Indiana

Indiana Consolidated, LLC (Round One)

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

When I came to Indianapolis in 2004, I was very interested in government reform.  And one thing I noticed was the only people who usually opposed government reform usually worked for the government.

Nearly five years later, not much has changed.

I sat in a State Senate Committee hearing this morning over several Kernan-Sherpard proposals, most focusing on elections, and the only people who appeared to have problems with the legislation were the folks on the government dole.

Now granted, one measure that called for the appointment of clerk-treasurers in some Indiana cities, as opposed to their election, actually made sense.  In some smaller Indiana cities the clerk-treasurer can serve as a balance against a mayor, so keeping the job elected isn’t a bad idea.

On the other hand how can you oppose prohibiting elected officials from being employees of the government entity they represent unless you’re one of them?

And how can you oppose moving the election of school board members to the general election, rather than the primary unless you’re the teachers union trying to sneak a bunch of people through an election cycle that many shy away from because they don’t want to declare a political party?

No one spoke out against voting centers and you already heard my opinion on moving municipal elections to even-numbered years.

Now I could be wrong in my assumption on government reform and who supports it and who opposes it, so I’ll just wait for the next three hearings on libraries, Marion County and township government to see if anything changes.

Some how I don’t think they will.

Full post as published by Indiana Barrister on January 26, 2009 (boomark / email).