Hoosier Sentiments Shifted on HJR-3
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V19, N20 Thursday Jan. 30, 2014 Hoosier sentiments shifted on HJR-3 Long assigns Looking back on those numbers after this tumultuous to Senate Rules, week in the Indiana General Assembly that saw House Re- wants ‘clean bill’ publicans strip out part of HJR-3 that would have prevented future By BRIAN A. HOWEY state-recognized civil unions, and and MATTHEW BUTLER then pass the revised resolution, INDIANAPOLIS – In Oc- that data set was the proverbial tober 2012, the Howey/DePauw canary in the coal mine. Indiana Battleground Poll produced Following surveys by Ball some fascinating data beyond the State’s Bowen Center for Public U.S. Senate and gubernatorial Affairs and an HPI Poll in April races. The proposed constitutional 2013 only reaffirmed what has marriage amendment had only a been a shift in public opinion. In 48-45% lead, with 7% undecided. the April HPI poll, the amendment On Election Day over had a 50/46% lead. lunch, the Indiana Family Insti- An Indianapolis Star- tute’s Curt Smith politely ques- WTHR-TV Poll in December 2007 tioned the numbers, suggesting found 49% supported such a that the survey sampling might constitutional amendment, down have been overly “liberal.” The from 56% in a March 2005 survey. numbers were not only surprising It prompted House to HPI, but to the family advocacy State Rep. Kevin Mahan gave riveting testimony Speaker Brian Bosma to think groups which had spent a decade seeking the constitutional change. on the HJR-3 second sentence. (HPI Photo by Matthew Butler) Continued on page 3 Peru’s school bus dilemma By MAUREEN HAYDEN INDIANAPOLIS – Chuck Brimbury is no-excuses kind of guy. Five years ago, he inherited a world of problems when he took over as school superintendent in Peru, a city of 13,000 people in rural Miami “He reiterated to us that he County. The high school gradu- ation rate was stuck below 69 would not sign any legislation percent. Absenteeism and drop- that was not revenue neutral to out rates were among the state’s highest. Test scores were scrap- communities. He reiterated that ing bottom. The district faced a point several times.” state takeover. Now, the graduation rate - Evansville Mayor Lloyd is close to 98 percent, attendance has climbed, and test scores have Winnecke, after mayors skyrocketed. Peru is a “turn- meeting with Gov. Pence around” model, especially for Page 2 schools facing the mandates of state enue available to patch leaking roofs, education reform. replace old buses, and get students to Last year, Brimbury’s peers and from school. The district’s budget honored him by naming him one of is down 20 percent since Brimbury’s the best superintendents in the state. arrival. He has cut $1 million from These days Brimbury and administrators’ salaries. his schools are a model for something “We are down to the bones,” else: unintended consequences. Fac- he told the Senate Appropriations ing drastic cuts – including a shut- Committee last Thursday. down of bus service that could shut Brimbury (pictured) had trav- is a non-partisan newslet- out marginal students – Peru’s schools eled to the Statehouse, on a morn- ter based in Indianapolis and illustrate the sometimes dire results ing when the wind chill dipped below Nashville, Ind. It was founded of laws that may zero, seeking help from in 1994 in Fort Wayne. otherwise be well another legislative hit. This meaning. one came in the guise of a It is published by Brimbury’s law compelling schools to pay WWWHowey Media, LLC successes haven’t off their debts using dollars 405 Massachusetts Ave., come easily, as he’s now spent on transportation Suite 300 Indianapolis, IN demanded more and big-ticket projects. 46204 accountability from The law protects teachers and stu- bondholders, especially those dents. When stu- invested in what one law- Brian A. Howey, Publisher dents didn’t show maker described to me as Mark Schoeff Jr., Washington up for class, he sent spendthrift districts “building Jack E. Howey, Editor counselors to find Taj Mahals in cornfields.” Mary Lou Howey, Editor them. When parents couldn’t come But that’s hardly Peru. meet teachers, he sent teachers to Rather, Brimbury’s al- Maureen Hayden, Statehouse the parents, wherever they were. ready cut back bus routes and is now Matthew Butler, Daily Wire “We once had excuses for all thinking of ending service entirely to our failures – a reason for everything students within two miles of the high Subscriptions that was going wrong,” he said. “We school. In some communities, that HPI, HPI Daily Wire $599 decided to drop those excuses.” might represent an inconvenience. In Things weren’t always so dif- Peru, where so many students have HPI Weekly, $350 ficult in Peru, once a thriving commu- few resources, it’s a crisis. Ray Volpe, Account Manager nity and the proud home to Grissom Ultimately, Peru may see a 317.602.3620 Air Force Base, which trained military reprieve from a bill that would delay email: [email protected] pilots from around the world. But the start of the debt-service law for when the base closed in the 1990s, districts that otherwise might lose 20 followed by nearby factories and the percent or more of their transportation Contact HPI railroads pulled out, the economy and and capital budgets. www.howeypolitics.com the schools were casualties. It’s more salve than solution [email protected] Today 70 percent of Peru for Peru. But for a no-excuses superin- Howey’s Cabin: 812.988.6520 schoolchildren are from families in tendent, that could be enough. Howey’s cell: 317.506.0883 poverty. The city has one of the state’s “I’m not asking you for more highest rates of single mothers and money. I just need some relief,” Brim- Washington: 202.256.5822 one of its lowest incomes per capita. bury said. “I just want you to help Business Office: 317.602.3620 The tax base plunged from $460 mil- me get those kids to schools, so we lion to $318 million in assessed value can get them educated and break the © 2014, Howey Politics Indiana. between 2007 and 2011, and it hasn’t cycle of poverty they’re in.” All rights reserved. Photocopy- recovered. On top of that, the schools Maureen Hayden covers the ing, Internet forwarding, fax- have faced a double whammy from Statehouse for the CNHI news- ing or reproducing in any form, the Legislature – a slash to school papers in Indiana. Reach her at whole or part, is a violation of budgets in 2010, and the impact of maureen.hayden@indianame- federal law without permission property tax caps first passed in 2008. diagroup.com and follow her on from the publisher. These brought deep cuts to the rev- Twitter @MaureenHayden v Page 3 mainstream lifestyles, the change has been that many HJR-3, from page 1 of us have family members and friends in this subgroup. The Indiana lesbian couple who were married during the aloud last summer during an HPI interview on how former Grammies on Sunday were from . Fishers, a bastion of Speaker B. Patrick Bauer’s delaying tactics surrounding the conservatism. They weren’t from Bloomington. amendment might have ultimately paid In one of the most impassioned off as public opinon began to overtake House speeches in recent years, Mahan, the issue. R-Hartford City and the former Blackford The key thing to remember is County sheriff, said, “I have never ap- that public opinion often shifts before proached this microphone speaking on an deliberative bodies like Congress or the issue of social conscience. I do support the Indiana General Assembly catch on, legal definition of marriage between one whether it was FDR’s Lend-Lease pro- man and one woman. I support it today. gram prior to Dec. 7, 1941, opposition My constituents overwhelmingly did as to the Vietnam War in the mid-1960s, or well.” But Mahan said the constituents had Republican opposition on a constitutional approached him and he described them Indiana lottery referendum in the decade as Republicans, pastors, Catholics, Protes- leading up to 1988 when it passed with tants and “my neighbors.” He said that two 62% of the vote. Christian universities in his district chose not In 2011, the constitutional mar- to take a stand on HJR-3. “I was in denial,” riage referendum passed the Indiana Mahan said. “I simply cannot buy into the House 70-26. concept that we have to get this passed so On Tuesday, it passed 57 to 40. we don’t have to deal with it in 2016.” That is as dramatic an erosion of support Even more revealing was that two as the polling numbers HPI produced in Christian universities in his district, Taylor late 2012 when you consider that the and Indiana Wesleyan, took no position GOP House majority actually expanded on HJR-3. Leaders from an array of other from 60 to 69 members between the two denominations publicly opposed the amend- legislatures. ment. House members weren’t being ap- The vote against the second proached by gays and lesbians. They were sentence on Monday, following a week being approached by pastors, priests and of gridlock on the House Judiciary Com- State Reps. Wendy McNa- rabbis. mittee, was 52 to 43. That was a strike mara (from top) Randy Truitt, Mahan said, “I believe in support- against the perceived intolerance embed- Holli Sullivan, Dan Leonard ing good policy. If we cannot understand in ded in the second sentence. this body exactly what that second sentence Republican State Reps. Kevin Ma- and Jerry Torr voted against the second sentence, with means, how can we expect millions of Hoo- han, Dan Leonard and Wendy McNamara siers to understand what it means when they crystallized the nuanced change revolv- Truitt and Torr opposing HJR- go to the polls in November?” ing around the issue.