State Senate President Pro Tem David Long (R-Fort Wayne) issued a news release today citing steps being taken to cut spending in line with the governor’s cuts announced today.  As one of those measures the Senate will ”continue its current hiring freeze.”

Long issued one other news release today.  It announces the hiring of Adam Harrison as a GOP Senate Policy Analyst.  Is there a disconnect here?

Senate President Pro Tem David Long announced today that Sen. Phil Boots (R-Crawfordsville) will replace Sen. Dennis Kruse as Chairman of the Pensions and Labor Committee.  (Kruse recently took over the Education Committee from retired Senator Teresa Lubbers.)

Boots is a member of the Labor committee but was not the ranking majority member who would normally be next in line for chairman.  That’s Senator Brent Waltz (R-Greenwood.)

Waltz has a history of going his own way rather than following GOP leadership.  Sometimes what goes around, comes around.

The appointment of Dennis Kruse as Chairman of the Senate Education Committee came as a surprise to some.  While he was ranking member of the Ed committee and knows the issues, Sen. Kruse (R-Auburn)  must give up his other committee chairmanship to take the post.

It’s interesting because he was relatively new to the position of  Chairman of the Pensions and Labor Committee and seemed to like it. 

It means that Senate President Pro Tem David Long now has another committee chairmanship to fill and it’s a move that suggests bigger considerations are at stake.

For example, does Long feel the need to appoint one of the growing number of right wingers to a chairmanship to protect his own position as Pro Tem? 

Is the Pensions Committee a safer place than the Education Committee to put someone who may be more difficult to control? #fb

State lawmakers are gone from the Statehouse but a couple of issues remain.  State Senate Democrats are upset that majority Republicans forbid them from videotaping the final budget debate.  They had videotaped only the Democratic speeches throughout the Special Session, or so they say.

Republicans, meantime, are upset with one of their own.  Senator Jean Leising voted against the budget (one of 3 Republicans to do so) but sent a memo to President Pro Tem David Long asking why Senators didn’t get per Diem payments on days during the Special Session when the Senate didn’t convene.  Whether Senators deserve the pay is a point that is unclear in the law.

Absolutely clear is the fact that fellow Senators leaked the memo to make Leising look bad.

Senate President Pro Tem David Long announced to the Senate this afternoon that he would appoint members to a House/Senate conference committee and that the minority would be included in final budget negotiations.  (Government)

Then he joined with House Minority Leader Brian Bosma to demand that House Democrats accept the budget as is, eliminating the need for a conference committee.  (Politics)

I asked Sen. Long what changed from one announcement to the next.  He said nothing, but also indicated that there is little to negotiate over, as little as $10 million.  He also said that Senate Republicans will take part in negotiations.  (Confusing)

Sen. David Long says the legislature should dispense with the normal committee system during the Special Session.

He says the State Budget Committee (made up of lawmakers and the state Budget Director) should hold hearings on a budget proposal that should come from the governor.

Senate President Pro Tem David Long held his first meeting with the media of the 2009 Session today and labeled one topic off limits and put another in the unlikely category.

He said alcohol issues are off the table until 2010.  “All alcohol bills are doomed,” were the exact words as Long pointed to a 2-year study of Indiana alcohol laws.  In 2010, he said, the door is wide open to all kinds of possible changes in the way alcohol is sold in this state.

Then, with regard to gambling, Long said that there is weariness among lawmakers when it comes to new gambling proposals.  He labeled a plan to move 500 slot machines from Anderson to an OTB in Fort Wayne “new gambling.”   He called the proposal presumptuous and said it would amount to creating a new casino.

Senate President Pro Tem David Long just announced two new committee chairmanships.  Luke Kenley takes over the Appropriations Committee post vacated by the retirement of Bob Meeks.

Brandt Hershman gets Kenley’s old post at Tax and Fiscal Policy.

That puts Kenley in charge of the new state budget.

Mary Mendel left the staff of the State Senate today becoming the most recent of the Bob Garton loyalists to depart.

As Secretary of the Senate she held on longer than most after the 2006 defeat of the then-longtime Senate President Pro Tem.  Her departure coincides with an effort by new Senate Leader David Long to create a more open administration.

Reporters fatigued by Mendel’s attempts to shut down the Senate information flow on occasion literally danced in the halls today.

Senator David Ford will be remembered as a bright and independent legislator willing to buck his party and his governor when he felt it necessary.

Sen. Ford was tough and determined and proved it in his final days.  Just last Thursday Sen. David Long told me that Ford intended to return to the Statehouse for one final vote this week or next.  Word came to the Statehouse just yesterday that his health had taken a turn. 

Governor Mitch Daniels had a Sagamore of the Wabash delivered to his home yesterday.