The Outstater

November 29, 2022

New Boss Just Like the Old Boss

THE INDIANA SENATE leadership announced new committee chairmen recently for the 2023 session. We thought it would be interesting to compare the outgoing chairmen with the incoming chairmen.

A handy way to do that is to compare ratings of the individual legislators on IndianaScorecard.org, an independent web site that measures how our representatives vote on central issues such as private property and personal liberty. Has the leadership sensed new populist vibes? Is it picking up its step to stay ahead of the parade? The people wanted to know. 

But we also needed a cynicism check. Was it wrong for us to assume that the leadership would choose chairmen not on the basis of expertise but rather on malleability? Was our bet wrong that the new chairmen would not be charged with any fresh thinking?

No, it was not. On average the new chairmen scored almost exactly the same as the old chairmen (46.4 to 46.1 on a scale of 100).

Ain’t democracy great? — tcl

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