The Toupée of the Dark Side is Lifted, Begun the Property Tax Reform War Has

One of the few good quotes to come out of the rather sorry Star Wars prequels (and, big surprise, from Yoda).

*ahem*

The dual strategy of Speaker Pat "The Hair" Bauer to kill the Governor's property tax reform initiative has now been revealed.

In the House, as demonstrated by the vote yesterday, The Hair intends to gut important elements of the reform package (like referendums on capital expenditures and a graduated system of homestead deductions) by dealing it a death by a thousand amendments.

The Speaker's support for his own amendments, however, will likely be tempered by whatever Luke Kenley produces on the Senate side.

Senator Kenley and the Governor do not exactly see eye-to-eye on much of anything (they both often seem to think they are always the smartest people in any room), and they are likely to quarrel over any changes to the reform package coming out of the Senate.

To the extent that Mitch Daniels and Luke Kenley's egos compel them to be at odds over details of property tax reform on the Senate side, The Hair's "death by a thousand amendments" effort can basically fly under the radar until the very end, at five-till-midnight on the last day of the session, when the result of the Daniels-Kenley squabble must face the result of Bauer's amendments.

Both Kenley and Daniels will be playing a game of chicken with the Speaker to see who will blink first, with property tax reform hanging in the balance.