Goodin: Special session’s only purpose? Covering up ineptitude

INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana House Democratic Leader Terry Goodin from Austin today issued the following statement on Gov. Eric Holcomb’s announcement that the Indiana General Assembly will be called into a special session in May:

“The only reason we are even talking about a special session now is because of the mismanagement demonstrated by those in charge of the Legislature.

“They are in charge of every aspect of the legislative process, but they could not handle their work in time, so the taxpayers will have to foot the bill for overtime this year.

“All along, Indiana House Democrats have said there is only one reason to have a special session this year: to fix the mess that is the Department of Child Services (DCS).

“It should be everyone’s priority to protect the lives of at-risk children. During the session, the Republicans chose to do nothing, hiding under the guise of waiting for a private consultant to tell us what we already know: there’s a lot that’s wrong with DCS.

“Even though the consultant already has found problems in both staffing and computerization at DCS that should be addressed, we are told that we should wait to do anything until next year.

“So the needs of at-risk children will be set aside…again. The school safety concerns addressed by the governor can be handled administratively.

“Nothing on an agenda for a special session should be more important than saving the lives of children. Nothing.

“The governor’s priorities now seem to include covering the butts of Republican legislative leaders for the sorry way the regular session ended last week. What a shame.”