Enough is enough; get back to work

Following their counterparts in Wisconsin, Democratic Leader Pat Bauer and virtually all members of his caucus in the Indiana House of Representatives have been on a hiatus in Urbana, Ill., for nearly two weeks. The House Democrats fled the state in protest of the Republican majority’s agenda, which includes education and labor reforms.

In a sort of quid-pro-quo fashion, the Democrats sent the Republicans a list of demands, including several bills they wanted dropped before they would agree to return, including many of the proposed education reforms by Gov. Mitch Daniels.

House Speaker Brian Bosma has showed no signs of giving in, and I hope that he continues to hold strong. While I respect the Democrats’ list of demands, quite frankly it goes too far.

The catalyst that upset the Democrats the most was the right-to-work legislation that was proposed. While Daniels has not highlighted this as a top priority, House Republicans saw this as a huge move that would make Indiana’s business climate more competitive. I have to agree.

My friends on the Left frame RTW as an attack on unions or the rights of labor to organize. But in truth, it does neither.

One of the largest proponents of the RTW legislation in the state is the Indiana Chamber of Commerce. It describes the legislation succinctly: RTW “aims to forbid the compulsory payment requirement of union dues (or union membership itself) as a condition of employment ... (and) clearly would protect the individual liberties of workers who do not wish to associate with labor unions.”

My hopes are still high that House Republicans can push forward with their education reform agenda. The governor’s education agenda is modeled after reforms made by former Florida Republican Gov. Jeb Bush. President Barack Obama commended Bush on Saturday, calling him a “champion of education reform.”  

Bush faced much of the same criticism from Democrats that Daniels seems to be facing from our Indiana House Democrats.

Whatever their issue with the governor’s proposed education reform is, the fact remains that Indiana’s schools are consistently failing across the board. I happen to agree with Albert Einstein that the “definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

If the Democrats do not return to work they will be fined $250 per day for each absent member starting March 7. This was a move by Republicans to get Democrats out of their hotel rooms in Urbana and back to the table where the voters expect them to be.

We can sabre rattle all that we want about what needs to be dropped, but the fact remains clear: Indiana House Democrats need to get back to work. In the words of House Speaker Bosma, the boycott has reached “the point of absurdity.”  


E-mail: cjcaudil@indiana.edu