Monday, April 30, 2007

Senator Gard Calls Us Losers

Once again Senator Beverly Gard squashes important CAFO legislation -- and she calls us losers?!

In the first instance, Senator Gard would not allow a vote in her committee on Senate Bill 447 calling for a CAFO moratorium. Imagine -- she wouldn't even allow a vote on the matter.

Next came House Bill 1197 (authored by Rep. Pflum and Rep Saunders) which included setbacks and fees to insure yearly inspections, plus a character clause. Bill 1197 passed the House with bipartisan support... but Senator Gard refused to hear the Bill in her committee... and it died.

And finally, along comes her Bill 431, which passed the Senate and which Rep. Pflum heard in the House. When this bill went to conference -- with CAFO setbacks of one mile from schools and/or towns (down from the original 2 mile setbacks asked for) -- she would not support the setbacks.

The Star Press reports (link):
Senate Bill 431 did not get a final vote Sunday after setback requirements were stripped out of the bill in conference committee.

Senator Gard claims the Senate was fine with the bill, but House Democrats would not give it a chance. In her spin to the press;
Gard insisted that the real losers were "the people of Indiana."

She'll get away with calling us all losers in the Press, while trying to support her own "spin" on everything. A few choice names to call her come to mind, but in my efforts to be a good role model for our child, I won't sink down to her level.

On the other side of the fence, I tip my hat to Senator Paul, Rep. Pflum and Rep. Saunders for all their hard work on this important topic. They've each had to take on a great deal of heat for making a stand on behalf of all Indiana citizens.

Meanwhile, I sit here wondering... "Why -- oh why -- was it so important for some legislaters not to have any safety setbacks on the books for CAFOs in Indiana??"

Are there plans in motion already for CAFOs to come near towns and schools in our State? If a simple no-brainer clause like minimum setbacks can be tossed out -- not once, but twice -- you really gotta wonder what they know that we don't know, yet.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Perhaps next election time voters will determine who the real losers will be...

Anonymous said...

i believe she was referring (Gard) to the inability of pflum to compromise. That lack of leadership on his part was a loss for Indiana residents. Karen, you misquote and stir up unneccessary rhetoric to push yur agenda forward. The CAFO issue died because one of your advocates didn't lead. Pflum should be the one voted out.

kmyers said...

Interesting that you would call Pflum one of my "advocates" ... since believe it or not, I'm not a registered Democrat. (I vote for the person not the party.)

I'm guessing you call him an advocate because he is a dem? Or is there another reason you've made this assumption?

Witnesses report otherwise regarding Gard.

Personally, I think the solution to put in the word "minimum" with respect to setbacks would have solved everyone's issues on the subject. But that would have been too brain-dead-easy for any of them, apparently... including Senator Gard.

It seems that ANY bills that have to go through Senator Gard which even come remotely close to putting regulations on CAFOs keep getting shut down.

And yet, it is simply remarkable how many pro BigAg bills make it through her corner of the legislature.

Now, let's talk about your agenda. Since you persist on personally attacking me, I let this post through so the world can see you for what you are.

I could have chosen to simply delete you.

Imagine that.