A Somewhat Dysfunctional Day One
Normally the first meeting of a new Indianapolis City-County Council is mostly ceremonial. Members are sworn in, a couple speeches get made, people go home. That was not the case Monday night. What should have taken a few minutes turned into a fight between Democrats and Republicans and then later reportedly turned into a fight between Democrats and Democrats.
As Democrats control the Council 16-13, they get to set the committee assignments. The melee began when Republicans were told that that Democrats had decided to change the size of the Rules committee from 5-3 to 6-2.
Republicans protested the move saying they weren’t given any notice. And then reportedly after the full Council meeting the committee reconvened and Majority Leader Vernon Brown is alleged to have offered a plan that reduced minority party representation by one vote on every committee except for parks and ethics.
This, I am told, led to a fight/flare up between Brown and newly elected President Maggie Lewis, who was troubled by Brown’s proposal. Lewis texted me later that evening and said Brown left, but did not storm out. She said she ended the meeting because Brown and Mike McQuillian, the new minority leader, weren’t going to agree on anything. Lewis says she is confident things will work out, however she also says she is not in the mood for political games, from either side of the aisle.
The end result of this, for now, is that there are no committee assignments which means no measures, like the proposed smoking ban, can be heard because there is no committee to hear them. The committee can reconvene later and assign councilors.
And this was just day one. I can’t wait for day two.
