INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -
The leaders of the Indiana House and Senate aren’t going along with a
proposal to change state law so that fellow Republican Gov. Mike Pence could
run both for re-election and the White House in 2016.
House Speaker Brian
Bosma said Tuesday he just didn’t think it was a good idea.
“It does not seem
to me to be good public policy to give elected officials the opportunity to
run for a federal and a state office at the same time, whether it is a
legislator running for Congress or a secretary of state running for
president,” he said.
The bill sponsored
by state Sen. Mike Delph, R-Carmel, would allow a sitting governor or state
lawmaker to simultaneously seek re-election and election to a federal
office.
Pence has stoked
speculation that he’ll enter the 2016 Republican presidential race and has
said he’ll make a decision after the legislative session ends in April.
Pence earlier on
Tuesday called the bill a “well-intentioned distraction,” but said nothing
to discourage it.
Senate President
Pro Tem David Long essentially killed Delph’s bill on Tuesday by assigning
it to the Senate Rules Committee, which is a committee he leads and rarely
advances any legislation. Long told reporters he believed Indiana’s current
law allowing a candidate to only seek a single state or federal office was
appropriate.
Delph said he
believed the state should remove obstacles so that its governor could be in
the national conversation for president.
Bosma said he
wasn’t worried about whether Pence was putting off a decision about entering
the White House race until after the legislature adjourns.
“I’m sure the
governor’s future will take care of itself,” he said.