As lobbying successes go, Advance America's Eric Miller should be pretty pleased with the results he's gotten in Senate President Pro Tempore David Long's Senate. He got the Senate to once again unnecessarily pass SJR-7, the gay marriage amendment. The Senate passed legislation which is intended to drive Hispanic workers from our state. There was a bill passed to further regulate abortions, and another bill made its way to the House which allows pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions, such as birth control, with which they morally disagree. The Senate even passed a number of Gov. Mitch Daniels' property tax reform proposals, including an amendment to cap property taxes on homeowners. But none of that matters to Miller. Long dared to defy Miller by sending his proposed constitutional amendment to repeal the property tax to a study committee rather than to an immediate vote, and now Miller is declaring war against Long.
Miller unleashed on Long unlike anything I've seen him do in the past in an e-mail alert to his followers today. Sen. Long allowed a hearing on SJR-8 earlier this month, but at a second hearing in the Senate Rules Committee, which Long chairs, members of the public were not allowed to speak. It was at this meeting that Long announced the proposal would be sent to a study committee for further study instead of being voted on this year. "Senator Long abused his position as the Chairman of the Rules Committee and refused to allow any of the more than 20 citizens who came to the hearing to testify on Senate Bill 100," Miller wrote. "I have had the privilege of working with both Republican and Democrat Committee Chairmen in the House and Senate for over 25 years," Miller continued. "I have never seen a Committee Chairman do what Senator Long did on January 22nd!" Miller goes on to accuse Long of engaging in "politics as usual" and to say that Long only denied a vote on SJR-8 because he knew it would pass if the members had been given a chance to vote on it. Anyone see the irony here? Isn't this sort of the same thing that's happening over in the House between Miller and House Speaker Pat Bauer over SJR-7, the gay marriage amendment?
Miller warns Long that the "battle isn't over." He promises to find another home for SJR-8 elsewhere. As Advance Indiana earlier reported, Miller's supporters in the House deliberately killed Gov. Daniels' property tax cap amendment, HJR-1, by trying to tack the gay marriage amendment and Miller's property tax repeal amendment to it. "We will continue to work with Republican and Democrat Legislators to add language dealing with the Repeal of Property Taxes to another Resolution moving through the Legislature," Miller promises. Miller plans a State House rally on Friday, which has created quite a dust up with other tax activists because he's tying his push for the gay marriage amendment to his property tax repeal push, a move not supported by many tax activists. Some of the tax activists are promising some drama during the rally over these differences. As for Long, it's hard to have sympathy for him. He got in bed with Miller on all these other issues. Now, he has fleas. And probably a primary opponent in his Fort Wayne Senate district to boot if Miller has anything to say about it.
15 comments:
"The Senate passed legislation which is intended to drive Hispanic workers from our state." Nice try.
Was this a typo or did you mean to say: "The senate passed legislation which was intended to drive illegal aliens who are sucking off the government teat illegally, and bleeding this state and country of resources meant for legal citizens?
You make some good points here about Miller but glossing over the illegal alien thing isn't one of them.
He's gonna work with "Democrat legislators" is he? He might want to start by calling them "Democratic" legislators. Throwing Republican gang signs like using "Democrat" as an adjective probably isn't going to get everybody off on the right foot.
But then pulling a dick move like jamming up property tax cap legislation with anti-gay trash is pretty classless in the first place. That's not the work of someone trying to make progress. That's the work of someone trying to say "LOOK AT ME!"
They are anything but democratic. The term Democrat is accurate. Sorry.
10:37: gramatically spekaing you're wrong and Doug's right. But I get your point.
It's funny, Gary...I saw Eric Miller at the Statehouse yesterday, and I watched him walk away. There were several heads up his ass, but none belonged to the Senate President Pro Tem.
Just dropped the good Prez Pro Tem an e-mail asking him to hold tough. Maybe, if more of us do that, he'll feel empowered. To finally put Eric Miller in his place.
9:53--classy redefinition of the immigration problem. Get a life already. As mentioned here many times, you can have our own opinion, but not your own facts.
Think what you want, but you'll never be mistaken for someone who wants to work with the Democrats.
I know it sounds like a broken record, and the media has yet to appreciate its significance, but Senator Long should have matched his call for a study commission on Miller's amendment with one calling for a thorough analysis of SJR7. Just like he wants to draw attention away from the fact that the total elimination of property taxes would not be matched by the amount of increases in sales and/or income taxes that he has claimed, he also wants to divert attention away from the fact that drafters of SJR7 had major doubts and disagreements concerning its meaning. This fact and its significance continues to produce deer in the headlight looks because it doesn't fit conveniently into a 15 second sound bite like "Preserve the sanctity of marriage" does.
That's why it is hard to be sympathetic with Long on this one, Don. He's been duplicitous to say the least. As an attorney, he should care more about the language we're attempting to add to our Bill of Rights. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to give a damn.
When discussing the religious right, Barry Goldwater said "every good Christian should line up and kick Jerry Falwell right in the ass." I'd say the same applies to folks like Miller. But you're right, Long is getting what he deserves at this point. The Repubs need to worry less about social engineering and usurping rights and more about protecting Hoosiers' wallets.
"now he has fleas"...that pretty much sums it up.
However, we're thinking HOOSIERS FOR FAIR TAXATION might cancel our rally tomorrow because of the weather. We shall make a final decision around 7am tomorrow.
Whatever the degree to which Long may have contibuted to the situation, or has been taken for a ride by Eric Miller and others, the fact remains that the Indianapolis Star and other media have not yet picked up on the cover-up about significant drafter disagreements. I know their failure to report certain other things has been the target of your own ire.
If this were a defective consumer product situation, where manufacturing records were fudged and then concealed, no doubt they would be all over it, even if it took more than 200 words to explain.
Hopefully SJR7 will remain its current brain-dead status so they won't have to do post-mortems years laters when somebody complains "why weren't we told?" when it turns out that the measure was known to have problems from the beginning, and that the right-wing academics knew it all along.
Maybe there will yet be a slow news day where Star reporters get curious.
It is sad is that these men treat Hoosier lives as if we are nothing more than bargaining chips in a board game.
More and more people are fed up, wise to what is going on, and expect results.
The public is sick to death of these grown men putting their egos and squabbles ahead of what is good for Hoosiers.
Their behavior is shameful. Thank you, Gary for bringing light to the matter.
Miller's quite the slobbering zealot in his hatred of homosexuals. So sad.
You know, the wrath of God cuts both ways. M
aybe Miller's Minions (in the form of Christain schoolkids allowed out for a field trip to the Statehouse and elderly widows emptied out of the Christian Old Folks Homes) will be unable to tranervse the cold and snow and ice to make it to his annual Hate the Gays (and the Property Taxes) Lovefest on Friday.
Wouldn't it be rich if the first time these kind of predictions come true it slugs the Unholy Trinity (Miller, Clark and Smith) instead of the gays?
According to email blasts from John Price and Eric Miller their rally is on regardless of tomorrow's weather.
I don't know how they can have it on their conscience to encourage people to drive from northern Indiana and southern Indiana to the capitol for this rally.
The weather forecast is bleak. Even our C.O.O. is warning our business will likely close tomorrow.
We certainly hope no one drives in bad weather. Hoosiers For Fair Taxation will report by 8 am as to whether they cancel, stating lives are more important than a rally in the scheme of things.
Just shows you how Miller and Price have the heads so far up their ... collective intelligence... that they do not see reality. Otherwise how could they tie Property Taxes and Gays in the same breath?
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