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Jan. 12, 2005 Mitch Daniels, Indiana’s first Republican Governor in sixteen years, has been on the job less than one week. He has wasted no time in shedding his “moderate” flesh in favor of the far-right hackery that is demanded when Indiana’s House of Representatives is led by the dangerous but charismatic Brian Bosma. Upon entering the Office of the Governor, Daniels immediately slashed union membership for over 20,000 Hoosier workers and disabled the long- standing act of collective bargaining. This is Governor Daniels’ first mistake – looking at polls coming from the various media outlets, a resounding 52% of Indiana stands against Governor Daniels on this rash action. Daniels’ ire for the Unions was hidden like a pro during the campaign, and now, safely ensconced in a Republican-controlled General Assembly, Daniels has shown himself to be what he truly is: a danger to the stability of the State of Indiana. How does Governor Daniels intend to explain to the 23,000 Hoosier workers now without a Union that they have had their representation stripped away? Daniels insists that this is a “new approach” to a tried-and-true method. Well, stripping away the state employees’ Union rights is certainly something new, in that no governor has taken such a blatantly partisan step before. Daniels decried the Union controls as “cumbersome” to his “reorganization” plan. Reorganizing into what? It must be hard to be the first governor in sixteen years to fail to extend the executive order allowing for collective bargaining. The order was initially set in place by then- Governor Evan Bayh in 1989, and has continued on uninterrupted until now. Governor Daniels seems to have no qualms with admitting that getting rid of these Union protections would make it inherently easier to fire state employees, while making it inherently harder for state employees to file complaints. This seems to be the vision Governor Daniels has for Indiana – make it easy for those on top and as confusing as possible for those on the bottom. If you just keep spinning people long enough, eventually they will get tired of trying to figure out which way to head; they start to forget the weight of the Bosma-Daniels elephant pressing down on them. Rightfully, the AFSCME and Unity Team are waging a strong fight, but it will be an uphill battle now that they have had their state employees torn away. Labor Unions can sometimes grow out of control, become too powerful, and threaten the delicate balance between government and labor. However, that was not the case here. On his first day in office, Governor Daniels made it a prime point to meet with a few advisers, talk to some reporters, and bring down the axe on the protections afforded to 23,000 workers. It makes one wonder how many of those workers still see Mitch as “Their Man.” Mitch Daniels campaigned as a man of the people, “My Man Mitch,” as his supporters so fondly called him. Now it seems he finds the very people he pledged to stand up for “too cumbersome” for his “reorganization.” Now he says it would take too much work to get rid of a Union employee – it’s so much easier to give the boot to someone if they aren’t represented by someone who actually stands up for their interests. Well, it’s no question where loyalties lie in this administration. The people have only had Governor Daniels since Monday, when he headed into the office prepared to leap away from all of his promises to the people. However, in that day, Hoosiers statewide have gotten a good look at exactly who Mitch Daniels truly is. The picture isn’t pretty. Now we’ve got four years to suffer before Daniels must face Hoosiers and explain his actions. I doubt there will be any town-hall meetings this time around. ------------ About the author: Max Burns is a 17-year-old Democrat with moderate, centrist ideals. He blames John Kerry's 2004 loss on John Kerry, and is authoring a pamphlet on how to refine the Democratic Party for Victory in 2008 and beyond. For more information, check out The New Democrat. Read the fantasy-fiction novel "Alcardia". Email: DeMBurns@gmail.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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