“And, a guy whose first order as governor was to eliminate state union collective bargaining.”
So why did he urge his party to drop the Right to Work bill in the Indiana House?
Mitch Daniels decertified all public unions, entirely rescinding their collective-bargaining rights, on his first day in office in 2005. Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, as a reminder, sought to limit collective-bargaining rights for most public-sector employees, with notable exceptions for public-safety workers (most not all).
In other words, Mitch Daniels has already done more on the issue of public-sector unions than Scott Walker even tried to do.
The Democrat minority in the Indiana legislature wields considerable power that Daniels has no choice but to deal with. In the Indiana House of Representatives, Republicans have 60 seats and Democrats 40. However, quorum in the Indiana House is 67.
By contrast, in the Wisconsin Senate, a quorum of 20 senators is required to pass fiscal legislation, but only 17 are required to pass non-fiscal legislation; Republicans control 19 seats there. In Wisconsin, Republicans have the ability to pass a wide range of legislation while Democrats are absent. Not so in Indiana.
As much as you may not like it, quorum requirements in Indiana are effectively similar to U.S. Senate filibusters. The Indiana minority can block all legislation.
Indiana’s legislative calendar is only four months long, meaning that other, perhaps more pressing, issues would have been effectively killed.
We know your choice is Palin. What did she do about unions in Alaska, which is not a right to work state?
Nothing.
Now, it is true that it might have been on her to-do list and if she had served a full term she might have gotten around to it, but, her praise for unions and her promise to them that their pension deals were sacrosanct to her (speech in wisconsin), lead me to believe that she would not have tried to do even as much as Scott, let alone Daniels.
If you like, we can have a little discussion on Daniels v Palin regarding Planned Parenthood...just let me know...