Indiana

Never Shall The Two Meet

Posted on March 16, 2010
I spent some time yesterday observing both health care rallies at the Statehouse.   Nothing happened that I didn’t expect.  The anti-Obama health care crowd gathered on the Capital’s south side, the pro-Obama health care crowd was on the east side of the building...

Give Me Something to Work With

Posted on March 15, 2010
I think we?re all agreed here the proposed $2 billion transfer of the city?s water and wastewater facilities is the biggest policy/political move of the Ballard administration.  It is fraught with a lot of risk, but also a lot of reward.  There?s going to be a lot of talk in the days ahead, but as [...

Who?s Throwing This Party?

Posted on March 15, 2010
I picked up some interesting information regarding local party politics this week.  It goes to precinct committeemen filings for the Marion County Democratic Party and who exactly might be running the show next year. According to Marion County Clerk Beth White’s Office there were 542 PC filings...

Win, Lose or Draw?

Posted on March 14, 2010
Now that the 2010 Legislative session has come and gone, we can discuss who won, who lost, who was basically a draw.  Actually, there are different degrees of how much individuals win and lose based on what they hoped to accomplish, what they got done and how this all plays into the upcoming elections...

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The Last Words

Posted on March 13, 2010
I’m a little tired this morning after a long last day at the Legislature, so instead of me talking, I’ll let the lawmakers talk. David Long on Last Day Pat Bauer on Last Day Brian Bosma on Last Day

Here?s the Deal!

Posted on March 12, 2010
The deal is as follows… A one-year delay in the increase in the unemployment insurance tax. Flexibility for schools to transfer money from their capital budgets to operational budgets. Giving the Department of Labor the authority to create better rules on worker classification to draw better distinctions between full-time employees and independent contractors...

They Have A Deal!

Posted on March 12, 2010
I’m getting confirmation from very reliable sources that Indiana lawmakers have reached an agreement tonight.  No word on the details and no one is speaking on the record yet.  They were divided over unemployment insurance tax issues and some school funding matters...

Statehouse Trainwreck

Posted on March 12, 2010
Here’s where we are. 1.  Republicans say Democrats are including ridiculous demands for labor. 2.  Democrats say the GOP wants a two-year delay on unemployment that will cost the state $500 million. 3.   The Speaker doesn’t think they’ll be done tonight...

Statehouse Update ? Afternoon Edition

Posted on March 12, 2010
With a weekend left, Indiana lawmakers are blaming each other for the stalemate here at the General Assembly. Senate Pro Tempore David Long says there could have a deal last week, because Democrats are making unreasonable demands they say will break the state budget...

Between a Union and a Hard Place

Posted on March 11, 2010
As much as I like the Speaker of the House Pat Bauer, I would not want to be him right now.   Let’s face it, it’s been a tough year. There’s a national trend that doesn’t favor Democrats in the next election.  Evan Bayh won’t be on the ticket...

Statehouse Update (3:00 p.m.)

Posted on March 11, 2010
I’ll be filing these throughout the day.  Here’s what I know so far.  A number of lawmakers say things are still “close” as far as working out their final hang ups on unemployment insurance and whether reclassifying independent contractors as full-time employees will be part of the deal...

Are These Backroom Dealers?

Posted on March 11, 2010
It’s pretty common knowledge that Terry Burns of the Indianapolis Times doesn’t sneeze without his Democratic County party’s permission, so I was little surprised when he labeled the Mayor’s proposal to transfer the water a a backroom deal...

Out of the Craig Frying Pan

Posted on March 11, 2010
This can’t be good. I’m getting word this evening from my sources at the Statehouse that the real reason Indiana lawmakers can’t get anything done is because House Democrats don’t have a majority to pass anything, instead they only have 50 votes,  and you need 51...

Statehouse Update (3:20)

Posted on March 11, 2010
The Indiana House has adjourned until tomorrow at 1:30 p.m.  There had been some talk lawmakers were close to reaching a deal on unemployment. I hear they are still close, but no cigar just yet. We spoke with State Rep.  David Niezgodski shortly after the House adjourned...

Ballard?s Billion Dollar Deal

Posted on March 10, 2010
Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard this hour is announcing a nearly $2 billion partnership deal with Citizens Gas over the city’s water and sewer treatment facilities which he says will generate more than $400 million for infrastructure improvements...

And Now the GOP

Posted on March 10, 2010
House and Senate Republican leaders emerged from the Governor’s Office saying there is no reason to separate education funding from unemployment insurance as lawmakers look to end this session. Senate Pro Tempore David Long says both the unemployment bill and education bill are about jobs...

When the Speaker Speaks

Posted on March 10, 2010
Indiana House Speaker Pat Bauer says education funding should be a separate issue from unemployment insurance and he’s asking Governor Mitch Daniels to get that message to his fellow Republicans. Although lawmakers seem to agree on most of a plan to give schools more flexibility to solve their budget shortfalls and all parties seem to have [...

The Plowman Exit

Posted on March 09, 2010
Editor?s note: The following blog post is based on a number of interviews involving multiple sources, some of which were questioned by the FBI, over the past five weeks involving the case of former IMPD officer and City-County Councilor Lincoln Plowman...

Strange Bedfellows

Posted on March 09, 2010
My Marion County Democratic friends had a news conference today calling on Republicans to join them on township government reform.    I’m a little hurt they didn’t send me any notice (although I hear Ed Treacy is afraid to answer any of my questions) because they would have discovered I actually agree with them...

Lest We Forget

Posted on March 08, 2010
My Democratic blogger are obviously and understandably quite ecstatic over the recent misfortunes surrounding City-County Councilor Lincoln Plowman and they cite the recent ethics complaint filed by Democratic Councilor Angela Mansfield as partial motivation for Plowman’s expected resignation today...

Plowman Resigns

Posted on March 08, 2010
As expected, Indianapolis City-County Councilor and IMPD Major Lincoln Plowman has resigned from both positions.  That announcement came this afternoon from Public Safety Director Frank Straub. Straub said Plowman was being investigated both internally and by the federal government, but he did not go into detail...

What I?m Watching

Posted on March 07, 2010
This weekend marked six months of being a very happily married man so I gave local and state politics a break and spent time with my lovely wife.  It was time well spent and I highly recommend some of you getting off the blogs and getting  out of the house and doing something...

McAtee Attack

Posted on March 05, 2010
The Marion County Election Board today turned back a challenge that would have removed Republican Bart McAtee from the ballot in the May primary. At issue was whether McAtee’s candidacy was in violation of the Little Hatch Act which prohibits state and local government employees from running for public office if their jobs are partially funded [...

Can I See Some ID?

Posted on March 05, 2010
I was planning to write about the Indiana General Assembly this morning, however in quintessential lawmaker fashion those people can’t get their act together so they recessed last night won’t be back until Wednesday.   In the meanwhile, there’s nothing like a little blogging about voter ID...

Statehouse Update

Posted on March 04, 2010
I’m at the statehouse and this is what I’m hearing or seeing so far… Lawmakers are still wrangling over education and unemployment.  I hear Democrats are willing to take a two-year delay in the tax increase if Republicans will give in on more flexibility for schools to move money around in their budgets...

Supreme ID

Posted on March 04, 2010
Here are some of the interviews following Supreme Court hearing on Indiana Voter ID. todd rokita league of women voters I’ll have an analysis either later today or in the morning, but from my read, they seemed skeptical that there were no individual plaintiffs in the case who were victims of fraud as well no reported cases of [...

The Supremes

Posted on March 04, 2010
The Indiana Supreme Court will hear oral arguments this morning over whether Voter ID violates the state constitution. The main issues are whether the law adds an additional qualification to voting other than age, residency and citizenship and whether the provision that only requires a voter show ID in person and not when they cast an [...

Come 4th

Posted on March 03, 2010
There’s some interesting polling data coming out of the Republican primary for Indiana’s 4th Congressional District. A survey of 300 likely voters shows Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita the front runner in the race with 40% of the vote...

The Politics of Politics

Posted on March 03, 2010
As much as I love politics, I find the internal processes even  more fascinating.  Two examples of that were Monday night’s caucus election of Angel Rivera to take the place of Kent Smith on the City-County Council and the Tuesday afternoon Marion County Election Board hearing over candidate challenges...

Put Them Away

Posted on March 02, 2010
I hate to be the bad guy, but it’s time start rounding up some of the city’s homeless people and politely, respectfully and humanely put them away into an institution.  Hey, someone’s gotta say it. And I don’t say this lightly...

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