Big changes ahead for legislature (05/12/06)

Hoosier political analysts have been poring over the returns from this month’s primary election defeat of longtime Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Garton, trying to sort out its causes and effects.

Potential causes include Sen. Garton’s stubborn allegiance to a benefit package for lawmakers that voters found odious, an insurgency by social conservatives who felt Garton’s 92 percent rating on anti-abortion legislation was somehow inadequate, and the senator’s sheer longevity in office at a time when anti-incumbent sentiment is high.

The biggest effect will be a struggle for power in the Indiana Senate when the Garton era of leadership comes to an end.

And the person who ought to be watching that struggle most closely is the governor himself.

With more than two years left in his term, it’s far too early to write off Mitch Daniels as a lame duck.

But consider the following: There’s an excellent chance that Democrats will take back control of the Indiana House in November.

Control has see-sawed back and forth for years, and issues as disparate as Daylight Saving Time, Major Moves, school funding, and the end of collective bargaining for state employees could energize the electorate this fall.

The Senate will safely remain in Republican hands, but without Bob Garton at the helm it will be a very different place. Whoever emerges as the new leader will have his or her own agenda, and it’s not likely to be the governor’s.

That’s especially true if one of the more strident social conservatives takes Garton’s job.

If that happens, look for friction between the Senate and the governor’s office when it comes to setting priorities.

Given Gov. Daniels’ leadership style — short on consensus-building and compromise, long on bluntness and push — he may find his legislative agenda in the next couple of sessions of the Indiana General Assembly going nowhere. — J.R.[[In-content Ad]]