House leader makes offer of bipartisanship; Bosma names 2 Democrats as panel chairs

Original article: http://www.indystar.com/article/20101117/NEWS05/11170340/1008/NEWS05/New-GOP-House-leader-makes-offer-of-bipartisanship

1:07 AM, Nov 17, 2010  Written by Mary Beth Schneider

Even as they celebrated their new dominance of the Indiana General Assembly, Republicans gave away a small piece of their power Tuesday, as the new House Speaker Brian Bosma said he's naming two Democrats to head committees.

Bosma, R-Indianapolis, said it was a first in Indiana, where the election victors usually get to claim all the spoils.

It's not, though, unprecedented nationwide. Karl Kurtz, a spokesman for the National Conference of State Legislatures, said at least two other states -- Texas and Louisiana -- have minority party members heading committees. It used to be more common, he said, "but as legislatures have become more partisan, it's not in as much practice as it used to be."

On a mostly ceremonial day, where the chambers were jammed with beaming family members snapping pictures as newly elected members took the oath of office, Bosma's announcement gave some of the spotlight to the outnumbered Democrats.

Bosma credited the Nov. 2 election -- a GOP landslide that gave them control of the Indiana House and padded their majority in the Indiana Senate. That, he said, was a message from the public to lawmakers: "You've got to do it better. You have to end the partisan bickering. You have to end the overreaching and work together."

That, he told the House, is why he's asked Rep. Chet Dobis, D-Merrillville, to head a new committee that will look for ways to cut government regulations, boards and commissions, and asked Rep. Steve Stemler, D-Jeffersonville, to head the commerce, small business and economic development committee. As committee chairmen, they will have the power to decide which bills to consider and which to kill -- though Bosma, as speaker, can always move a bill to a more friendly committee chairman if he wants to ensure its survival.

"Kumbaya, right?" Senate President Pro Tempore David Long, R-Fort Wayne, said of the move. He called it "inspired," but with 33 Senate Republicans all wanting their own spheres of power, he wasn't going to give any chairmanships to the 17 Democrats.

House Minority Leader B. Patrick Bauer, the South Bend Democrat who lost the speaker's job to Bosma, wasn't joining in the love fest.

If this was an olive branch, Bauer said, it came with thorns. Bosma's announcement, he said, broke his commitment that he'd allow Bauer to make Democratic committee appointments.

It ought to bug Republicans, too, Bauer said, that Bosma apparently didn't think any of them were up to the job of handling economic development.

He figured Bosma was rewarding Dobis, who lost his leadership post last session when he broke ranks to give Republicans the vote they needed to pass a public-private partnership transportation bill.

And he speculated that one reason for the move is to give a bipartisan polish on what could be tough government-cutting decisions in that committee.

Dobis, not surprisingly, said Bosma had made a smart move.

"We've got to have an attitude change in this chamber. Everybody's called for bipartisanship over the years. Nobody's really been sincere about it," he said.

Lawmakers will return to the Statehouse on Jan. 5 to begin what will be a grueling session of trying to make ends meet in a new state budget without raising taxes; fixing a bankrupt unemployment benefits fund; and drawing new legislative maps for the House, Senate and Congress.

Gov. Mitch Daniels -- who today completes a trade mission to Asia -- has his own agenda, including education reforms and local government reforms.

And citizens already were pushing for their own wish-lists. Tuesday, dozens of high school students filled the third-floor hallways outside and cornered any legislator they could find to push for legislation to ban motorists from texting while driving.

They didn't even have to talk to deliver their message, as each wore blue T-shirts that read "Txtng klls" and "X the TXT."

It's already against the law for teenagers to do so, and ought to be barred for all motorists, said Bethany Alkire, a 17-year-old Eastern Hancock High School senior.

Also standing out in Tuesday's crowded hallways: Roger Madden, a 54-year-old Evansville man who came dressed as Paul Revere. He's a tea party activist who had worked to elect Republican Jim Tomes of Blairsville to the state Senate, and had come to witness him taking office.

While Madden and others were celebrating a new GOP ascendancy Tuesday, Democrats found the day's dismal weather more suited to their mood.

Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, told a reporter that any news article about the day's events should begin: "It was a cold, gray, dreary day."