Jerry Bales was an independent voice in the General Assembly

Jerry Bales, who died Tuesday, represented the people of Monroe County and the State of Indiana with independence and distinction for 22 years in the Indiana General Assembly. His free spirit was not appreciated by the right wing of his Republican Party, which challenged him with the more conservative Jeff Ellington in the May 1998 primary and sent Bales home from the Statehouse.

The joke was on the Republicans at the time, though. The Democrats weren’t going to challenge Bales that year, but they named Peggy Welch as a candidate in a summer caucus to challenge Ellington. Welch won in November, giving what had been a solid Republican seat to the Democrats for the next 14 years. It took 17 more years for Ellington to become a legislator, albeit in a different district.

What galled the Republicans at the time was that Bales did what he believed was best for the people he represented, and those were citizens and not party leaders.

He was a staunch supporter of education and Indiana University, and a strong voice for his constituents in Monroe and Brown counties.

Bales was often described as a maverick for his noncomformist methods. He was known to poke fun at his colleagues for taking themselves too serious, saying if all 150 members of the House and Senate were to be tossed out, the only consequence would be “some people would have a hard time finding the bathroom.”

Then Democratic State Rep. Mark Kruzan, who shared a bipartisan booth with Bales at the Monroe County Fair, knew Bales well and that losing him from the Legislature cost the body more than just individual knowledge of the way to the wash room.

“He is one of a kind in the legislative arena,” he told the H-T. “His not being (at the Statehouse) will leave a tremendous void.”

So true, and unfortunate for Hoosiers.