<strong>By Brian Howey</strong>
Ever since a couple of corruption convictions in the Indiana Senate four decades ago, the ensuing era of Statehouse politics has been mostly scandal free. Yes, there may be some hidden secrets which have yet, or will never, come to light, particularly since the watchdog Statehouse press corps is about a third of what it used to be.
But Indiana marked the end of an era when Senate President Pro Tem David Long gave his farewell address. He is only the second Senate president since 1980. And his exit is one embodied by the spirit of President George Washington, who batted aside the notion of a lifetime in that post and willingly gave up power.
In terms of Indiana General Assembly leadership, few get to choose when they relinquish clout. We’ve watched House Speakers J. Roberts Dailey and Michael K. Phillips end tenures with upsets in general elections. Speakers Paul Mannweiler, Patrick Bauer and Brian Bosma (in his first stint) exited their posts when their parties lost the majority. Long’s predecessor Robert Garton was defeated in a Republican primary.
Long joins House Speakers Kermit Burrous (who unsuccessfully ran for lieutenant governor in 1980) and John Gregg who retired in 2002 as those leaving on their own terms.
He is a political figure I’ve known since his days on the Fort Wayne City Council, which I covered for the Journal Gazette. David Long is conspicuously tall and his manner is genteel. After Garton’s defeat in 2006, Long won a three-way battle for the post, cutting a key deal with the six female members of the Republican caucus. In the 12 years hence, he has held together a restive caucus with members scattered across the ideological spectrum. That he did it so masterfully and with so little controversy is a testament to his leadership.
“I had a long speech, but I’m not going to give it,” Long said, dry-eyed as this year’s session came to a close. “I’m honored that some of you thought I’d made a difference.” Little did he know that by midnight, the once tranquil session would end in bedlam as time ran out for a handful of bills.
The thrust of his closing remarks was framed around the notion that the Indiana General Assembly, imperfect as it is, actually achieves things, while Congress is an inert mess.
He can point to a jobless rate under 4 percent, a series of truly balanced budgets, one of the best business climates in the nation, and two mega public infrastructure projects he played key roles in. The first came just before he took the helm with Gov. Mitch Daniels’ Major Moves program, a $3.8 billion initiative that reworked U.S. 31 and has forged I-69 to Evansville. Last year he was a key force behind gas and diesel fuel tax hikes to create a two-decade “Next Level” road and infrastructure program worth billions of dollars.
“People don’t understand the Senate,” Long said. “It’s such a small group of people who get to serve here. And it’s an incredibly important job and we are lucky to serve here, we really are.”
“We don’t always agree. We have great people here on both sides of the aisle, but we find a path,” Long continued. “We have a responsibility to keep this economy humming. It’s not easy. The world is changing so fast, and it’s tough for us to stay ahead of it, but try we must. The great challenge going forward is that we don’t muck it up.”
Long compared the General Assembly to Congress. “We get so much more here done as a state body than they’ll ever do in the federal government,” he said. “We affect Hoosiers on an everyday basis so much more than what goes on in Washington D.C., thank goodness, by the way. Because we know it’s dysfunctional and has been for many years. I’m a state’s rights guy for that reason.”
Long and other Hoosier leaders believe that Congress has abrogated its duties to deal with controversial issues such as immigration reform. He believed so much in the concept of balanced federal budgets that he helped form a conservative push for an Article V constitutional convention that would require 34 state legislatures to trigger.
”I’m fed up at times with their inability to do what’s best for the country,” Long said. “But that really is not a bad thing because the responsibility is increasingly coming to the states. And when it comes to the states it comes to leadership and that means this group here in this room. I have great confidence you’re up to the task.”
Long cited Gov. Eric Holcomb, saying, “He’s a great guy to have a beer with. Sometimes a governor is a box of chocolates and you don’t know. But this guy’s going to be a good one.”
Many of us have had disagreements with Long on issues. In my case, it was his blocking redistricting reform. And the state has big issues to deal with ranging from the opioid crisis to workforce issues. But his body of work and the spirit in which he carried it out has left a hallmark example of how to govern.
<em>Brian Howey is publisher of Howey Politics Indiana at howeypolitics.com. Send comments to [email protected].</em>
