Indiana

SOME WILL WIN, SOME WILL LOSE, SOME ARE BORN TO SING THE BLUES

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

Okay, okay, enough with the Journey references already! But I couldn’t help myself. Let’s face it, it’s not everyday you get your hands around the biggest property tax reform package in darn near 50 years. So while my last post was who gets the credit, with this post we do another survey, who wins and who loses under this plan, politically speaking. Here is my list…

Winners (At Least for Now Anyway)

Governor Mitch Daniels - It was his plan. He got the Legislature to go along with most of it. His re-election effort just go a lot easier.

Sen. Luke Kenley - If Daniels was the architect, Kenley was the builder. That guy is brilliant.

House Speaker Pat Bauer - The Speaker is nothing if not one of the smartest politicos I have ever met in this state. He saw what was coming and made sure his members would be safe. By the way, sources close to the House Democrat leadership team say they knew they were going to vote for the proposal days before it passed, knowing there was no way this session could go by without real tax reform.

Senate Pro Temp David Long & House Republican Leader Brian Bosma - Not bad guys. And a little 11th hour posturing with a joint news conference didn’t hurt either. But you know what, it worked. Don’t hate the players folks, hate the game.

Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard - With the state assuming the burden of a number of levies (including the pre-1977 police pensions that his critics called him an idiot for asking for even though they now says it’s a good thing for all of Indiana) the city will save an estimated $65 million. That seems pretty darn close to the $70 million the Mayor promised to cut. See, timing is everything in politics.

Anyone running for re-election - Any lawmaker who is running for re-election and who voted for this reform plan is basically a shoe-in. If you know the perfect campaign counter strategy, let me know.

Losers (Or better luck next year)

Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Jim Schellinger - Schellinger is a smart guy, but to put out a news release to say the state needs to wait until next year for tax reform is the equivalent of handing Daniels a victory on a silver platter with a square plate and garnish on the side.

Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Jill Long Thompson - By passing tax reform, lawmakers took this issue away from the Democratic candidate and so now she’s going to have to find something else to run on. By they way, Speaker Bauer told us Friday he would have no problem pointing out errors in the criticism of the plan by either Thompson or Schellinger.

State Sen. Mike Delph - Delph tried to push an illegal immigration plan through that had more constitutional issues than the play 1776. And then the fight got personal towards the end and from what I hear almost came to blows in a Senate caucus. My suggestion, pass a law that says if the federal government finds an employer has hired illegal immigrants, then the state can step in and take the business’ license away. You’ll find you avoid a lot more grief that way.

SJR-7 Supporters - Like I tell my friends who are Chicago Cub fans, sorry guys, this wasn’t your year. Better luck next season when voters aren’t as concerned about losing their homes as opposed to who’s living next door to them.

Indiana Sheriffs - Now that lawmakers have made their pay equal to that of the County Prosecutors’ they can no longer make as much, or more, than the President of the United States.

Indiana Township Assessors -It’s been real and it’s been fun. Next time it will be real fun. Although they may be all out of a job soon, they may still get the last laugh out the door when the final reassessment numbers come back. That issue ain’t over by a longshot.

Kernan-Shepard Commission Supporters - Wait ’til next year.

Singing the Blues

Local governments - They’ve argued they’re going to lose a ton of money under this plan with the property tax caps, however they forget to mention the local option income tax which can be used to replace that revenue and the state is picking up levies that they have been clamoring for for years. So we’ll see.

Radio Talk Show Hosts, Pundits and Bloggers - Our livelihoods are centered around controversy and now the biggest issue of the last 25 years has been taken off the table in a bi-partisan fashion. Oh well, another issue will pop up soon because as the song goes, “the movie never ends, it goes on and on and on.”

Full post as published by Indiana Barrister on March 16, 2008 (boomark / email).