Pelath makes remarks at opening of Indiana’s 2017 legislative session

INDIANAPOLIS – Below are the remarks made by Indiana House Democratic Leader Scott Pelath from Michigan City during today’s Indiana House session. In his speech, Pelath calls for sensible road funding proposals, election reform, and increased citizen participation in government through referenda:

Good afternoon, and Happy New Year, everyone.

To the returning members, welcome back.

Along with Speaker Bosma, I especially want to extend greetings to the new members. We occasionally pass life-changing milestones—the birth of children, weddings, losses of loved ones, changes in profession—and please know, your admission to the General Assembly is such an event.

At times your experience will be joyful, at other times maddening. You will feel both overwhelmed and underwhelmed. As you reflect the collective will of others, the ups and downs of life may be intensified in some ways.

Thomas Jefferson called the Presidency a “splendid misery,” and that might describe parts of your public service as well. Your work is merely part of a life well-spent.

The 2016 elections were hard on this nation, and hard on this state. Even among winners, I know of no one who likes the contemporary political culture through which we choose our government.

Moreover, we have now witnessed the smashing of many time-honored customs of basic decency. Once seen, such things cannot be unseen.

Unwritten customs help uphold the social contract that exists between government and the governed; between both allies and adversaries. They are the commonly understood right and left boundaries of acceptable words and acceptable behavior. Custom is what binds the wildly disparate parts into a functioning whole, and this chamber more than ever must act as though words and objective truths matter.

Divisions persist throughout society, and for the strength of our state, this chamber has a duty to assuage them with honest and truthful dialogue uttered without fear of retribution or dismissal.

For the majority members, I want to revisit for a moment the customary role of the loyal opposition, and how it is fundamental to our democratic institutions that none should take for granted.

First, we stand ready to help when measures are for the good of the state. Second, we will critique your decisions in the interest of perfecting good ideas and mitigating bad ones. Third, we will provide alternatives, so the people have a choice between alternative futures.

I cite these roles widely and repeatedly wherever I go in this state.

However, this year I will add a fourth role of the loyal opposition, which was presumed and is now articulated: we are the voices of those who perceive that they have no place in our government or in the decisions made here. We strive to comfort them that they will be heard here.

I have observed many emotions after elections, from jubilation to deflation, from quiet satisfaction to bitter disappointment.

However, this is the only time I have heard fear in people’s voices, and if you haven’t heard it, then you aren’t standing in the right place. However, this fear—which along with sinful pride, lies at the root of all human ailments—will subside if given a thoughtful voice and transformed into enlightened public discourse.

Let us remember that in an average room of ten Hoosiers, at least four of them desired outcomes different from the majority’s. If we remember that, we will serve well.

Elections certainly teach lessons, but we routinely learn nothing, misunderstand the reading, or learn a lesson other than was taught. However, I think we can confidently express a few things.

First, the people have exceeded their tolerance of campaign money, perceived special interest influence, and the perception of rigged electoral outcomes. We can debate whether these assertions are fair or unfair. But people were looking for a rescuer, and the message is clear. Things must change at all levels.

This is an area where we can lead from the front, and further differentiate ourselves from Washington. Already, we are working together toward nonpartisan redistricting. That must continue until our elections are truly reflective of the broadest cross-section of Hoosiers. Should there be intransigence in the Senate, then let’s adopt our own methods and practices for the Indiana House. Perhaps they will come to learn from us.

Similarly, campaign finance reform is clearly in order. While the state faces major challenges, candidates from Congress to commissioner are walled up next to a phone praying for large donors to take their calls. That is not governing, and that is not democracy. The founding fathers and mothers that we all revere would be appalled by the focus of our efforts. Where there is a will to change this system, there is a way.

Finally, as people trust their institutions less than ever, we must give a new breath of life to citizen participation in their government. I once embraced a line that I often borrowed from a long-ago member of Congress: “You live by the referendum, you die by the referendum.” I was often skeptical of the tool.

However, he was speaking with respect to ordinary policy differences in ordinary times. The future of our institutions and our self-limiting barriers to difficult reforms now demand that citizens be empowered to initiate and enact changes to our laws.

Today, I will be introducing an amendment to the state constitution that will allow the General Assembly to permit binding, statewide referenda on the functions of government. We will not always like the outcome, but at least our citizens will know it was not the decision of a single, twenty-year chairman of some Senate committee.

And we together confront the future of Indiana’s circulatory system – our state’s roads, bridges, and railways. The good news is that we have choices for improving how people get to work and move goods and services through our state. We certainly have had differences of opinion on what methods the people might prefer, and we must acknowledge that in several instances, you have done some of what we’ve recommended. But we share your sense of urgency about this prime component of Indiana’s prosperity.

However, the people’s views will be essential, and our new Governor’s leadership will be key, especially with making the case for new road financing to the public.

Concurrently, one view expressed time and again throughout recent months is one of fatigue with certain perceptions. Fatigue that sacrifices are not shared by everyone. Fatigue that some seem to be rewarded for doing nothing. Fatigue with powerful threats that appear to be parlayed into personal advantage.

We must remain mindful of these perceptions—whether believed fair or unfair in any particular instance—as we ask for new sacrifices from workers, consumers, and the unconnected. Just at this moment, even after recent cuts, corporate taxes are slated to drop another $560 million over the next six years.

When one considers additional individual cuts that have not even taken effect yet, we find another $766 million in revenue over the same period. Recognizing that these planned cuts disproportionately benefit folks at the top, we find $1.3 billion in potential funds without taking a dime from what people already have.

I am well-versed in the many tax policy arguments and counterarguments, but do not rich and poor, boardroom and shop floor, flashy and modest alike have a shared interest in re-building our infrastructure? Do we not all stand to benefit from renewed investments? Will not the struggling become successful, and the blessed become more blessed? If so, should we all not be called upon to contribute? Or if we can’t contribute, at least forgo some of blessings we have coming?

Our caucus stands ready to assist with this problem. We also embrace the Speaker’s call to continue refining our state’s workforce development strategies, which remain disjointed and spread among too many agencies who fail to communicate. And while efforts have been made, we still have too many job openings and too few skilled workers to fill them.

We must listen to employers about their workforce needs, and better coordinate our public resources with the demands of the job market. And that also includes identifying, cultivating, and retaining the young talent that is being left behind in many parts of Indiana, from our inner cities to our most rural communities.

Which brings me to a final reminder as we build our roads, bridges, and workforce for the coming decades. Whether wittingly or unwittingly, the aggregate effects of countless changes in this chamber are, in their totality, leading to a troubling outcome: increasingly we are collecting money from all communities and workers in Indiana and showering their dollars on the most influential who are already doing well on their own.

Recently, we saw everyone’s money to reward teachers for their hard work handed to the wealthiest, best educated communities, while the areas where it is often toughest to teach were ignored. I’m all for Carmel, but why does a teacher in Carmel merit $2,400 in additional pay, while one in Scott County gets $0? Does classroom innovation somehow spring from the soil, or are other factors at work beyond a teacher’s control?

Likewise, people from regions buried under ice and snow, living within the city limits, or traveling a rural road invariably marvel at what they see elsewhere and wonder if they’ve been forgotten. And increasingly, the burden for funding government in general is falling on those who work hard to buy what they need.

No one decision is the sole cause of these growing inequities, but taken in their entirety, we must take heed and begin to rebalance them, so anyone who truly wants to work hard gets a fair shake.

Every one of us, both parties and independents, laments the stark divisions we see in society. Now more than ever, one can live in his or her own information bubble, where there are no common facts let alone common opinions. But the situation demands each of us answer a basic question: are we better off if we’re all in this together? I think most if not all will believe that we are.

Having answered affirmatively, the leaders right here can demonstrate to the people that we mean it. It doesn’t portend that we always or even often get our way, or that we can simply impose our will without strong objection. But it does demand that we be better listeners, occasionally challenge our own assumptions, and be willing to allow at least a 1-percent chance that the other person is right.

We are ready to work. Indiana is now beginning its third century. The future that lies in our common purpose remains bright.

Thank you for your attention, and may God above bless each one of you.