REMARKS BY CHAIRMAN JOHN ZODY 2015 House GOP Legislative Agenda Response News Conference 10/15/14

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1 REMARKS BY CHAIRMAN JOHN ZODY 2015 House GOP Legislative Agenda Response News Conference 10/15/14 I read with interest the story yesterday about the House Republican legislative agenda for The truth is, it s not an agenda at all it s a homework make-up list that Republican leadership in the Statehouse should have been working on all along. It s a desperate attempt to convince Hoosiers the legislative supermajorities are prioritizing these critical issues for Indiana. The fact of the matter is the Speaker is simply trying to veil the fact that Republicans know they need to fix what they broke in the first place: Education Ethics Domestic violence/safety/inequality These are all important policy ideas because they re all ideas that Democrats in both the House and Senate have been championing solutions for - for years. Democrats have stayed focused on the middle class, protecting education and staying away from divisive social issues.

2 And because all Republicans focused on WERE divisive social issues they re trying to squeeze in some substance three weeks before the election. I don t buy it and neither should Hoosiers. When it comes to our state s finances, for example, Hoosiers have learned the hard way that a balanced GOP budget is never straightforward. Republicans divert, slash, and revert state agency and department funds all in the name of Governor Mike Pence s surplus. Those savings come at a great cost to communities and schools, whose strained budgets impede growth and progress. As for the Speaker s plan for education, I find it incredibly ironic and hypocritical. He is essentially proposing restoring the funding cuts his caucus voted for and never restored, alongside measures to corporatize Indiana s education system. Furthermore, Speaker Bosma and his GOP colleagues stood idly by as Governor Pence drained education dollars to fund the Governor s wasteful new education agency, where many of the staff receive sixfigure salaries.

3 Hoosiers rejected the Indiana GOP s vision for education, and now they try to rebrand themselves as crusaders of our children s future when their Republican governor can t even convince them to adequately funding an early childhood education program? And now there are even House Republicans trying to rebrand themselves as being supportive of public education through mailers being sent across the state WHEN THEY VOTED RIGHT ALONG SIDE THEIR LEADERSHIP. It is also laughable that House Republicans are pushing for ethics reform. The truth is that Statehouse Republicans have grown overconfident and complacent, and, in the process, have developed and sustained a culture of corruption within state government. Tony Bennett, Troy Woodruff, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, the Department of Child Services and Representative Eric Turner stand as examples of this culture These are the instances that have eroded Hoosiers trust in government. These are the reasons why Democrats continue championing a more open and balanced government. Finally, I would be remiss if I didn t go back to Speaker Bosma s supposed efforts to address domestic violence. This is the area that maybe perplexes me the most.

4 The Centers for Disease Control reports that one in six high schoolaged girls in Indiana has been raped or sexually assaulted. That s second worst in the nation. For years, Democrats have been proposing ideas and legislation that would make Indiana a better place for women, but they fell mostly on deaf ears. With a spotlight on the issue recently, Indiana House Republicans sense a political opportunity to appear sympathetic to victims of domestic violence. Why hasn t Statehouse GOP leadership taken interest in funding domestic violence programs and protecting victims before now? Why didn t they say more when it was discovered that Governor Pence let upwards of a half million dollars revert back to the general fund to help his surplus? Indiana Republicans apathy on these issues speaks volumes. Go back and look at Speaker Bosma s comments. There was no mention of creating jobs. No expansion of universal pre-k. No discussion of the Hoosier middle class. Why? Because their message is not authentic. It is regurgitated talking points without the sincerity behind it and they re copying a Democratic game plan that s been in action while they ve been fighting social issues.

5 Three weeks before an election is too late for Speaker Bosma and the legislative supermajorities to try to understand what issues are important to Hoosiers, and that was on display yesterday.