RUTHFULLY YOURS

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels did himself no favors with many conservatives yesterday in his response to a walk-out by Indiana state legislators protesting action on a right-to-work bill. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie may be facing down teacher unions, and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker may be pushing back against public sector privileges, but Mr. Daniels has taken a “kinder and gentler” approach.

The Republican governor told reporters yesterday that he had no plans to use state troopers to compel attendance by the AWOL Democrats. “Even the smallest minority, and that’s what we’ve heard from in the last couple days, has every right to express the strength of its views and I salute those who did,” he said. His office later had to clarify that he was referring to union protestors rather than legislators shirking their duty.

Indiana’s right-to-work legislation, which would have made it the 23rd state to bar requiring private sector workers to join a union, died last night with the failure of the legislature to act. Mr. Daniels never opposed the bill but made it clear he thought it would distract from other parts of his legislative agenda. “There was a better time and place to have this very important and legitimate issue raised.”

But Mark Mix of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Fund says conservatives will remember that Mr. Daniels chose to be a non-combatant in a fight that was almost won. “We had a clear majority of both the House and Senate ready to vote in favor of the bill,” Mr. Mix told me. “The governor would certainly have signed it, but his willingness to let right-to-work die when Republicans had overwhelming majorities in the legislature makes one wonder just how stalwart he would be in pursuit of conservative issues.”

Mr. Daniels is expected to make up his mind about a presidential run in the next few weeks.

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