Indiana House adjourns amid GOP, Dems stalemate

Indiana House Minority Leader Patrick Bauer says he's not sure whether boycotting Democrats will return to the Statehouse on Monday.

Republicans who control the House adjourned until then after Democrats said they won't be back this week. Bauer says "nothing's changed" because Republicans have refused to negotiate or drop contentious issues from their agenda.

Most Democrats have fled to Illinois in an effort to derail legislation they consider an assault on the working class. Their boycott complicates other bills, including the session's top priority — the budget. Republicans say they won't be bullied into dropping their agenda, and plan to extend legislative deadlines to save important bills once Democrats return.

Republicans said they welcome any Democrats who decide to break caucus ranks and return, but Democrats say they are holding strong.

Rep. Scott Pelath, D-Michigan City, said Democrats remain resolute and have no immediate plans to return. Pelath was asked Thursday what it would take to get Democrats back to the Statehouse on Monday.

"That's a caucus decision," he said. 'It's going to be a group determination."

Pelath came back from Illinois to trade positions with another Democrat who had been at the Statehouse for procedural reasons. He said the caucus would determine as a group whether members would stay in Illinois over the weekend or whether they would go home to their districts.

Republicans hold 60 seats in the 100-member House, where 67 members must be present for the quorum required to conduct business. One Democrat, Rep. Steve Stemler of Jeffersonville, decided not to participate in the boycott — leaving Republicans half a dozen members short. Republicans were privately speculating on which Democrats might be willing to return.

"We're really calling on six reasonable members to return and get their work done," said House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis. "Abandon this Illinois vacation."

GOP Gov. Mitch Daniels said Wednesday that if House Democratic leaders don't "have a conscience about the unconscionable things they've done, maybe individual members do."

Bauer planned to speak with the media Thursday afternoon but said Wednesday that Democrats won't return from Urbana, Ill., until House Republicans are willing to negotiate their agenda. But Republicans are refusing to negotiate with lawmakers who have fled the state to shut down the House.

Senate Minority Leader Vi Simpson, D-Bloomington, predicted that it will be difficult to keep the boycott going as political pressure mounts. Members will read their local newspaper editorials and hear from constituents angry at their decision to leave.

"There will be people in his own caucus who will start to say, 'I've got to go back,'" she said of Bauer's group. "What you have to do as a leader is remind everybody why you're there. The House Democrats who are in Illinois are there because they believe in their hearts this was the right thing to do. They'll know when it's time to come back."

Democrats meeting behind closed doors Wednesday could be heard cheering and clapping, a little like a pep rally. But Rep. Win Moses, D-Fort Wayne, said those activities weren't a sign that the party felt the need to keep anyone from wavering.

"It's like being on the bus getting ready to go to the big football game you're going to play," he said.

While neither side of the political stalemate appeared willing to budge Thursday, many hoped that the frustration and anger among leaders would eventually subside. Daniels said he would call lawmakers into session "from now to New Year's" if needed to deal with the issues Democrats want to derail, but said he hoped that wouldn't be necessary.

"We can just get on with business, and that is what I would appeal to them to do," Daniels said. "I hope as a whole group, if not then, perhaps individuals in the caucus who have gone along — because that is what good caucus members do — may decide their conscience tells them they should do their duty instead."