Hoosier Representatives Andre Carson, Baron Hill, Brad Ellsworth, and Pete Visclosky all earned the gratitude of their fellow Hoosiers for voting to include the Murphy amendment in this year’s defense spending bill. As you probably know, the amendment instructs the Department of Defense to end the discriminatory policy of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in the armed services, pending the outcome of a Pentagon review. Democrat Joe Donnelly joined with the remaining Republican delegation (Buyer, Pence, and Burton) to continue excluding gay and lesbian Americans from the service.

Here’s the House version of the amendment, which passed 234-194:

An amendment numbered 79 printed in House Report 111-498 to repeal Dont Ask Dont Tell only after: (1) receipt of the recommendations of the Pentagon’s Comprehensive Review Working Group on how to implement a repeal of DADT (due December 1, 2010) and (2) a certification by the Secretary of Defense, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and President that repeal is first, consistent with military readiness, military effectiveness, unit cohesion & recruiting, and second, that the DoD has prepared the necessary policies and regulations to implement its repeal. It would also include a 60 day period after certification before the repeal took effect.

And lest you think there’s some principle at play in the GOP opposition to the bill, here’s Steve Buyer ignoring all the evidence:

"It is very clear that homosexuality is incompatible with military service."

In contrast, Rep. Andre Carson released a statement that included this:

"Any patriotic American willing to give his or her life in defense of country should have that opportunity. And our troops should never be forced to lie about who they are in order to continue their service. Today’s vote will help ensure this kind of personal conflict is never an issue for the brave men and women in our military."

Last night, Congress decided that discriminating to please Steve Buyer wasn’t important enough to jeopardize our national security. And 5 Republicans defied GOP Conference Chairman Mike Pence to support repeal.

The fight against DADT isn’t over, but this looks like the beginning of the end. The Senate still has to vote on the final bill – although the Armed Services Committee, including Indiana’s Senator Evan Byah, voted to repeal DADT.

But while the DADT vote is getting all the attention, I was intrigued by a vote on an amendment offered by Rep. Gutierrez, which would give the Secretary of Defense the power to review (and end) contracts with BP and their subsidiaries if they are deemed to no longer be a “responsible source”. Reps. Carson, Donnelly, Ellsworth, Hill voted for this amendment. The GOP delegation (joined by Rep. Visclosky) voted against giving the Secretary of Defense and the Pentagon the power to review BP’s contracts.

The Guitierrez amendment passed easily (372-52), but it’s striking to me that all of the Hoosier delegation just last year voted to strip ACORN of any federal contracts despite a lack of any wrongdoing by the group.

So according to Mike Pence, Steve Buyer, and Dan Burton, helping families deal with the foreclosure crisis while being the victims of a badly-edited piece of manufactured conservative outrage means that you don’t deserve any federal contracts – even if a law to that effect might be unconstitutional. On the other hand, if you’re responsible for untold economic and environmental devastation and the deaths of 11 workers, we can’t even look into your contracts if the Defense Department deems that BP is no longer a responsible source.

These GOP congressmen are willing to risk our national security to eject service members from the military because they don’t like them, and they’re willing to risk our security to maintain contracts with a supplier that may be irresponsible. And just a few days before Memorial Day, no less.

These two votes, taken together, show a clear picture of our delegation’s priorities. In the cases of Pence, Buyer, and Burton, it’s clear they’re willing to put just about anything ahead of Hoosier troops, and they’re willing to put their ideology ahead of the Hoosier values of responsibility, fair play and equality under the law.

Evan Bayh’s latest statewide email blast (about election reform) starts with the populist headline, “Power to the People.” But like too many things in Evan Bayh’s career, what starts out with such promise quickly becomes a vanity project.

Since announcing his retirement from the Senate, Bayh has criticized the moribund institution’s inane rules and courtesies, and recently started speaking out against the role of money in the electoral process. He co-sponsored and helped introduce the DISCLOSE Act, which is the first step toward restoring some of the limitations on corporate money struck down by the Citizens United ruling.

The DISCLOSE Act, co-introduced by Sens. Schumer, Feingold, and Wyden, is a good law that will increase transparency in the system. Like all bills, it’s imperfect. It doesn’t go far enough in some respects, and it omits some of the reforms that would be more effective. But I support this law, and I was proud of my Senator for being a part of it.

Despite that, Bayh’s email made me cringe. In the email, there’s no call for citizens to contact their other representatives to help support the bill. There’s no petition to sign. There’s no encouragement to talk to your friends & neighbors about the bill. Instead, it’s all about what Evan Bayh is doing to save us poor Hoosier citizens.

Bayh’s message isn’t about power to the people – it’s about more power to people like him. It makes you question his motives in supporting this bill. It brings to mind all the money the Bayh family has made from Wellpoint/Anthem. And it makes the populism ring hollow. It doesn’t help that the full top half of the email is a glamor shot of Bayh, shot from a low angle, with his arms outstretched and palms facing forward.

It’s shoddy messaging like this that lets the GOP get away with taking their marching orders from Wall Street banks and labeling as “a bailout” the Democratic plan to end the bailout culture. It’s hollow, self-aggrandizing language that makes voters question the integrity of Democrats, even when they pursue an agenda to benefit all Americans.

Evan Bayh is a part of the problem. He doesn’t get that phony, self-serving populism like this hurts the Democratic agenda and the democratic process.

Full text of Bayh’s email:

Election season has officially arrived. While I won’t be on the ballot this year, I care deeply about ensuring that our elections are fair and the voices of ordinary Hoosiers are heard.

Unfortunately, due to a recent Supreme Court decision, we are facing an election where there will be no limits on the amount of money that special interests can spend on ads that support or oppose a candidate. Worse, the ruling will allow powerful corporations to hide their unlimited expenditures by secretly funneling money through organizations whose sole purpose is to launch ads that distort the truth.

The majority’s 5-4 decision in the Citizens United case removes limits on how much money an oil company, a Wall Street bank, or even a corporation under foreign control can secretly spend on political advertisements. As a result, those who are beholden to special interests will be elected to defend special interests. The losers in all of this will be you, ordinary citizens.

That’s why I introduced a bill last week to close the floodgates opened by the Court’s ruling. My legislation would force shadow interest groups to disclose all of the major donors who fund their attack ads. It would require corporate CEOs to appear on camera to stand by any claims and say they "approve this message," just like candidates have to do now. And it would close loopholes that allow foreign corporations to influence the outcome of our elections.

I announced this bill on the steps of Supreme Court, and I recorded a video of the event to share with you. (Click here to take a look.) The goal is to enact these reforms by July 4th, in time to deter and expose the onslaught of misleading, negative ads that will air before the November elections. Hoosiers have a right to know the motives and agendas of those trying to influence their votes.

When it comes to removing the corrosive influence of special-interest money on politics, sunshine is the best disinfectant.