This was the end of our third week of the legislative “short” session which lasts through mid-March. On Friday we entered our eighth day without a quorum, disallowing us to vote bills through the House. This has resulted in $3,000 of fines being assigned to the 35 Democrats who have regularly failed to come to…
For the eighth of the 12 days since the beginning of the 2012 Legislative Session, the members in the House minority have refused to carry out their elected duties. The irresponsible actions of House Democrats have denied representation not only to their own constituents, but to 6.5 million Hoosiers all across Indiana. Because of the…
Freedom of association is one of the foundations of a free society. The Founders clearly understood this, which is why they sought to protect this God-given right in the First Amendment. While the Dubois County Freedom Makers support the right of every American to join a private sector union if they wish, we believe, that…
Oklahoma, the most recent state to pass a “Right-to-Work” law (2001), between 2002–2004 saw a 6.4% loss in manufacturing jobs and a 10.6% loss in information-field related jobs. When all 22 current “Right-to-Work” states were examined, wages dropped significantly for workers in all demographic categories. The report estimates, based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics…
Recently, the subject of a new Interstate in Dubois County has arisen. While running for Jasper City Council I had heard about this while on the campaign trail, and did my own research into the subject. We need to understand, as a county, that if we truly want economic growth and to entice our kids…
January 4 marked the first day of the 2012 Legislative Session, but the House has yet to be able to begin its business. Due to the fact that most of the House minority party has chosen not to be present on the House floor and do the job they were elected to do, a bill…
Week one of session and… it was “déjà vu all over again” as Yogi Berra would say. We showed up to our first General Assembly day on Wednesday, January 4 and had just three Democrats colleagues in the House withholding a quorum to do business. I remain optimistic about this session and my Democrat colleagues…
Right-to-Work I completely support the rights of those who choose to be a member of a union. How could I not? My paternal grandpa was a member of Teamsters and my maternal grandpa was a member of the UAW-CIO. My mother’s dad worked in Michigan at the Ford Plant and helped organize the union there…
I was watching ‘A Christmas Carol’ the other night (the ’84 George Scott version). The ghost of Christmas present shuttles Ebeneezer into the Cratchit home for the holiday dinner and Scrooge is uncomfortably struck by the plight of Tiny Tim. What pricked my ears up was this bit of dialogue: Ghost of Christmas Present: If…
Every year the members of the General Assembly mail out a survey to their districts to get a better idea of how the members of our communities feel about specific issues. I’d like to fill you in on what is included in mine so that when yours arrives in the mail in the coming weeks,…
