Indiana Democrats flee to avoid voting (AGAIN!)

New York Times via Post Gazette ^ | First published on January 25, 2012 at 12:00 am | Monica Davey

[EBH]

With Republican-controlled Indiana on the verge of becoming a "right to work" state, Democrats in the state House on Tuesday took the only step they have left to prevent it, if only for a bit longer. They disappeared. Again.

A final vote on the measure, which would bar union contracts from requiring nonunion members to pay fees for representation, had been expected Tuesday in the House, which Republicans dominate, 60-40.

But with scores of union members and supporters filling the Statehouse halls in Indianapolis in protest, most Democrats refused to turn up for floor sessions -- not once, but twice on Tuesday afternoon.

The absences, only the latest in a series of absences and fierce partisan debate over the issue during the state's legislative session, meant that Republicans did not have enough members on the floor to do business; 67 representatives are required.

And so -- with the national spotlight soon to descend on Indianapolis for the Super Bowl, and with the tense standoff only rising among lawmakers and protesters -- Indiana finds itself at the center of a fight over the role of unions and their power, not unlike the issues that boiled over last year in Ohio and Wisconsin.

Republicans say the "right to work" legislation would allow workers who do not wish to support unions not to be forced to do so, and would entice new businesses to move to Indiana, which would be the first state in more than a decade to approve such a provision.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

If they flee far enough, they’ll end up in Cuba where there is only one union, and they ain’t gonna like it. (Or maybe they will).

As the Secretary of State said in “Red October” - “What, again?”

[Eleutheria5]

Scared little girly men.

[sthguard]

Did the Republicans actually oppose Romneycare in MA?

[C210N]

Good question, but I do not have a ready answer; I’d gather some research would be in order to find out definitively...

Personally, I was heavily involved in non-political making money in the private sector matters in the mid-2000’s, so I was just aghast about it post-Romenycare. In my case, my political radars were OFF those years.

I do recall a hue-n-cry about forcing... ummm non-secular hospitals to do non-ethical things, like abortions. But that’s about it from my political mid-2000’s fog.

[SunkenCiv]

While they’re gone, the Pubbies should turn their room into a place to do arts and crafts. Thanks EBH.