"Clearly, a more junior delegation has less influence than a more senior delegation," David Gogol of B&D Consulting told the Indianapolis Star in its story, "Hoosier Delegation Will Have Fresh Faces: Turnover in Indiana Could Be Unprecedented."
Depending on what happens this fall, the story reported, more than half of the Indiana congressional delegation's 11 members could be replaced. One current member resigned, two are not seeking re-election and two others face competitive fall races. The delegation's combined 165 years of experience could drop by nearly 40 percent, according to the Indianapolis Star.
"But Indiana has not enjoyed great seniority in a long time," continued Gogol, vice chair at B&D Consulting which lobbies Washington for many Indiana communities, schools and other interests.
Gogol, who started his Washington career as an aide to Lugar in 1978, remembers when former Sen. Birch Bayh, a Democrat, was chairman of a Senate panel that wrote the annual transportation spending bill and former Rep. Adam Benjamin, also a Democrat, chaired the equivalent panel in the House, according to the Indianapolis Star story. Bayh helped get the ball rolling on a $182 million railroad relocation project in Lafayette, one of Indiana's largest public works projects.
