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August 6, 2012

Democrats’ Lawson in and Bauer out, but for how long?

Maureen Hayden CNHI Statehouse Bureau

INDIANAPOLIS — Some of the Indiana Statehouse Democrats who were overjoyed to see a new nameplate outside the office of the House Minority Leader confess to a recurring dream: The old occupant isn’t really gone, just lurking in the shadows waiting to return.

It seems that no one can quite believe that the reign of B. Patrick Bauer has come to an end. For a decade, in good times and bad for his party, he ruled with what friends and critics alike said was an iron fist clamped tightly to his seat of power.

His seat is gone — literally. Last week, the woman chosen by House Democrats to replace him in a dramatic coup moved Bauer's desk out and replaced it with a conference room table.

Seven-term House Democrat Linda Lawson wanted to send a visual signal that times had changed, following the late July ouster vote that Bauer initially — and vehemently — challenged as illegal.

But as Lawson was moving furniture, others in the Statehouse were worrying that it all may be a temporary move.

Two veteran Statehouse observers who’ve seen partisan coups come and go say those fears may be verifiable. Indiana Legislative Insight publisher Ed Feigenbaum and Howey Politics Indiana publisher Brian Howey both warn against writing Bauer’s political obituary.

Their advice is based on math. Only 23 of the 40 House Democrats took an active role in the coup. They, along with the House Dems who supported the ouster but didn’t take part in the ouster vote, may not have the numbers to sustain the regime change after the November election. Many are either lame ducks or face tough challenges from their GOP opponents.

Lawson may be a temporary place holder, but she’s pounding on this message while she can: The world only spins forward.

Lawson and her fellow dissidents say the future of their party — which they argue had become the obstructionist “party of no” with no positive ideas under Bauer —  is at stake.

It’s way too early to know who will prevail. Lawson doesn’t have a thirst for power; she’s a private person and relative introvert compared to some of her colleagues; she favors collaboration over control and was picked in part because of her skills as a peacekeeper.

But she is, to borrow a cliché, one tough broad. She’s a former cop from the gritty city of Hammond who quickly rose through the ranks to become a captain. A mother and grandmother, she tells a funny story about being thought of as “that girl who won’t cause trouble” only to later topple that expectation.

In 1976, Lawson became the first female police officer on the Hammond force; now, after 196 years of men in charge of the Statehouse, she’s the first woman to be the leader of either party.

She’s survived much worse than partisan in-fighting and intra-caucus drama. In May 2007, her husband, Jim Hornak, was killed in a car accident, after a head-on collision with a semi-tractor trailer.

Hornak was the one who’d encouraged Lawson to make her first run at the Statehouse. Last week, after having moved in that conference room table to her new office, Lawson was thinking of her late husband.

“He’d be so happy, he’d be doing a jig.”

Maureen Hayden is the Indiana Statehouse bureau chief for CNHI, the parent company of the Tribune-Star. She can be reached at maureen.hayden@ indianamediagroup.com.

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