Kill Bills

Most of us agree that corruption is bad. But with the right political environment, and more importantly, the right attitude, even corruption can become a partisan issue. And I have good news, Hoosiers! We have both!\nThis year, Gov. Mitch Daniels created the Office of the Inspector General to investigate reported cases of corruption in our state. Already, there are more than 50 cases.\nLast week, Republicans hoped to seal the deal with House Bill 1002, the inspector general bill. Because they command a slim majority in the House, all they need is a vote on party lines, and any bill they want is guaranteed to pass.\nBut Democrats are concerned that letting the governor appoint someone to investigate corruption elsewhere in the executive branch leaves out important checks and balances on the Governor's power. Trapped in a corner, the Democrats had only one option: to not show up at the House to vote, so that the bill could be wiped out by its deadline.\nTo do this, however, they had to kill the other 131 bills also scheduled for voting that day. Thus, the Democrats embarked on a legislative killing spree, leaving daylight-saving time, state funding for a new Colts stadium and stricter abortion regulations to die in a puddle of their own ink.\nLater in the week, according to the Indianapolis Star, Daniels drew sharp criticism for saying the Democrats "car bombed" progress in Indiana, comparing Dems to Iraqi insurgents. It was a peculiar choice of metaphors, considering the Democrats work legitimately inside the system to prevent the House from voting, whereas Iraqi insurgents prevent voting by working from the outside with actual car bombs.\nIt should be noted that Republicans organized a similar legislative massacre just last year by a walkout, when they were the minority in the General Assembly and the Democrats refused to debate a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.\nThis kind of partisan bickering demonstrates why a legislative body that requires only a majority vote really does represent the people more than one that requires a two-thirds majority vote. Like the Assembly, when most people disagree with something, they don't want to see it fixed. Instead, they cry for the complete shut down of the entire system. Problems never get solved, giving armchair revolutionaries everywhere a reason to live.\nUnder these circumstances, all it takes is the threat of party-line voting to bring the entire system to a grinding halt. With the ability to keep this brand of fear hanging above our heads, anything and everything can be turned into a partisan issue.\nIn this case, Republicans can bicker about how Democrats support corruption, and the Dems can whine about how the Republicans' solution to the problem is corrupt in and of itself. Next, the politicians feed information to their constituents' rumor mill, and the resulting political meltdown leaves unfinished bills faster than you can say "job security." It's this kind of inside-the-box thinking that makes for top-breed career politicians.\nIf the House required a two-thirds majority vote to pass bills, it would force the majority party to promote bills that would actually appeal to legislators on both sides of the aisle. Lobbyists would have to gain influence with both parties. Adversaries would have to work with each other. Fewer bills would become partisan issues, and more of them would be passed. Politicians would finish the work they set out to accomplish and wouldn't have a compelling platform to get reelected. Thankfully, we have just the right ingredients to make sure that everything can become a partisan issue.