action was taken on his advice, it renewed the debate which had seen little advancement since Governor James D. Williams had issued a similar request several years earlier. Porter used his appointment powers to advance the women's cause, appointing women to a variety of positions in state agencies, but primarily to board positions overseeing the state's benevolent institutions, like hospitals and orphanages. He also successfully forced out many of the non-expert members of important state boards, and replaced them with field experts. Democratic legislature After several months of debate, the General Assembly finally agreed to a compromise to grant women the right to vote by agreeing to also enact prohibition legislation. They proposed an amendment to the state constitution that would both grant women the right to vote, and enact statewide prohibition. The two issues were to much for the electorate to consider at once, and in the mid-term election of 1882, the amendment was overwhelming defeated, and so were the Republicans as a large Democratic majority came to power. The second half of Porter's term was one of the uncommon times in Indiana's history where the legislature was completely controlled by a party hostile to the governor. Typical to such occasions, the assembly began to reign in the governor whose weak constitutional position made it difficult to resist. One of their first acts was to revoke all of the governor's appointment powers. He vetoed the bill on its first passage, but the assembly quickly overrode it, taking the responsibility for appointing all board members in the state, a power the governor had held since the Civil War. They also began to enact legislation designed to weaken Republican power across the state, first by creating a state board to manage the newly formed Indianapolis metropolitan police department, taking away control from the Republican-controlled city government. Along with other restrictive measures placed on the governor, they weakened the executive office to its lowest point in the history of the state. Nearly fifty years would pass before governors began to regain their former power. The only significant legislation the governor was able to have passed during this time was a bill to fund a relief program following a flood that devastated the Wabash River and Ohio River areas in 1883. At the time the flood was the worst in the state's recorded history, and destroyed and damaged many towns and cities were