Some Democratic state legislators are ready for a change in leadership and reportedly are attempting to replace Pat Bauer as the Indiana House minority leader.
Bauer certainly has his faults. The walkouts he directed over the past two legislative sessions had mixed results at best. Democrats either controlled the House or had a real shot at winning 51 of the 100 seats for years, but the 2010 election put them decisively in the minority. His autocratic control has angered a number of Democrats over the years. And his public persona isn’t particularly appealing.
But he knows parliamentary procedure and House rules inside and out, and he knows how to play hardball politics.
A decade ago, State Rep. Win Moses of Fort Wayne made clear his opposition to Bauer in the race for the House Democratic leader, first planning to run against him then withdrawing and throwing his support to another Democrat, Chet Dobis.
After Bauer prevailed, Moses lost his committee chairmanship and found himself sitting in the very last row of the House chamber.
This time, several House Democrats reportedly approached Bauer to discuss election strategy, and he declined to accept their advice. Opposition Democrats hoped to have a no-confidence vote in their leader earlier this month, but the meeting fizzled.
State Rep. Scott Pelath of Michigan City – the assistant minority leader – is reportedly now Bauer’s chief challenger.
IBM ruling
Democrats wanting to make the court decision over the state’s contract with IBM a political issue need do nothing more than quote from the decision. The judge’s own conclusions say much about the state’s plan to replace face-to-face meetings between welfare applicants and workers with a computerized system where eligibility is determined using computers and telephones.
Marion County Superior Court Judge David Dreyer wrote that state officials “set out to fix Indiana’s poorly performing welfare system by inserting an untested theoretical experiment.”
‘Prince Quayle’
How ugly is the GOP primary battle between U.S. Reps. Ben Quayle and David Schweikert of Arizona?
The National Horizon Super PAC, which focuses on Arizona issues, is attacking Quayle in an ad that begins: “Once upon a time there was a handsome squire who believed he was a prince. The squire thought he was entitled to be a ruler.”
The ad takes aim at Quayle for not living in the district in which he is running, which is legally permissible. Redistricting put the two sitting congressmen in the same district, which includes much of Quayle’s former district – but not his home.
The ad also reminded voters that Quayle once wrote entries for an adult website.
The conclusion: “If you believe Ben Quayle cares more about your values than his political future, you must believe in fairy tales.”
The man behind National Horizon is C. Boyden Gray, White House counsel to President George H.W. Bush, whose vice president was Dan Quayle, Ben Quayle’s father.
