GOP leader says he won't negotiate with absent Ds
DEANNA MARTIN,Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana's House speaker said Wednesday he won't concede to absent Democrats' demands that Republicans drop contentious labor and education proposals.
Most Indiana House Democrats have fled to Urbana, Ill., in an effort to kill the bills. Their absence denies the House the quorum needed to conduct business. Democrats want Republicans to drop efforts to push a voucher bill that would direct taxpayer money to private schools and a so-called "right-to-work" bill that prohibits union membership from being a condition of employment.
House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, said he talked to House Minority Leader Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, by phone on Wednesday morning.
"As Rep. Bauer started going through his list, I just told him that we weren't going to concede to a list of demands, and that he needed to get back here," Bosma told reporters, adding that if those were the requirements for Bauer to return, "I said, 'Have fun in Illinois.'"
Bosma said he was looking into options to fine the absent lawmakers.
The right-to-work bill died Tuesday when it failed to meet a legislative deadline because Democrats were gone, but Democrats fear it could be resurrected in another bill later this session. They also want Republicans to drop the voucher bill, but Bosma said he would not negotiate to take items off the House agenda.
"The negotiation takes place on the floor of the House," Bosma said. "This isn't the old back room deals that Rep. Bauer's used to cutting."
The voucher bill faces a procedural deadline Thursday, so if Democrats came back by then it could proceed. Bosma said he hoped that cooler heads prevail in the Democratic caucus and that at least enough members for a quorum would return to the Statehouse soon.
"Pat Bauer needs to get back here and do his work," Bosma said. "He's led his caucus down a path that I'm sure many of them are very uncomfortable with."
Democrats say Republicans are overreaching and are pushing a "radical" agenda that amounts to an attack on education and workers.
"Indiana House Democrats will continue to deliberate on these issues until their full implications are grasped and debated," Democrats said in a statement Tuesday.
Bosma tried to convene the House again Wednesday morning, but most Democrats were again absent. Several hundred union workers who support the Democrats' boycott packed the hallways outside House chambers and crowded the gallery looking down on the House floor. Demonstrating seemed to escalate.
Workers outside the House chanted "Save our schools!" as a rabbi was delivering a prayer before House members. Bosma later apologized to the rabbi for the "disrespect." Workers chanted "Hell no, we won't go!" as lawmakers recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
After Bosma drew a standing ovation from Republican lawmakers when he said he wouldn't concede to Democrat demands, union members in the House gallery quickly started booing. Bosma later had the gallery cleared and said he may order it closed during House meetings later Wednesday because of the vocal demonstrations.
Union groups planned rally events throughout the day at the Statehouse.
"We're getting our voices heard, which is our objective," Indiana AFL-CIO President Nancy Guyott said. "We want to make sure it's the people's business that's being done rather than the business of the large corporate CEOs."
Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels had urged GOP legislators not to act on the right-to-work bill this year for fear that the contentious issue would derail other parts of his agenda. He reporters Tuesday he would not use state troopers to compel Democratic legislators to return.
"I trust people's consciences will bring them back to work," Daniels said.
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