“The extremes of both parties have to be willing to accept compromises.” Congress should make changes “so that sensible people can get the job done.” Those were two of the statements that Evan Bayh made when he announced he will not run for another term in 2010. It is all bunk.

I could blog about the political ramifications of Bayh dropping out and the timing of his announcement, but that has been beaten to death. I’m not going to say anything that has not already been said hundreds of times all over the blogosphere. What is worth addressing, though, is the content-free populist rhetoric Bayh used to justify his decision not to defend his endangered seat.

Arguably the most intensely partisan battle over public policy has been on health care. What, exactly, does Bayh view as a “compromise” that Republicans should accept? As usual, populist rhetoric about “getting things done” is long on generalities and short on specifics.

(Read more after the leap)

According to Roll Call The GOP has Big Hoosier Dreams in next year’s election. With Todd Young (R) running against Rep. Baron “You’re not tell me how to run my congressional office” Hill (D) in the 9th Congressional District. You also have State Rep. Jackie Walorski (R) considering a run against Rep. Donnelly (D) in the 2nd Congressional District as well. Ellsworth’s District which we all know as the Bloody 8th is being looked at as well, but insiders say that would be the hardest to take back, because he has won 61 percent of the vote every time.

Here is the article (note…I am posting this because if you don’t have a Roll Call account you cannot read the full stories…so here ya go and if you don’t have an account…get one, well worth the money!)

______________________________________________________

GOP Has Big Hoosier Dreams Next Year

Oct. 6, 2009
By Shira Toeplitz
Roll Call Staff

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In an attempt to recover the three Indiana seats they lost in the 2006 cycle, House Republicans are again setting their sights on the Hoosier State.

After failing to give any Indiana Democrat a tough challenge last cycle, Republicans already have a candidate in place against Rep. Baron Hill and said they are on the verge of recruiting competitive candidates to run against Democratic Reps. Joe Donnelly and Brad Ellsworth.

(Read more after the leap)

I don’t think that the case for sending Birch’s boy packing like his father is exactly the one laid out by Brian Howey last week, though Howey is to be very much commended for being willing to buck the usual “invincibility” nonsense talking points circulated by Bayh’s cronies.

The case for beating Evan Bayh doesn’t come from looking at the fall of Bob Garton or Larry Borst; both fell to primary challengers. If the 2008 election proved anything, it is that Evan Bayh’s grip on the machinery of the Indiana Democratic Party is sufficient to strangle primary challengers. If not in the primary crib in May, then at the general ballot in November. The abnormal Democratic primary electorate that favored the outsider Jill Long Thompson over Jim Schellinger, the pick of Bayh’s party establishment, will not be turning out in 2010. Dick Lugar is more likely to face a serious primary challenge than Evan Bayh.

The case for beating Evan Bayh also doesn’t come from looking at the fall of Bayh’s protege, Bart Peterson, to now Mayor Greg Ballard. That was a once-in-a-lifetime event. Not just because of the unexpected nature of Peterson’s fall, but the unusual nature of his challenger and the rather quirky campaign that Ballard waged (to the extent that you could even say that Ballard had a campaign at all).

No, the case for beating Evan Bayh is found elsewhere. It is found in examining other states, where voters have sent heavily-favored and entrenched incumbent senators from both parties packing in recent years. In looking at the defeat of incumbents in other states, it is easy to see how a vapid non-entity such as Evan Bayh could be defeated.

Read more after the leap.

Remember a few weeks ago when Mitch urged folks to come testify before the budget committee about how the budget might impact them?

Remember how the Democrats threw a temper tantrum and walked out because they didn’t want to hear what people had to say?

Well, it seems that they want to hear “testimony” from certain people.

They just don’t want to hear testimony from you.

An email sent out today by Terry Goodin:

—–Original Message—–
From: h66@in.gov [mailto:h66@in.gov]
Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 9:41 AM
Subject: Public Hearing on Proposed Budget

===================================
Statehouse eUpdate from State Rep. Terry Goodin
===================================

Friends -

I would like to share with you the schedule for the public hearings on the proposed budget. I encourage you to come and testify for the issues that matter to you. The Governor and both caucuses need to hear from you to know how the budget will effect Hoosiers. If you have the chance – please come up.

Wednesday:
Starts at 9:30 am
-Morning and Early Afternoon: Higher Education and SSACI
-Afternoon: School Superintendents

Thursday:
Starts at 9:30 am
-All Day: K-12 Educators, Busines Officials, Superintendents, School Board Members

Friday:
Starts at 9:30 am
-Morning: Social Services (Mental Health, Community Health, Soldiers and Sailors, etc)
-Afternoon: Business Groups/Potential CIB

Saturday:
Starts at 11:00 am
-CIB/HB 1447

Thank you.

Terry

===================================
Thank you for your interest in state legislative matters. Please visit my website at:
www.in.gov/h66
===================================
If you have received this Statehouse eUpdate by error or wish to be removed from the distribution list, simply reply to this email, typing “unsubscribe” in the subject line. Thank you.
===================================

Hypocrite.

By now, you’re probably noticing the count down clock on the right on several conservative blogs all across the state.  It’s the very same clock the Indiana House Republicans are using against Pat “The Hair” Bauer and House Democrats on their insistence to deny property tax payers permanent relief.  Does that surprise you?  This is the same group that decided to pass, in a partisan vote, a one year budget proposal that was devoid of funding for education and child welfare, typically seen as Democrat issues.  They also kicked township consolidation to the curb, because we all know that townships have been brilliant with taxpayer money over the years.

But there is one thing left “The Hair” and his merry Democrats could do, especially in these turbulent economic times.  And that’s push for final passage of the Constitutional Amendment to cap property taxes.  Remember when Bauer wouldn’t let anything else be discussed last year because property taxes were the issue du jour?  Well, now it’s the economy and property taxes are directly tied into the economy.

So call Pat Bauer and the House Democrats and tell them that it’s time to act!  1-800-382-9842 or 317-232-9600

“This clock, ticking away, along with the actions of the House Democrat majority are graphic reminders of how much Hoosier taxpayers really mean to them. Each number flipping over is time lost toward keeping the promise representatives of both parties made last year when they voted for the constitutional caps. – House Republican Leader Brian Bosma

If you’ve read this site for any length of time during the short, but ever so eventful, first 50+ days of the Obama Administration, you can guess that I don’t agree with the President all to often.  But today, I do.  And oddly, the education obstacles…I mean agenda that Pat “The Hair” Bauer and the Indiana House Democrats have put forth does not.

What we’re talking about here are Charter Schools and stronger accountability and high standards for the rest of Indiana’s schools.  Consider the following, first from President Obama, via CNN.com:

“We have let our grades slip, our schools crumble, our teacher quality fall short and other nations outpace us,” Obama said in an address to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. “The time for finger-pointing is over. The time for holding ourselves accountable is here.”

“The relative decline of American education is untenable for our economy, unsustainable for our democracy and unacceptable for our children, and we cannot afford to let it continue,” he said.

The President even went on to harshly criticize Teachers Unions that oppose merit-based pay.

“If a teacher is given a chance but still does not improve, there is no excuse for that person to continue teaching,” he said. “I reject a system that rewards failure and protects a person from its consequences.”

But here’s the kicker. Oddly, all of this seems to right out of Governor Daniels and Dr. Bennett’s play book when it comes to education.

Obama called for the promotion of educational “innovation and excellence” by renewing his campaign pledge to support charter schools. He called on states to lift caps on the number of allowable charter schools.

The emphasis added was mine. Why? Because Democrats at the State House directly oppose the president’s education agenda. Why? Because they are backed by the Indiana State Teachers Association (ISTA), a union. Consider the following:

(Read more after the leap)

By: Brian Sikma

Partisanship is sometimes inevitable, and when it comes it isn’t always a bad thing.  Often we are admonished by various pundits, and even some in government, that we should seek bipartisan solutions to the problems that we face.  If a bipartisan solution can be found without sacrificing key principles and tenets, then that is an example of good bipartisanship.  Too often, however, bipartisan is a term used by moderates and liberals when they want conservatives to sacrifice principle for the sake of finding a solution.  It’s not that conservatives don’t have a solution, it is that there is a wide chasm between a solution premised on conservative principles and a solution based on liberal concepts of what is right and what is wrong.  True bipartisanship should be based on a common principle, not a compromise of principle.

One case in which it appears that bipartisanship should be very possible is the recent news that Planned Parenthood of Indiana violated, on at least two occasions, Indiana state law requiring that suspected cases of statutory rape be reported to authorities for investigation.  In choosing to put an abortion agenda ahead of a law abiding agenda, Planned Parenthood’s clinics in Bloomington and Indianapolis failed to serve the woman who came to them for help.  The incidents, which occurred as part of an undercover investigative journalism project conducted by an organization named Live Action, certainly raise questions about Planned Parenthood’s dedication to helping women and their dedication to operating within the bounds of applicable laws.

Sensing that the revelations about the Bloomington and Indianapolis clinics may be indicators of a more widespread malfeasance throughout the Planned Parenthood of Indiana network of clinics, State Representative Jackie Walorski (R-Jimtown) called on the Attorney General and local prosecutors to investigate these two incidents.  Walorski also called on the Family and Social Services Administration, as well as any other state agency that transfers funds to Planned Parenthood, to suspend payments while the outcomes of the investigations are pending.

(Read more below the fold)

By: Brian Sikma

Today the Indiana Democratic Party inserted itself into the ongoing battle over holding Planned Parenthood of Indiana accountable for its misconduct.  Dan Parker, Democrat State Party Chairman, issued a press release in which he tossed out baseless charges against Representative Jackie Walorski (R-Jimtown) in an apparent attempt to discredit the messenger since the message is hard to argue with.  If a legal investigation into Planned Parenthood of Indiana continues to move forward, the organization stands in serious jeopardy of incurring legal sanctions as a result of violations of state law uncovered late last year.  Regardless of the full course of the legal investigation, however, Planned Parenthood has violated the public’s trust and may lose the funding that it receives from the state.

Parker called for the House Ethics Committee to look into the fundraising activities of Rep. Walorski because, according to Parker, a post on Walorski’s blog dated December 26th referred to her efforts to bring to account the actions of Planned Parenthood and requested that supporters contribute to her campaign fund.  State law says that legislators may not actively raise money during the session, and House Ethics Rules say that legislators may not hold fundraising events between Organization Day and the close of session.  According to Parker:

“This is the most blatant attempt to raise money during the prohibited period since the rules were adopted many years ago.”

(Read more below the fold)

Tuesday night was not a good night for Republicans, with Barack Obama winning 52% of the popular vote and winning the Electoral College in a landslide. This was not a surprise to me, after the Republicans nominated a moderate who has frequently clashed with the Republican base. And while some might want to argue that Sarah Palin hurt John McCain with moderate voters, the elections results in California serve as evidence to the contrary.

Obama obliterated McCain in California, 6,219,123 to 3,777,314. But Californians voted to ban homosexual marriage, 5,376,424 to 4,870,010, according to CNN’s election website. That means a significant number of Obama supporters also voted to prevent government from recognizing homosexual marriage. Keep in mind that Barack Obama was opposed to the California ballot initiative. A ban on homosexual marriage also passed in Florida, 4,717,753 to 2,883,847. While a moderate Republican lost convincingly nationwide, socially conservative ballot initiatives did well.

The results in California are encouraging to those of us who have been working against efforts to radically redefine marriage to something other than the union of one man and one woman. Even in a very liberal state known for sending Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Boxer to represent them in Washington, voters were not willing to see government recognize homosexual marriage. It is also significant that the vote invalidated any “marriages” that took place after the California Supreme Court ruled that a previous state law approved by the voters was unconstitutional. With the ban on homosexual marriage now part of California’s constitution, that is no longer an option.

(Read more after the leap)

It seems that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.

Why WRTV, a respected Indianapolis television station, would want to dignify a blog (and a “commentator”) that utilizes phrases like “MILF” and “GILF” is beyond me; maybe they expected it when they hired her. It wasn’t like she didn’t have a record of going low (placing the social security numbers and bank account routing numbers of political opponents up on the internet, as just one example).

They probably didn’t expect the whole vulgar slang acronym thing to come along with it.

The internet is ripe with rumors of all kinds, about all sorts of people. Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Barack Obama, and now Sarah Palin have all been the target of a variety of vicious internet rumors that have yet to be substantiated by facts.

First came the smears about Trig Palin not being Sarah Palin’s son, but instead the son of Palin’s daughter Bristol. The origin of these rumors appears to be a photo in which Bristol Palin looked somehow pregant (because of a quirk of her posture) and her mother (with her family standing in front of her) didn’t.

I still can’t see it, though.

This photo, in turn, sort of dispelled all of that (though some on lefty blogs opined that Governor Palin must have been wearing a fat suit, and still others speculated that the whole thing was a plot by Karl Rove to make them look stupid).

See the photo after the leap.

Here is a picture of the State Democrat Party booth taken at the State Fair last night during “prime time” .

Hey, where is everybody? No people, no literature, no flagging people down who may not be registered? Doesn’t look like folks are beating down the door to get on the JLT, Linda Pence or Dick Wood bus. Or any Democrat for that matter.

(Thanks to a Hoosier Access reader for sending us that doozy of a picture.)