Bauer tactics unite, divide Democrats

Associated Press

TOM LoBIANCO, Associated Press

Updated: Feb 5, 2012 4:28 PM

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Football fans in Indianapolis for the Super Bowl who found themselves inexplicably pondering labor law and political brinksmanship have a Democratic state lawmaker representing South Bend to thank for the bizarre confluence.

House Minority Leader B. Patrick Bauer led outnumbered House Democrats on an extended effort to stall action on the Republican measure that made Indiana the 23rd state to bar unions from collecting mandatory fees for representation for workers. Facing a 60-40 Republican majority in the House, Bauer and 34 other Democrats dragged the debate right up to Super Bowl week through periodic boycotts.

But the effort, which followed a five-week Democratic walkout over right to work last year, has splintered a caucus already fractured by the loss of the House in 2010 and looking at tough new battles in districts redrawn by Republicans last year. Even the Democrats' candidate for governor, former House Speaker John Gregg, has said it's time to move on.

"It's time to move beyond this divisive issue," Gregg said in a statement after the passage of right to work last week. "Indiana needs a governor and a legislature that show up for work every day and works together with one focus -- creating jobs, whether it's for a union or non-union workplace. Because in the end, it doesn't matter if you're in a union or not -- if you get laid off, you're not bringing home a paycheck."

The 68-year-old Bauer, who says his father, former Sen. Burnie Bauer, taught him to "study your issues and persist," isn't fazed. He's seen his caucus plunge to even darker depths since he first took office in 1970 and still come out the other side.

In 1972, Democrats were outnumbered 27-73 in the House after former Sen. George McGovern's disastrous campaign. Even then, Bauer said, the party successfully fought to remove the food and medicine from being taxed.

"We've had the battles over the years," he acknowledged. "This one, they had airpower and the air bombs," he said, laughing as he referred to ads purchased by Republican fundraiser Jim Bopp with Gov. Mitch Daniels pitching right-to-work legislation.

Still, there's no question the tension between the conservative and moderate wing of the party and the liberal base from areas like Gary, Indianapolis and South Bend has been escalated by this latest scrum.

Democrats like Rep. Peggy Welch, who was drawn into a more Republican district last year, refused to boycott with Bauer. Rep. Ed DeLaney, D-Indianapolis, joined Bauer and other Democrats during the first few days of the boycott, but he returned to the House, saying he didn't agree with Bauer's tactics.

DeLaney said leadership on both sides of the aisle lacks creativity, and Democrats haven't found a way to parry Republican tactics.

"All the air is filled with phony progress on the jobs front and distraction on the social issues. And we don't have a lot of money to break through," DeLaney said. "It takes up a lot of our energy, and at the end of the day it has no impact on the public other than to leave them distracted."

"My party has got to take its punches, come up with new ideas and draw the discussion back to new issues," he said. "And when you're in the minority, it's a huge problem."

Bauer isn't ready to concede that the minority party's tactics are futile, even as new GOP-drawn districts could make it difficult for Democrats to hold on to the 40 seats they currently have.

"We beat the drum to the rhythm the people know and want, and you can get things done," Bauer said shortly after the House voted to approve right to work last month.

Bauer recalls speaking up during debate over legislation that would have legalized abortion in Indiana a few years before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Roe v. Wade. He says he called for a "point of order" in a move that effectively killed the proposal. Afterward, Bauer says then-Speaker Otis "Doc" Bowen, a Republican, thanked him for speaking up -- it saved him from having to sink the measure himself.

The question for House Democrats now will be whether Bauer can lead them through another election in November and turn the right-to-work boycotts to their favor.

Bauer, who caught the politics bug early, campaigning first for his father in a run for township trustee and later for John Brademas, the long-time Democratic Indiana congressman, doesn't seem worried.

He notes that former Rep. Dennis Tyler, who joined the Democrats' walkout last year, won his race for mayor of Muncie last November. Bauer said that Tyler gave them a pep talk on Organization Day on how to win by using the walkout to their advantage, referring to it as a principled stand, rather than "dereliction of duty" as opponents dubbed it.

"It's how you choose to say what you did and why you did it," Bauer said. "People want you to fight more than anything else. They want you to stand up for what you believe in."

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