Let's all try calling off work. "Hey boss, it's not that I'm not working, I'm doing my job in the basement instead of the shop floor."
If they are "poison bills" then why did the majority vote for them and why are they sponsored by the representatives of the majority of the people? Since when do a handful of self-righteous boneheads get to decide for the entire State of Indiana above the lawful legislative process?!
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Democrat legislators in Wisconsin ran away rather than do their jobs and discuss, debate and vote on a school funding issue that is fundmental in the eyes of the Governor to help balance a budget deficit that is growing monstrously large. Wisconsin students are deficient in reading skills and math, by the way. Wisconsin teachers have a far-above average wage and are being asked to make some contributions to their pensions and benefits that are less than the national average. The alternative is to layoff teachers and perhaps close schools. So what happens? The Democrats run away.
Now in Indiana the Governor and the legislature are working on balancing the budget (which they must do by law in this state) which includes trying to fix the broken teacher's contract system (in which the terms of the old contract are binding until a new one is agreed upon). One key issue is making Indiana a right-to-work state, as so elequently explained by Travis Gearhart recently here in NWI Politics. Obviously Indiana wants to remain the state that stays in the black financially. There is a balanced budget bill ready to voted on. So what happens? The Democrats run away! (Including Shelli VanDenburgh) So the voters choose to elect representatives and the Democrats mock the people and the process?! Is this Egypt? Is this Greece? If you voted for one of these morons, I hope you are embarrassed!
See below:
"Not content with Madison, WI liberals having all the fun, Indiana House Democrats fled the state today to deny the necessary quorum to do business on the floor of the House. The issue that sparked the work stoppage was so-called right to work legislation, which passed out of committee yesterday morning.
The right to work bill would make it illegal for an employer to require an individual to join a union as a condition of employment. The Indiana Chamber of Commerce strongly backs the proposal and considers the fact that Indiana is not a right to work state an impediment to economic development. Unions, on the other hand, believe it’s a fatal blow to organized labor.
According to a report from the Indianapolis Star, House Democrats are leaving the state so the state police cannot take them into custody and return them to the statehouse. They are looking for a Democrat state, so thank goodness for Illinois and Kentucky. Interesting side-note: those states have combined budget deficits of $16 billion. If Democrats don’t return by Friday, Indiana’s budget bill – which is structurally balanced – will be dead.
The right to work bill passed out of the House Labor Committee yesterday morning on a 8-5 party line vote. The committee report must be adopted by today at midnight or the bill is dead. If Democrats do not return to the state by Friday, all bills pending on the calendar will be dead including the budget and the voucher bill.—CW"
So what about the will of the people and representative government? Apparently Democrats only believe in those things when they are the majority. If I were King of Indiana, I would fire every one of them, appoint temporary replacements and have all of those seats be up for election again in November of 2011. Most of us who work for a living cannot afford to just decide to stay home because something at work isn't to our liking. If we skip work, we can be fired, why should lawmakers be exempt? Pitiful example for our children, adults acting like pre-schoolers! COWARDS!
Guess what happens if we don't take actions to keep Indiana in the black? Consider Detroit:
State orders Detroit to close half its schools
Emergency financial manger told to balance troubled system's budget by consolidating operations; Class size could reach 60
AP) DETROIT - State education officials have ordered the emergency financial manager for Detroit Public Schools to immediately implement a plan that balances the district's books by closing half its schools.
The Detroit News says the financial restructuring plan will increase high school class sizes to 60 students and consolidate operations.
State superintendent of public instruction Mike Flanagan says in a Feb. 8 letter that the state plans to install another financial manager who must continue to implement Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb's plan after he leaves June 30. Flanagan's said approval of Bobb's plan means the district can't declare bankruptcy.
Bobb filed his deficit elimination plan with the state in January, saying it would wipe out the district's $327 million deficit by 2014
Bobb was hired in March 2009 by then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm.
Want to guess what party Granholm served? Even when Obamacare was being shoved down their throats, Republicans in the US House and Senate stayed and debated and fought for their constituents legally to the end. Republicans fight, Democrats run...sounds like a good country song to me. Toby Keith, where are ya, man?
Wednesday update: Mitch Daniels Nees to Grow a Backbone and Demand that Wayward Democrats Get Back to Work. Wimping Out is Not Presidential.
Mitch Daniels
I've had years of experience parenting children and grandchildren. Growing up, my kids were typical and attempted to pull various antics in an attempt to get their way. I was tempted to give in a time or two just for the sake of convenience, but I quickly learned it was a huge mistake to do so.
The worst thing a parent could do is to give into the demands of a child throwing a temper tantrum. The end result would be disastrous since the child throwing the fit would only be encouraged to do it again the next time he didn't get his way. These kids usually grow up to be school yard bullies and they become all of societies problem.
My common sense tells me that Governor Mitch Daniels made a huge mistake by wimping out when confronted with the situation of Democrats fleeing from their responsibility by going into hiding simply because they weren't getting their way at the statehouse.
Daniels' initial response was to say that Republicans should drop the right-to-work bill that caused Democrats to flee the state. He almost seemed sympathetic to Democrats' wayward actions by saying they had a right to express their views, and that it was not the right year to tackle the right-to-work issue.
Excuse me, Mitch, but that's not your call to make, and you showed yourself as a weak leader by not standing up to schoolyard bullies and by seemingly capitulating to their initial demands. You have taught them that the next time they don't get their way, they can simply run away.
Americans want leaders who will not compromise, Governor. They respect leaders like Scott Walker and Chris Christy.
Watch and learn, Mitch. Here's an example to follow. Here is Governor Chris Christy addressing some of those bullies:
Posted by Diana Vice at 8:22 AM (Welcome to My Tea Party)
Brian Bosma might have to do the heavy lifting?
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Ind. Gov't. - More on: Ball in Bosma's court after Governor speaks
Updating yesterday' entry, WTHR last evening had this story with a list of the House Democrats' demands, including its list of the "bills of concern" to House Democrats:
Education
HB 1002 Charter School Expansion. Diverts state funding to experimental schools at a time when the state has cut funding to local schools by $600 million over the past two years.
HB 1003 School Vouchers. Allows a family of four making over $80,000 a year to receive taxpayer dollars to send their children to a private school.
HB 1479 Private Takeover of Public Schools. Allows the state of Indiana to take over poorly performing schools and for these schools to be managed by for-profit companies. It removes local decision making in schools.
HB 1584 Public School Waiver of state laws. Allows school boards to seek waivers of almost any school law or regulation.
Labor
HB 1468 Right to work. Places the government between employers and their workers. It weakens the ability of working people to bargain for fair wages and safe work environments.
HB 1216 Public Works Projects and Common Construction Wage. Weakens the ability of government to ensure that tax dollars are paid to the best and most qualified workers on public works projects, and that these tax dollars are spent at home.
HB 1203 Employee representations. Ends employee rights to join a union by secret ballot and opens employees up to retaliation and firing by an employer who finds out they are trying to use their right to bargain. This is preempted by federal law. Will require the state to use taxpayer dollars to defend this legislation.
HB 1450 Unemployment Insurance. Shifts hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes from big businesses to small business and will cut benefits for unemployed workers by 25%.
HB 1585 Right to work for Public Employees. Removes collective bargaining rights at the local level.
HB 1538 Minimum wages. Precludes a community from determining what wages are appropriate for its area.
HB 1001 Budget Bill. Allowed no public testimony on a school funding formula that cuts state support for K-12 across Indiana.
And Governor Daniels is not longer feeling so conciliatory, according to tweets this morning by Matt Tully of the Indianapolis Star:
Gov. Daniels just called. Re: Dem calls to kill other bills, particularly on education: "We're not doing that. Those are my priorities."
Daniels said he was "careless with my words yesterday." When he praised actions by critics he was referring to protesters not House Dems.
See this WISH TV report, headed "Rep. Ed DeLaney explains Dems' absence."
Jon Seidel of the Gary Post-Tribune reported this story from Urbana, Illinois. It begins:
URBANA, Ill. — Indiana House Democrats signed amendment proposals delivered by their staff to an Illinois hotel late Tuesday night and insisted their exodus from the Hoosier state was not prompted exclusively by Republicans’ labor bills.
Democratic Rep. Shelli VanDenburgh of Crown Point, for example, said she would also like to stop House Bill 1003, the GOP’s school voucher bill. It and many other pieces of legislation could die this week as legislative deadlines pass.
“It’s not that we’re not working,” VanDenburgh said. “We’re not in the Statehouse working. This is the only way that we can serve the people that we represent and kill the poison bills.”
Faces normally seen on the Democrats’ side of the aisle seemed to pop up around every corner in the Urbana, Ill., hotel. Northwest Indiana lawmakers said more than 100 budget amendments they helped sign will be delivered to the Statehouse Wednesday morning by their staff.
Eric Bradner of the Evansville Courier & Press has a long story headed "Indiana House Democrats flee Statehouse."
Stephanie Gattman's report for the Elkhart Truth is headed "Indiana Dems go to Illinois to strategize on 'right to work' bill."
Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 23, 2011 09:46 AM
Posted to Indiana Government
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Quoth Shelli VanDenburgh: “It’s not that we’re not working,” VanDenburgh said. “We’re not in the Statehouse working. This is the only way that we can serve the people that we represent and kill the poison bills.”
Let's all try calling off work. "Hey boss, it's not that I'm not working, I'm doing my job in the basement instead of the shop floor."
If they are "poison bills" then why did the majority vote for them and why are they sponsored by the representatives of the majority of the people? Since when do a handful of self-righteous boneheads get to decide for the entire State of Indiana above the lawful legislative process?!
