Voters could punish Republicans in fall

By Lesley Stedman Weidenbener
lstedman@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal

INDIANAPOLIS — Even before the General Assembly adjourned its 2006 session last week, House Speaker Brian Bosma said he was looking ahead to the set of issues he and his Republican colleagues will pursue next year.

But the question on everyone's lips at the Statehouse is not about what Republicans will put on their to-do list for 2007 — it's about whether they'll be doing it as the majority or minority party.

In the past two years — at GOP Gov. Mitch Daniels' urging — Republicans who control the House and Senate have taken bold but controversial steps in Indiana policy. Those include legislation to require daylight-saving time and to lease the Indiana Toll Road to a foreign firm.

Those decisions jeopardize the GOP's tenuous 52-48 seat hold on the Indiana House, political observers said last week, and give Democrats plenty of ammunition to use in this fall's legislative elections.

"Someone will ultimately pay a political price," said Robert Schmuhl, professor of American studies at the University of Notre Dame.

Read more at the Courier - Journal.com.