Everyone is wondering who will be the next leader of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee.
The vacancy is the result of the decision by current Chairman Jeff Espich, R-Uniondale, to retire from his legislative post directing the chambers’ financial policy.
A number of names from the House Republican caucus have been floated, but House Speaker Brian Bosma won’t make any official announcement until after the election.
But the real question might be – will there be a House Ways and Means Committee?
In 2004, after longtime Senate Finance Chairman Larry Borst was defeated, then-Senate President Pro Tem Robert Garton broke the committee into two. That is why there is both a Senate Appropriations Committee and Senate Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee today.
Espich said splitting up Ways and Means “wouldn’t be the worst thing,” calling the chairmanship a big job for a newcomer.
“I gave the speaker my thoughts. It is his choice. He has not told me, and I don’t even know if he knows yet,” he said. “It’s really not my business.”
Breaking the committee in two would allow Bosma to add another member to the leadership ranks, which includes increased pay, responsibility and political stature.
Freedom rally
Organizers are planning another religious freedom rally on the Allen County Courthouse Green, their third and last for the year.
Stand Up for Religious Freedom will start at 10 a.m. Oct. 6.
The event “is inspired by recent infringements on religious liberty by the federal government” – specifically, a Department of Health and Human Services rule that requires religious groups or their insurers to provide their employees with coverage that pays for contraceptives, according to a prepared statement.
Scheduled speakers include state Rep. Sue Ellspermann of Ferdinand, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor.
Organizers include representatives of Scandinavia House Fort Wayne, Lutherans for Life, Allen County Right to Life and the Fort Wayne-South Bend Catholic Diocese.
Similar rallies were March 23 and Aug. 11. The contraceptive insurance rule was the topic of those rallies, too.
Her silence ends
Warsaw mom Monica Boyer, co-founder of Kosciusko Silent NO More, has released her first book about her personal political journey with tea party politics.
“Not on My Watch – A Mom’s Fight for the Heart and Soul of Her Country” explains the frustration Boyer felt with the direction of the country and the small active steps she began to take in her community to make a difference.
“She couldn’t have grasped how these small steps would change a state and ultimately, the nation, as the TEA Party movement she helped lead, retired six-term Indiana Senator Dick Lugar,” a news release about the book said.
Boyer had always been a faithful voter but had not become politically active. She is now the president of Kosciusko Silent NO More and co-founder of Hoosiers for a Conservative Senate.
For more information on the book, go to www.monicaboyer.com.
