INDIANAPOLIS | State Rep. Chet Dobis, D-Merrillville, is not leaving his political party, but his removal from the House Democratic leadership makes him a "free agent" when it comes to voting on legislation, he said Wednesday.

"I'm a Democrat, and I'm not going to change my stripes, but I do feel that I now have the freedom to vote as I please," Dobis said. "I don't feel bound by anything, and I was when I was in a leadership position."

House Speaker Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, removed Dobis as speaker pro tempore, the No. 2 position in the Democratic-controlled Indiana House on Tuesday. Bauer said Dobis' decision to buck the party line on a committee report vote last week meant he no longer could be a part of the House leadership.

The House met only briefly and took no votes Wednesday, so Dobis didn't get to exercise his newfound voting freedom. But the 20-term state representative told The Times that "if it's good for Lake County or Northwest Indiana, you can bet I'll give some heavy consideration to voting whichever way I feel."

That could include cooperating with House Republicans and Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels on an Illiana Expressway project, he said. Dobis worked with Daniels to create the Regional Development Authority in 2005.

"Come November, the speaker may not be the speaker anymore, I'm not sure, but I know the governor will be governor," Dobis said.

Democrats hold a 52-48 majority in the House, including Dobis' vote. The governor and House Republican leader Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, have been recruiting candidates and raising money to try to take back the House for the GOP in the November general election. Republicans control the Indiana Senate.

Dobis said Bauer's tenuous hold on his position as speaker of a Democratic majority in the House is making him "paranoid" about the governor.

"I think he must see him in his dreams because he's always lurking in the shadows even when he's not even around," Dobis said. "You don't get positive things done that way."

But the paranoia is only part of the problem, Dobis said. The way Bauer runs the House chamber, as if he were in Washington, D.C., is not an effective way to solve Indiana's problems, he said.

"I think the speaker is trying to imitate (U.S. House) Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She tries to control her caucus, and she's lost control," Dobis said. "The chemistry is not good in here."

"We've got to get civil again. We've got to take politics off the table on important projects."

According to Dobis, the most important project right now, and the one for which Dobis lost his seat, is the Illiana Expressway. The Illiana is a proposed toll road connecting Interstate 65 in Lake County with Interstate 55 near Joliet, Ill.

"It's the only project that I see out here statewide, with the exception of Cline Avenue, maybe, that has the potential to put people to work," Dobis said. "And this project won't cost the state of Indiana or its taxpayers one penny."

The Illiana plan approved by the Senate calls for the expressway to be built by a public-private partnership. A private company would pay to build the road and collect tolls for its use, while the state would continue to own the land underneath the road.

However, in the House last week, state Rep. Terri Austin, D-Anderson, tried to add new conditions to the state law governing public-private partnerships. Among the conditions, projects such as the Illiana would need approval from every local government the road touches before work could begin.

That proposal, supported by the speaker, was designed to stop the Illiana, Dobis said. Last Thursday, Dobis joined 48 Republicans in voting against a committee report containing Austin's proposal. That led to a 49-49 tie, killing the measure.

For defying the speaker on that vote, Dobis lost his leadership position. But he has no regrets about doing what's best for his constituents, he said.

"I can tell you that nobody on God's green earth is going to tell me what's best for Lake County. Not anybody from South Bend, no matter what his position is, and not anybody from Anderson, Ind., no matter what her position is," Dobis said.

The House has recessed until Monday. Senate Bill 382, the Illiana authorization, has not yet been assigned to a House committee.

State Rep. Earl Harris, D-East Chicago, was named acting speaker pro tempore to replace Dobis.

Politics makes friends as well as foes

The Republican state representative who partnered with state Rep. Chet Dobis, D-Merrillville, to offer a House version of the Illiana Expressway authorization said on Wednesday that "it is tragic" Dobis has lost his leadership position as a result of his stand for the road.

"Chet and I obviously are on different sides of the aisle. We don't always agree. But he is an honorable guy," said state Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso. "He's never lied to me. He's never misled me. He is what he is, and he's been here 40 years. So I think you treat people like that with respect."

Soliday said Democrats and Republicans alike appreciated how Dobis presided over the chamber when he acted as speaker.

"He runs the floor very, very well when he's up there, and both sides of the aisle respect the guy," Soliday said. "But this is politics."

Dobis was removed from his House leadership position Tuesday for defying House Speaker Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, and voting against a measure that Dobis believes would have made constructing the Illiana far more difficult.

As to the future of the Illiana legislation, Soliday said "nobody knows" what might happen next.

Soliday and Dobis announced their intention in January to add a proposed Illiana Expressway to a state list of roads that can be built using a public-private partnership. Their legislation never got a floor vote in the House.

However, state Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso, was able to shepherd a similar measure through the Senate. The Senate approved the Illiana proposal 48-0 on Jan. 28.

That measure now will come before the House.