Indiana

Marion County Fire Consolidation Passes, Then It Doesn?t

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

There are always those moments in the Indiana General Assembly that make you wonder what the (fill in the blank)  was that?  Monday night was one of those moments.

An amendment was offered to SB 173`which would have consolidated the Marion County Township Fire Departments with IFD.  At first it passed 51-45, with 14 Democrats voting “yes” and 12 Republicans voting “no”.  That apparently caught Bill Crawford and the Marion County Democratic delegation off guard who were in a state of shock and awe. 

 So according to inside sources they strong-armed the bill’s sponsor, Rep. David Niezgodski to withdraw his bill and the Democrats immediately adjounred and bolted out of the chambers.

This tells me two things.

1. Fire consolidation can happen and there is support.
2. There is nothing in this chamber that shocks me anymore.

 You can watch it here.  It starts about half way through the video.

Full post as published by Indiana Barrister on April 15, 2009 (boomark / email).