V16, N30 Thursday, April 7, 2011 Grim map demographics face Dems have essentially pledged to GOP can rely on follow basic guidelines by former Secretary of State Todd population, not Rokita to build districts based politics for favorable on “communities of inter- est,” county lines and nesting legislative maps House districts in Senate dis- tricts. It is the demographics By BRIAN A. HOWEY that pose a daunting chal- INDIANAPOLIS - New lenge to House Democrats. Congressional and legislative These include: maps are being • The 40 Democratic-held forged in the Indiana House districts gained Indiana House a total of 4,681 people, an and Senate and average of 117 per district. are expected to • The 60 GOP-held Indiana be made public House districts gained a total next week. of 398,636 people; an average Whatever the of 6,644 per district. Note the popula- specifics are, • The state total popula- tion loss along the new maps tion gain was 403,317: an the Lake Michi- will likely paint average of 4,033 per district. gan shore and a grim picture • 30 House districts lost in South Bend, for Indiana population: 21 Democrat dis- all Democratic Democrats. tricts and 9 GOP districts. strongholds. This • Nine of the top 10 pop- Howey Politics ulation-losing districts – and Indiana analysis is not a partisan 15 of the top 20 - are held by one, as Gov. Mitch Daniels and House Speaker Brian Bosma Continued on page 3 Shutdowns, walkouts & civility in politics By MARK SOUDER FORT WAYNE - “While Henry lives another bad “We want (Medicaid) to be constitution would be formed and saddled forever on us. What we have sustainable. We give governors to do I think is devoutly pray for his death.” - Thomas Jefferson to James the flexibility to target aid to Madison about Patrick Henry, while de- bating the Virginia state constitution. the neediest citizens.” Alexander Hamilton was shot and - U.S. Rep. Todd Young killed in a duel with Aaron Burr. Com- pared to our early American leaders, Speaker Brian Bosma and Democrat HOWEY Politics Indiana Page 2 Weekly Briefing on Indiana Politics Thursday, April 7, 2011 www.HoweyPolitics.com Howey Politics Indiana is a non-partisan newsletter based in Indianapolis. It was founded in 1994 in Fort Wayne. Brian A. Howey, Publisher Mark Schoeff Jr., Washington Jack E. Howey, editor Beverly K. Phillips, associate editor Subscriptions $350 annually HPI Weekly Leader Patrick Bauer are positively it didn’t work and Lincoln confessed $550 annually HPI Weekly and angelic. Newt Gingrich is a creampuff. to it being wrong, but skipping out HPI Daily Wire. As a congressman and his- to deny a quorum or a majority vote tory buff, I got sick of lectures from is hardly new. Indiana Democrats 'Call 317.627.6746 the uninformed about how civil things breaking the law by abandoning the used to be. Distinguished historian state for weeks did set a new low for Contact HPI Robert Remini details in his official historians to include in the annals of Howey Politics Indiana biography of the United States House dumb decisions but it is not without of Representatives the fisticuffs and vague precedent. 6255 N. Evanston Ave. brawling on the House floor during the The wonderful, important Indianapolis, IN 46220 first decades of Congress. new book “Ratification: The People www.howeypolitics.com When I took friends on Capitol Debate the Constitution, 1787-1788” bhowey2@gmail.com tours, I liked to point out the blood by Pauline Maier covers the hard and 'Howey’s cell: 317.506.0883 stains on some steps that supposedly closely fought ratification of our Con- were there from the famous caning of stitution state by state. In Pennsylva- 'Washington: 703.248.0909 a northern congressman by a south- nia the first critical battle was whether 'Business Office: 317.627.6746 ern one. According to Remini, I was to have a “restricted” state ratifying wrong. It is blood from a different convention or an “open” convention, © 2011, Howey Politics Indiana. bloody fight between Members. There in effect re-opening the Constitution to All rights reserved. Photocopy- is an old rhyme: “sticks and stones will state by state chaos. In an attempt hurt my bones, but names will never to stop the pro-Federalist vote, those ing, Internet forwarding, fax- hurt me.” opposed fled the state for weeks. ing or reproducing in any form, Vicious smears actually do Actually, they didn’t. That would have whole or part, is a violation of hurt, and mental health advocates say been illegal and anti-democratic. But federal law without permission the scars never go away, but person- they did briefly avoid coming to work. from the publisher. v ally I lean toward the name-calling. According to Maier, “Two It was rather stupid of the members who had been linger- Indiana House Democrats to use the ing at Boyd’s boardinghouse, James example of Abraham Lincoln jumping M’Calmont and Jacob Miley, suddenly out a window to deny a quorum since appeared in the room where the leg- HOWEY Politics Indiana Page 3 Weekly Briefing on Indiana Politics Thursday, April 7, 2011 islature met. They had been forcibly seized and dragged budgets have been cut. In the “big picture” world, this to the State House by the sergeant at arms and three men Republican House as a whole (Mike Pence being one of the who supported a quick ratification of the Constitution, in- few exceptions) looks far weaker than we ever did when in cluding William Jackson, who had been the federal Conven- past control. tion’s secretary. M’Calmont and Miley brought the number I remember years ago during a vacation to New of assemblymen who answered roll call to forty-six, exactly England, our kids were not overly enthused about all the the number needed for a quorum.” Without Pennsylvania, historic markers but were looking forward to seeing the Massachusetts and the others would not have followed. whale at a New England aquarium. The morning of the And that, my friends, is why we have the Constitution we visit the newspaper headline was, no kidding: “Whale Dies, have today. Aquarium Closed Today.” In Washington the Congress now faces a potential “Closing down” the government is going to lead to standoff on how to fund the government. When I was a lot worse headlines over elected in 1994, we faced this same divide. In 1995 the spring break, or summer, then earlier. And the Republican federal government briefly shut down. The myth is that base has steadily lost patience. A shutdown over the debt the Republicans lost. The result of Clinton’s compromises limit with three wars and the Japanese disaster could kill led to a balanced annual budget, welfare reform and the the markets. other victories we achieved. The Republican base was fired Politics and governing is a lot about timing, as well up, and we stayed in power for over a decade. What loss? as the decisions. The Indiana House Democrats had the The difficult balance in politics is how to take a passion, with the wrong strategy. The Washington House stand that highlights your position without damaging your Republicans have a strategy, but lack the passion. Neither cause. Make your point but don’t prolong it, and don’t works. v break the law. The new House Republican majority has not taken a clear stand, and probably already missed their key Souder is a former Republican member of Congress opportunity. from Fort Wayne. Little cuts will be remembered only by those whose guidelines, only 14 of the 40 Democrat-held districts now Maps, from page 1 meet or exceed the new minimum population requirement. Democrats. Conversely, 47 of the 60 GOP-held districts meet or exceed • Twenty-five of the 40 House Democrats (or 2/3) it. represent districts largely or totally contained in five coun- ties – Allen, Lake, Madison, Marion, and St. Joseph. Collec- Allen County Districts tively, these districts show a population loss of 28,017. • The two Democrat-held districts in Allen County • There are eight House members of the Legislative (Reps. Winfield Moses and Phil GiaQuinta) show a total Black Caucus. Only two (Reps. John Bartlett and Cherrish population loss of 6,422. Pryor) have population gains in their Indianapolis districts. The remaining six – including all three in Lake County – Lake County House Districts showed significant population losses. • Collectively, the eight primarily Lake County dis- • The total population in the current Democrat-held tricts lost 2,690 residents. districts is enough to support 37.5 House districts, assum- • The six largely northern Lake County districts ing each has a population of exactly 64,838 – 1/100th of (Reps. Vernon Smith, Charlie Brown, Earl Harris, Dan Ste- the state’s 2010 population. Conversely, GOP-held districts venson, and Linda Lawson) collectively lost 23,070 resi- have enough population to sup- dents. port 62.5 House districts. • The two largely southern Lake • Generally accepted County districts (Reps. Chet Dobis restricting assumptions are that and Shelli VanDenburgh) gained districts can differ by up to 10 20,380 residents. percent - 5 percent on either side of the average. This means that Madison County Districts new House districts could have • The two Dem-held districts in a population range of between Madison County (Reps. Terri Austin 61,596 and 68,080. By those and Scott Reske) show a total popu- HOWEY Politics Indiana Page 4 Weekly Briefing on Indiana Politics Thursday, April 7, 2011 lation loss of 1,370. But while Reske’s district gained 4,595 enough population growth to meet or exceed the new residents, Austin’s lost 5,965.