INDIANAPOLIS — Minutes after formally transferring Gov.Frank O'Bannon's powers to Lt. Gov. Joe Kernan on Wednesday,legislative leaders and Supreme Court justices gathered in theStatehouse for prayer.
More than 500 people joined them in the soaring, marbledrotunda for a service that was both solemn and uplifting. Andduring that hour -- in a building that breathes politics --politics disappeared.
Woodie White, Indiana bishop of the United Methodist Church,said it was O'Bannon, a powerful yet common man, who made thatpossible.
''There are these times in life when differences in politicalparty, race, ethnicity, social and economic status are transcended,and the community finds a common bond in a shared concern in itscorporate pain and grief,'' White said.
At a hospital in Chicago, doctors said O'Bannon, 73, hademerged from drug-induced coma and showed some ''small butsignificant improvements'' following a Monday stroke. He remainedin critical condition Wednesday.
An hour before the prayer service, legislative leaderspetitioned the state Supreme Court to transfer power. Kernanalready had assumed duties as acting governor, but RepublicanSenate President Pro Tem Robert Garton and Democratic House SpeakerPatrick Bauer wanted to follow a formal process under the IndianaConstitution.
The governor's wife, Judy, issued a statement from thegovernor's Chicago hospital saying she was comfortable with theirdecision.
''We are aware of the formal process that is occurring inIndiana, and in it we are seeing what we have always known: Ourstate government is a strong institution based on a constitution,''Judy O'Bannon said.
Bauer and Garton said they signed the petition with heavyhearts, since they had long admired O'Bannon and began theirStatehouse careers the same time he did. Garton and O'Bannon wereelected to the Senate in 1970, and Bauer won his House seat thatyear.
And Garton said he wanted to emphasize that O'Bannon ''isstill the governor of Indiana, and Judy O'Bannon is still the firstlady of Indiana.''
Garton and Bauer talked with Mrs. O'Bannon Wednesday morningbefore filing the petition. ''She is a very strong woman, a veryspiritual woman, and she gave us strength,'' Bauer said.
Supreme Court justices met privately for 69 minutes beforeapproving the transfer. The two-page order said they joinedHoosiers in sadness about O'Bannon's illness, but agreed that fornow, he could not perform his constitutional duties.
''We know what he wants and expects of us -- to be at ourposts and act in the way that the people of Indiana expect underthis situation,'' Chief Justice Randall Shepard said afterdeliberations. ''We do our best to do that, however heavy ourhearts are about what has happened to him.''
After the order was issued, Shepard went down a floor andjoined the hundreds of others at the prayer service. Some stayed onthe third floor, hanging their heads and folded hands over therailings.
Garton scanned the packed rotunda and opened the servicesaying that as long as he and his wife, Barbara, had lived inIndiana, they had not seen ''such a massive outpouring of prayerfor one individual.''
The sentiment ran deep, but it was no surprise.
''Our governor is a man beloved and respected by ordinarycitizens, members of government regardless of party affiliation,and those of great influence and power,'' White, the bishop,said.
O'Bannon, who doctors said showed signs of brain damage, wasexpected to remain under sedation at Northwestern Memorial Hospitalfor at least several days. Doctors said he could not followcommands, but was able to move his limbs and responded to somephysical stimulation.
As acting governor, Kernan attended a forum at IUPUIWednesday afternoon to promote an economic development package heand O'Bannon pushed through the General Assembly this year. Kernansaid O'Bannon, who had planned on being there too, would not havewanted to cancel.
But it was O'Bannon, not jobs, that Kernan spoke offirst.
''This is the first time in about 56 hours that I've feltlike smiling,'' Kernan said. ''The news we got about Gov. O'Bannonthis morning is very, very encouraging. It gives us all great hopeand confidence that he is on the road to recovery.''
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