stop Wednesday in Fort Wayne.
Bayh touted the stimulus bill Congress approved in January and said the law is helping states like Indiana that are struggling because of the economy.
The $2 billion in stimulus funds coming to Indiana helped prevent some teacher layoffs and stopped others from losing their health care coverage, Bayh said.
Last week’s Harrison Square hotel groundbreaking certainly had its share of excess.
Bankers from across the city crammed in with city officials and the developers to celebrate the start of the $25 million project. Even the spread was exquisite, with mini wraps, brownies and fresh grilled burgers.
But even with all the pomp, one thing was pretty clearly smaller than life. The actual shoveling was done from a small box, big enough for only about a half dozen people to participate. The box wasn’t even on the actual construction site, where real construction crews were busy.
Left out of the small ceremonial dig was former Mayor Graham Richard, who orchestrated the Harrison Square project.
Richard did get some words of appreciation from the developers, but he appeared more comfortable in the background – semi-incognito wearing large sunglasses and a ball cap.
Hoosier (and former congressman) Tim Roemer will go before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday for a confirmation hearing on his nomination to be President Obama’s ambassador to India.
Roemer, now head of the Center for National Policy, a Washington-based security think tank, represented the South Bend area in Congress from 1991 to 2003.
After leaving Congress, he was a member of the Sept. 11 Commission.
He will likely receive a warm welcome at the committee, where Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., is the senior Republican.
Last week, Hoosiers were reminded of a quirky provision in the Indiana Constitution granting lawmakers limited immunity during a legislative session.
Article 4, Section 8 of the Constitution was approved in 1851 and says senators and representatives are “privileged from arrest” during the session of the General Assembly except in the case of felony, treason or breach of the peace.
Former Democratic lawmaker Dennie Oxley II tried to use the law to escape arrest on public intoxication charges by telling police he was a representative working in the special session, police said.
But Oxley is no longer in the legislature, and instead of one misdemeanor charge, he faces two – including impersonating a public servant.
Historically, these provisions were passed around the country to limit political meddling during legislative sessions.
Another infamous use of the law involved Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, and Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, who were arrested during a traffic stop in 2002.
Their attorneys at the time argued the legislators had immunity because the legislature was in special session.
A judge later found the men were protected from arrest – but not from prosecution.
Journal Gazette Washington Editor Sylvia A. Smith and reporter Amanda Iacone contributed to this column.
