EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Mike Pence is heaping criticism on Indiana House Democrats, telling fellow Republicans that it's time for Democrats to return to work a month after they fled to Illinois to stall action on bills they oppose.
The Evansville Courier & Press reports that Pence, R-Ind., told party faithful Monday at the Vanderburgh County GOP's Lincoln Day dinner in Evansville that the boycotting Democrats are shirking their duty.
"It's high time the Democrats in Illinois hightailed it back to Indianapolis," he said, drawing cheers and whistles.
Most of Indiana's House Democrats have been holed up in a hotel in Urbana, Ill., since Feb. 22 in an effort to derail action in the House on bills they consider an attack on labor unions and public education.
Pence told about 240 party stalwarts that those Democrats were failing to do their duty as elected officials by staying away from the Statehouse, and that "job one is show up and do the job and cast the votes."
Pence, 51, is expected to announce within months if he'll seek the Republican nomination for governor in 2012 to succeed Gov. Mitch Daniels, who can't seek a third term because of term limits.
Pence's Monday speech was his ninth GOP Lincoln Day dinner — a fundraiser for local Republican Party organizations — since November's election. His office said he has confirmed plans to attend at least 16 more events this year.
Pence was elected in 2000 to represent Indiana's 6th Congressional District, which covers much of eastern and central Indiana. Many Republicans at Monday's dinner said they hope he'll make a run for the governor's mansion.
Alan C. Smith, a 65-year-old Evansville resident, said Pence's personal dynamism would help him enact a conservative agenda that would fundamentally change the capitol's political culture.
"(Pence) is the right candidate at the right time," Smith said. "We need somebody to take control over what's happened, the loose Democrat fiscal agenda. He's the one that can pull it back in."
Pence was chairman of the House Republican Conference, the third-highest position in the U.S. House GOP caucus, until he gave it up shortly after last year's election to focus on his next move, but he appears regularly on the Sunday morning talk-show circuit.
Democrats don't appear to have settled on a single candidate for governor. While former U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh and Evansville Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel have taken themselves out of the running, former House Speaker John Gregg of Sandborn is considering a gubernatorial bid.
Gregg has been to several Jefferson-Jackson Dinners — the Democratic equivalent of Lincoln Day dinners — and plans to attend more. He also has been making the rounds of Democratic movers and shakers in Indianapolis and throughout the state.
Mark Owen, chairman of the Vanderburgh County Democratic Party, said Gregg would make a very good candidate.
"He's got a gregarious, outgoing personality, he's never met a stranger, he's a great speaker, he's well-liked and well thought of," Owen said of Gregg.
U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly, a Democrat whose congressional district is centered on South Bend, is also mulling the possibility of running for governor. Donnelly is believed to be waiting until the Legislature finishes redrawing congressional district maps this year before making a final decision.
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