Swing State Project: Indiana Republicans Poised to Take Back State House

This week the Swing State Project (www.swingstateproject.com) covered another story about the country’s state legislative chambers.  The article focused on the likelihood for state chambers to change party control.  The first chamber listed, with the most favorable potential to change hands, was the Indiana State House of Representatives and was listed as “Lean Republican takeover.”  See the whole article here http://www.swingstateproject.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=6532 or take the leap.

A New Day for Indiana Education

The budget that passed on Tuesday evening was a far cry from the taxpayer nightmare that House Democrats unanimously sent to the Senate just a few short weeks ago. The House Democrats aim was to squander all of Indiana’s reserves, with hundreds of millions of dollars in new spending not accounted for by equal spending cuts and the use of one-time federal stimulus dollars for ongoing state expenses. In short, the Democrat budget would have lead to a massive tax hike for Hoosier families. Until late last week, House Speaker Pat Bauer and his leadership team seemed steadfast in their support for their original language, and taxpayers and news outlets alike let their frustrations be known. As an Indianapolis Star editorial implored last week:

Responsible Budget Needs to be Passed Now

Last Tuesday, the Indiana House of Representatives was presented with a responsible, compromise budget that would have protected Hoosier taxpayers and kept our state from the brink of a shutdown on June 30. Unfortunately, it was rejected by Democrat leaders, who are resorting to their old habit of holding taxpayers hostage for more spending.

Indiana House Republicans: All In

It’s been said that true success comes not to the person who is dealt all the right cards but to the person who learns to play a bad hand well. To say that the past four years have dealt Indiana House Republicans “poor cards” would be an understatement. In the worst two campaign cycles for Republicans since Watergate, general assemblies nationwide have seen an epic partisan shift. The Midwest has seen the Democrat Party gain a total of 78 state house seats from 2004 to 2008, with 6 of 7 states shifting power from a Republican speaker in 2004 to a Democrat speaker in 2008. Since 2000, Iowa House Republicans have lost 12 seats, Michigan 14, Ohio 13, Minnesota 22… It will take a decade for some of these caucuses to recover such losses. By contrast, in Indiana, House Republicans have one more seat than we did after the 2000 election.

CLERE: It’s a matter of respect

The News and Tribune share a post by State Representative Ed Clere.

 STATEHOUSE — What do taxpayers, Congressman Mike Pence and fallen soldiers have in common?

Indiana House Speaker Pat Bauer didn’t have time for any of them.

I write this column with a sense of disappointment. I was hopeful I would have something positive to report to you today.

Instead, for the most part, last week was a series of setbacks and missed opportunities.