American massacre: We`re on our own

V21, N9
Thursday, Oct. 8, 2015
American massacre: We’re on our own
Indiana State Police
advise on surviving
atrocities; no political
solution on horizon
By BRIAN A. HOWEY
INDIANAPOLIS – A generation ago, Indianapolis Mayor Stephen
Goldsmith warned us of a coming
era of “super predators,” the children
of crack addicts suffering Day One
from maladies such as fetal alcohol
syndrome, who would eventually terrorize the population.
In Goldsmith’s footprints
came Mayor Bart Peterson, who attempted to make violent video games a political and policy
issue. He was reacting to kids growing up in isolation and
with little, if any, adult supervision, playing games like
“Grand Theft Auto,” where the individual could gun down
dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of rivals, bystanders, cops
and whoever appeared on the screen.
Peterson explained in 2000, “There are some
special things about video games that are unique. One is
that not only do they desensitize our children to violence,
but they also teach some techniques of violence. I think
it’s important to emphasize that in addition to what we can
keep our kids away from with this ordinance, we’re raising attention to an issue that I think is vitally important.
Most parents have no idea about the images their children
Continued on page 3
Digging in on civil rights
By BRIAN A. HOWEY
INDIANAPOLIS – If Gov. Mike Pence were to pick
up the phone and call his predecessor, Purdue President
Mitch Daniels, for his advice on the coming civil rights
showdown, the words of wisdom might be disappointing to
many.
It would echo back to
2010, when then-Gov. Daniels
was still in the midst of the
Great Recession that nearly
tanked the U.S. economy and
destroyed his state’s auto sector.
Daniels called for a “truce on
the so-called social issues. We’re
going to just have to agree to
get along for a little while,” until
economic issues are resolved,
he said.
“Too many times in the last few
years an issue becomes the
issue. Some of our core beliefs
begin to take a backseat to those
issues.”
- House Majority Leader
Matt Lehman, in HPI
Interview, page 6
Page 2
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While Daniels allies such as
former Angie’s List CEO Bill Oesterle
are urgently advocating a civil rights
extension showdown, Pence is faced
with a real doozy, that includes a
tough reelection bid, glaring infrastructure needs, a public health emergency that has prompted more than
20 counties to seek needle exchange
programs, and a teacher shortage. All
of this must be grappled with during a
short session of the General Assembly
next January through mid-March.
The other element to what
is seen as the “bright shiny object”
for the news media, is that
many of the major parties
angling over extending civil
rights to sexual orientation
have already ruled out the
concept of compromise.
While conservative lawmakers have told HPI they
should be exploring the
“Utah compromise,” Oesterle, Senate Democrats,
Freedom Indiana, and the
Family Institute’s Curt Smith
are all digging in, essentially saying
that “compromise” is off the table.
Bear witness:
n Curt Smith told the
Indianapolis Business Journal
over the weekend: “I don’t see how
these principles can be reconciled or
compromised. I think they’re just at
odds. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try
to put on our thinking cap. It doesn’t
mean we need to be anxious or fatalistic or resigned, but the principle of
religious freedom versus sexual orientation as a new protected class – you
just can’t square those things. It’s one
or the other.”
n Oesterle told the IndyStar that the so-called “Utah Compromise” was “a horrible half-solution.”
n Bob Williams, senior
vice president for NCAA Communications, told the IndyStar, “No one
is asking for special rights. We’re just
asking lawmakers to ensure fair treatment of groups of citizens who have
historically been treated unequally,
and we hope they’ll act quickly in the
upcoming session.”
n Senate Minority Leader
Tim Lanane said on Tuesday
when he made public draft legislation,
“There’s no room for shortcuts or half
measures, all Hoosiers deserve equal
protection under the law. LGBT Hoosiers can be married legally over the
weekend and be fired for it Monday.
That simply does not represent who
we are as Hoosiers, or as human beings.”
n Chris Paulsen of Freedom Indiana has said, “It’s an easy
solution: Four words and a comma.
No one is asking for special rights.
We’re just asking lawmakers to ensure
fair treatment of groups of citizens
who have historically been treated
unequally, and we hope they’ll act
quickly in the upcoming session.”
It’s worth noting that some
of these interests aren’t dealing from
a position of strength. Smith and the
family groups, along with legislative
Republicans, put the most pro-family
governor in an almost untenable political situation by pushing the RFRA
legislation just as he was headed
into either the presidential race or a
reelect. Lanane presides over a tiny
10-person caucus that has virtually no
clout beyond the bully pulpit.
In the “Utah Compromise,”
the state benefitted when it brought
together its version of the Chris
Paulsens, Curt Smiths and Bill Oesterles to forge a path that steered the
state away from the kind of controversy that gripped Indiana last March
and April.
If you’re Gov. Pence, Speaker
Brian Bosma and Senate President
David Long, you can’t help but notice
that all parties are digging in. Instead
of coming to the table, picket lines are
Page 3
forming. There is an overt politimarriage.
cal subplot to all of this. If you’re
Translate all of this into the politiBosma, who spent considerable time
cal realm, and if you’re Gov. Pence or
with Olympic diving gold medalist
a GOP legislative leader looking to deGreg Louganis at the height of the
fend super majorities, this is an issue
RFRA fiasco last April and found
that stands to inflame a good part of
common ground, the idea that this
the base. If you’re Democrats, it’s the
process begins with polarization as
perfect campaign cycle wedge issue.
opposed to a spirit of cooperation
And if no one is willing to comhas to be duly noted.
promise at the on-set, the so-called
Bosma, meeting with the
Daniels option would be to defuse
press for the first time in months
the entire issue, put it into a summer
on Tuesday, made comments that
study committee, and endure a week
seemed to reflect this. The speaker
or two of bad headlines.
denied that he or anyone in the
Speaker Bosma speaks with reporters on Tues- The danger in that strategy would
House majority caucus were in discus- day. (HPI Photo by Mark Curry)
be a full revolt by the business comsions with Pence about a civil rights
munity, the state’s sports economic
expansion. “Most of our discussions internally and extersector and a potential Greg Ballard primary challenge. The
nally have been about road funding and what is the most
NCAA could move its headquarters, a jewel of modern
important issue on dealing with infrastructure needs that
Indianapolis, and not schedule future Final Four basketball
have become quite apparent, in a responsible fashion,”
tournaments here. Major corporations like Cummins and
Bosma began. “No doubt we’ll talk about civil rights statue
Lilly could steer future expansions elsewhere. More conand other issues. But it’s not the most important. We have
ventions could flee Indianapolis, Fort Wayne and Evansa teacher shortage going on right now. There are many
ville. Those would all be headline generators.
other issues that may not be as fun to write about it.”
Allies of Gov. Mike Pence have been urging him to
Bosma also mentioned his internal polling that he
“get out front” of the coming civil rights extension issue.
described as a “dead heat,” adding it showed “Hoosiers
Senate Democrats beat him to that punch on Tuesday, and
are roughly divided on the issue.” The April Howey Politics
the ensuring alignment suggests a vivid politicization of
Indiana Poll showed Hoosiers favored the expansion by a
the process. The window to pass an expansion in 2015,
54-34% margin.
keeping it out of the 2016 cycle headlines, is quickly clos
It is on this level that things get shaky for Indiana
ing.
Republicans. They were all shocked at the backlash of
Don’t be surprised if the word “truce” enters the
RFRA, while HPI and Ball State polling last year revealed a
lexicon in the coming weeks if no one wants to negotiate.
significant trending away from their long-held positions on
v
Massacres, from page 1
are seeing and hearing because they don’t share in these
things.”
A decade later when a toddler in Goldsmith’s tenure is now in his mid-20s, these warnings are metastasizing into common place threats in
our cities and towns, in our schools and movie theaters with 294 mass shootings in the United States
for far this year. It comes in a country that is awash
in guns. With just 4.5% of the world’s population,
Americans own half the civilian guns.
And a seminal moment was reached in the
wake of the massacre at Umpqua Community College in Oregon, the 45th school shooting in 2015 in
the U.S. Indiana State Police Trooper John Perrine
was asked by WISH-TV about how to protect one-
self in an unfolding massacre.
“In today’s society, unfortunately, we have to be
prepared,” Perrine said. For a Hoosier in a massacre situation, you first “run,” the second option is to “hide,” and the
third is to “fight.”
Page 4
Perrine explained further: “While you’re hiding,
you’re going to prepare yourself for the third option.
Every person has the right to fight for their life and it’s
just that. If the first time you ever think about how you’re
going to react to a violent encounter is when its actually
happening, your thought process is way behind.”
The United States government is essentially ducking a key duty as stated in the Preamble of the United
States Constitution, which explains the federal mission is
“to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure
domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence,
promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of
Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.”
In the wake of the Umpqua massacre, not a single
statement came out of the 11 Indiana Congressional
offices. Gov. Mike Pence ordered flags lowered in honor
of the nine murdered Oregon college students and 12
wounded, but issued no statement. Republican presidential
frontrunner Donald Trump explained, “The strongest, the
most stringent laws are in almost every case the worse
places. It doesn’t seem to work. It’s a tough situation.” Jeb
Bush reduced it down to “stuff happens.”
Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson did
react to Oregon, summing up the current inertia: “There is
no doubt that this senseless violence is breathtaking, but I
never saw a body with bullet holes that was more devastating than taking the right to arm ourselves away.”
U.S. Rep. Todd Young, in his quest for the U.S.
Senate, frequently reminds us that he’s “pro gun and pro
life,” but the pro life trumps the lives of those of us already
here. Once you’re out of the womb, you’re on your own.
Democrat contender Hillary Clinton, appearing
with a Sandy Hook mother, asked on Monday, “How much
longer can we just shrug?” She called for an expansion of
background checks for those who seek to buy firearms.
Proposing a mix of legislative and executive action, the
former secretary of state is seeking regulations that would
tighten loopholes for online sales and gun-show sales,
block sales to domestic abusers and the mentally ill, and
hold gun dealers accountable for where they land.
U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who has co-authored the Manchin-Toomey background check legislation,
said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe today, “We shouldn’t call it
gun control. We’re not doing that. This is the prevention of
irresponsible gun ownership.”
There is political support. A CBS News Poll this
summer showed 88% favor background checks on ”all
potential gun buyers.” Pew polling found 85% favored
making private sales and gun show sales subject to background checks and 70% want a government database to
track all gun sales. The CBS Poll found 52% thought stricter gun laws would do “a lot” or “some” to help prevent
gun violence, but 47% thought they’d help “not much”
or “not at all.” And there is cynicism that any changes will
work. CNN found that Americans, by 60-40%, said they
thought stricter gun control laws would not reduce gunrelated deaths.
The problem is there is no political will.
Gun control has worked, but it has come in Australia, a “frontier” society similar to America, but without
the constitutional right to bear arms. After the Port Arthur
massacre in 1996, Australian Prime Minister John Howard
launched a successful “buy-back” scheme that took some
650,000 guns out of circulation, CNN reported. Highcaliber rifles and shotguns were banned, licensing was
tightened and remaining firearms were registered to uniform national standards. In the years after the Port Arthur
massacre, the risk of dying by gunshot in Australia fell by
more than 50% - and stayed there - CNN reported. A 2012
study by Andrew Leigh of Australian National University
and Christine Neill of Wilfrid Laurier University also found
the buyback led to a drop in firearm suicide rates of almost
80% in the following decade.
With the U.S. population awash in guns – the
Washington Post reported there are now more guns in the
population than people – with 33,000 Americans dying by
gunfire annually, with 100 murders of Indianapolis thus far
Page 5
this year, and with U.S. political figures more fearful of the
National Rifle Association and
being “primaried” than the
random murder of their constituents in schools, churches,
shopping malls, streets and
movie theaters, the conclusion
I am drawing is that we’re all
on our own.
The United States
government is no longer in a
position to provide “domestic
tranquility” and the general
welfare of its students, teachers and citizens in general.
In the wake of the
Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks
that kill under 5,000 Americans, the U.S. instituted an
array of security measures
aimed at thwarting external.
There has been no corresponding internal security alignment
even as 33,000 Americans
are killed by gunfire annually,
and mass shootings spike (see
lower chart to the right for the
2015 tally).
We are at the random
mercy of the super predators that Goldsmith warned us
about, the very people Peterson had targeted who wall
themselves off from society
and are drawn into a fantasy
world where they kill dozens,
hundreds, perhaps thousands
in any given week. They are
enabled, sometimes by parents who actually provide
them support and weaponry,
as occurred with the Newtown
shooter. And they are “grievance collectors,” who hold
searing grudges against the
rest of us in our pursuit of happiness.
A blogger at the Gloucester Clam, picked up by
the Daily Kos, writes: The most recent attacker, Christopher Harper-Mercer, follows the strict pattern of highly aggrieved men trapped in a cultural paradox from which they
cannot escape. His and the other attacks like it, congruent
down to sporting military-style clothing, are an attempt
to call “society” to task for leaving them behind. To these
men, who perceive they are not receiving the level of
respect to which they feel deeply entitled, it’s nothing less
than a revolution. When you read their posts online they
discuss previous attackers like
the Dylan Klebold of the Columbine massacre and James
Holmes of the Aurora theater
shooting and now Harper-Mercer as a martyr, a hero and most
disturbingly, a “warrior” for the
cause. They have developed an
increasingly organized doctrine
that blends white supremacist
beliefs with garden-variety nihilism, the so-called “men’s rights
movement” pick-up culture, and
others to form an ideological
toxic sludge of byproducts from
Western Civilization. And thanks
to the NRA they can arm themselves for considerably less effort
than it takes to adopt a cat from
the animal shelter.
That last sentence seems
absurd, but when I adopted
my beagle last winter from a
Plainfield rescue center, I had to
provide an array of documentation, including medical records
for my current beagle, and was
approved only after a home visit.
On Sunday morning, as
I enjoyed an omelet at this city’s
beloved Shapiro’s Deli prior to the
Colts game, I watched a long line
of people festooned in
blue and white, wrapping
around the cafeteria.
And a chilling thought
occurred to me: This is
the proverbial soft target,
outside of the stadium
security perimeter, vulnerable to a grievance
collector who decides
earlier in the week that
he’s had enough.
Between bites, I scanned
folks appearing outside
the windows. What would I do if a 26-year-old man (a
youngster in Goldsmith’s day) dressed in fatigues, a
backpack and sunglasses, appeared holding a long, paper
wrapped package?
Since 2001, we have long feared al Qaeda and
now it’s ISIS, but the real threat we now face comes
from within. While our government ramped up security at
airports and at the nation’s vital infrastructure in the wake
of these external threats, here on Meridian Street, we are
all on our own from this more prevalent domestic danger.
Run. Hide. Fight. v
Page 6
Lehman talks of core
principles, keeping
agenda moving
By BRIAN A. HOWEY
and MARK CURRY
INDIANAPOLIS – A week ago, State Rep. Matt
Lehman thought he was going to be dealing with insurance issues in 2016. On Tuesday, he became majority
leader of the Indiana House Republicans in the wake of
Jud McMillin’s shocking resignation six days go.
On Tuesday, he defeated State Rep. Sean Eberhart
to lead the caucus. House Speaker Brian Bosma touted the
Berne Republican’s “less combative, more collaborative” style.
“Matt is measured. He is a
calm person,” Bosma added. “He
seeks to find solutions. He is not
a flashy person and that’s what
our caucus needs right
now. He is stable and well thought of, uniquely well
thought of by our caucus.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Lehman conducted his first HPI Interview as we look to the
future:
HPI: How did the majority leader option
present itself to you?
Lehman: A week ago this time, no one
saw this coming. So when all of this came down, I
was out in San Diego at a conference and at 4:30
in the morning my phone rings from a colleague
telling me what’s going on. Then I chatted with the
Speaker for a little bit. He said that we had a good
bench and you are one of them and he asked me if
I had any interest. He encouraged several of us to
put our names out there. Then I started getting calls from
colleagues who were saying, “Hey, your name came up to
the top of my list. Interested?” I said I was. I think this is
a good time for me. It’s a good time for the caucus. I put
my name out there and I was successful.
HPI: You’ve been in the General Assembly for
seven years now. Who are some of the leaders who have
made an impression on you, one way or another?
Lehman: Funny you ask that question that way,
Brian. On one of my first days, I heard from Craig Fry. You
remember Craig Fry?
HPI: Sure. Covered him when I was with the
Elkhart Truth.
Lehman: Craig Fry was one of the first persons
I had a bad experience. I had an amendment on a bill of
his in my very first session in the first week I was there. I
was brand new at this. I did not speak to him about that
amendment. I just offered it. I guess that goes against
the protocol in that you’re supposed to talk to the author.
He sees me in the hallway, wags his finger in my face and
says, “Don’t you ever do that again.” I was scared.
HPI: Yeah, one of those freshman moments.
Lehman: A freshman moment with Craig Fry.
HPI: Got it. Understood.
Lehman: He was chairman of the Insurance Committee at the time so I went up to his office and knocked
on the door, and I said, “Rep. Fry, we started off on the
wrong foot. I’m going to have to work with you. I don’t
know how long both of us will be here. I can’t start my career with you the way we started.” He looked at me, “Matt,
I’m going to tell you right now just always be honest with
me and don’t go behind my back and you and I will get
along fine.” And you know what? Craig Fry became one of
my best friends in that General Assembly. We didn’t agree
on the political issues, but we could talk to each other.
There was respect. At the end of the day, I took that and
have used that as example when I mentor people coming
in. You’ve got to be honest. Don’t play games when you’re
down here. I’ve learned that not just from Craig Fry, but a
lot of people in our caucus. At the end of the day, all you
really have is your reputation. I learned early on if you’ve
caused a problem, fix it. Overall, there have been a lot of
people over time who I’ve watched. I watch people and
try to read people. I’ve watched the Speaker and I think
he’s done a very good job with reaching across the aisle. I
came in with the minority so I saw how that worked. I felt
the minority wasn’t given a lot of voice. Brian has done a
very good job with that. All viewpoints matter. Everybody
should have their time to be heard. A lot of people have
come and gone. I got here when Jeff Espich was here. I’ve
known Jeff for years. He was the elder statesman. And
there was Bill Crawford. Elder statesman. Just watching
these guys operate as statesmen, as opposed to people
like myself who could get a little excited about stuff. I’ve
had a lot of my predecessors who I have great respect
for, model things the way they do. I sat next to Suzanne
Crouch one term and she said, “Be an expert on issues,
but you’re not an expert on everything.”
HPI: Do you have a good relationship with Senate
Page 7
President Long?
Lehman: Yes, David and I have a really good
relationship. David and I are both from Northeast Indiana.
I’ve gotten to know him, we share a lot of town hall meetings together since I represent a portion of Allen County. I
have great respect for David.
HPI: And how well to you know Gov. Pence?
Lehman: We’ve got a long-term relationship. Gov.
Pence was my congressman prior to running for governor.
I have a good relationship.
HPI: What prompted you to run for the General
Assembly in the first place?
Lehman: I’ve always been a political, history
kind of guy. I’ve always been fascinated by our structure
of government, our government. I talk to quite a few kids
and I tell them all the same thing: I hope they get to do
what I’m doing. My dad was a milk salesman, my mom
was a homemaker. There are some cultures you have to
earn your way into the government. In ours, you have the
passion to serve and I wanted to serve. When the opportunity came up in 1994 to serve on our county council, and
said, “Yeah, I want to do that.” I beat the incumbent and
was on the council for 14 years. Mike Ripley was my predecessor in District 79 and he had been there for 10 years
and he called me up one day and said “Hey, I think I’m going to move on and do you think you have any interest?” I
think it was a good move for me.
HPI: I didn’t know you were on the Adams County Council. County councilmen deal with all sorts of issues
across society, from corrections, to public defenders, to
public safety. Talk about being a county councilman. Did it
lay a good foundation to be in the General Assembly?
Lehman: When I talk to new people coming in,
I say, “Hey, what’s your path?” A lot of people who come
out of county government, and city government to a
certain extent, I think they’re very good legislators. When
you’re very new to this process, you try to figure out how
things work and what’s your goal. On the county level,
you’re right, you work on so many facets of government.
You’re dealing with multiple departments, corrections, the
highway department. It’s a good way to get acclaimated
on how to you handle other people’s money. Taxpayers’
money. It was a good for me to have that experience. The
last six years I was president of the council. That helps
you as you have to set an agenda, work on the budgets
and it puts you in a position where you kind of have to
learn that process. We’ve been blessed with some very
good council members and commissioners. It was a great
training ground, figuring out the best ways to spend
money and work on policy and be good stewards.
HPI: Does that make you a more pragmatic Republican, as opposed to someone who would come in with
an ideological viewpoint? Talk about your brand of Republicanism.
Lehman: I’m finding now in a lot of the press
releases that I’m not flashy.
HPI: That’s a compliment, right?
Lehman: (laughs) Well, there are times when
I get a little passionate about issues. I’m a pragmatic
person. I’m kind of a long-term thinker. I’m not a chess
player, but I use that analogy. I try to plan moves ahead.
If we do this, what’s it going to do down the road? If we’re
going to do this, what’s it going to do six years down the
road? So I think it’s helped me to form, not a brand by any
means, but I’m not the type to be up on the rostrum and
make speeches that will be in textbooks down the road,
but I will try to develop a consensus and make sure our
agenda we set is moving forward. I don’t get too excited
about things. I try to process things. That actually is what
we need a lot more of.
HPI: As majority leader, you’ll play a role in defending the super majority and the caucus in the upcoming elections. Talk about your political role.
Lehman: We have to make sure we’re sticking
with our core principles. We are conservatives and we
have all sorts of branches of that within our party. I’m not
a labels guy, but I can say we’re all conservatives. Some
of those things we agree on that are our core principles:
Limited government, living within our means, we want to
see the taxes are fair and as low as they can be, and we
want to keep the government out of our daily lives and
businesses and everything else. We’re going to have a big
issue this session which is going to be road funding and infrastructure. We’re going to have to look at that and move
money, whether it’s with the gas tax to road funding, do
we look at the gasoline tax as a whole? There’s a lot of
things out there we’re going to have to discuss. It’s going
to be my role to make sure the voices are heard from the
71 members of our caucus. And that when we decide on
a strategy and approach, that I help to get it across the
finish line.
HPI: My colleagues in the press are getting excited about the civil rights expansion. But this state is facing
some pretty daunting health and infrastructure problems. I
see Allen County is preparing for a needle exchange. Talk
about how you will prioritize these issues?
Lehman: Too many times in the last few years an
issue becomes THE issue. Some of our core beliefs begin
to take a backseat to those issues. They don’t get the play
they should or the excitement. I’ll give you an example,
the Regional Cities unveiling yesterday, that has the potential to really be a game changer for some of the areas
of our state. That’s an issue that was part of the budget.
A lot of people didn’t talk about Regional Cities because of
the whole RFRA thing. I think you’re right, there are things
we have to make sure we are just bound to one or two
issues. We need to take a look at the big picture and say
“What are we going to do today that will impact Hoosiers
tomorrow?” Infrastructure is one, and public health is another. The Rolls-Royce announcement was a big thing and
we need to do more and more of that. v
Page 8
Rokita mum on
attorney general race
By BRIAN A. HOWEY
and MARK SCHOEFF JR.
INDIANAPOLIS – Soooooo, will he or won’t he?
What are U.S. Rep. Todd Rokita’s political plans for 2016?
Perhaps only the shadow knows.
Howey Politics Indiana has been pressing Rokita
on whether he truly is looking at an attorney general
convention run in May 2016. If he does, the sane political
option will be to announce he’s
not seeking reelection in CD4. To
seek the nomination, then run at
convention would be akin to political suicide, and Rokita knows this.
Sources close to Rokita
say the congressman still has time
to “sort out” a potential attorney
general run. In the meantime, Capitol Hill sources say
that Rokita is involved in the leadership races of Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy for speaker and Tom Price for
majority leader. And he’s been active on the policy front,
working on a K-12 bill.
A Rokita attorney general run would be fueled by
what multiple Republican sources tell HPI as bad blood
between him and former attorney general Steve Carter.
The two served together at the Indiana Statehouse when
Rokita was secretary of state. Sources tell HPI that at the
2008 Republican Convention, Rokita toured the nine congressional district caucuses, and made a searing pitch on
behalf of Valparaiso Mayor Jon Costas over Greg Zoeller.
The pitch basically said that Carter was a bad attorney
general and Zoeller ran Carter’s operations.
Rokita has done a lot to stir emotions at the Statehouse. His advocacy for redistricting reform inflamed many
Senate Republicans. They pushed back when they drew
Rokita out of the 4th CD he now represents (he lives just
outside the district lines, as did former congressman Chris
Chocola).
Carter is preparing to regain the office he held for
two terms after Zoeller opted to seek the 9th CD. Two others, State Sen. Randy Head and Elkhart County Prosecutor
Curtis Hill, are also weighing bids. It Rokita opts into this
race, it would not only ignite a huge free-for-all in the 4th
CD, which would become the third open congressional seat
in the state, but it would add a spectacular story line to
the 2016 Indiana Republican Convention.
Governor: Pence closes big donor gap
The Mike Pence for Indiana campaign has closed
the big donation fundraising gap with John Gregg. Pence
reported a $25,000 donation from Scott Niswanger of
Tennessee on Oct. 5, and $10,000 donations from Robert
Kersey, C. Neal Burnett and Barnes & Thornburg between
Sept. 28 and 30. Gregg has not reported a large donation
since Sept. 23. But he has maintained a large donation
lead of $210,000 to $190,000 since the mid-year reports
were filed on June 30.
Pence campaign spokesman Robert Vane has
moved to the Indiana Republican Party. The move appears
to be coordinated between Gov. Pence and his Republican
chairman, Jeff Cardwell. “Robert is a trusted and valuable
advisor to our effort,” Pence said in a statement. “I look
forward to continuing our work together as he expands
his role throughout the coming months.” And Cardwell
added, “We are excited for Robert’s added role as the
Indiana Republican Party spokesman. He will be a valuable
ally to promote the GOP brand and defend Gov. Pence,
our Senate nominee, and our entire slate of candidates
from misleading Democratic attacks. Robert and his ability
to correct the record and promote Gov. Pence and the
Republican team’s pro-growth agenda will be a welcome
addition to the team.”
Pence, Democrats spar over mailer
A mailer accusing Gov. Pence is neglecting roads
and bridges while costing lives, has Indiana Democrats
and his campaign sparring.
“Governor Pence can throw out any statistic he
wants, but it doesn’t address the state’s existing infrastructure that sadly achieved a D+ rating by the American
Society of Civil Engineers,” said Drew Anderson, communications director of the Indiana Democratic Party. “With
the I-65 bridge closure, State Road 156 slide off, and $71
million wasted on faulty asphalt as examples of Indiana’s
failing roads and bridges, Mike Pence has put our state’s
‘Crossroads of America’ reputation in jeopardy. Pence can
be late to the game all he wants, but Hoosiers already
know they can do better than having him as Indiana’s
governor.”
Indiana Republican Party spokesman Robert Vane
reacted, saying, “Just when you think the Indiana Democrat Party and its desperate allies can’t get any more
vicious, they prove you wrong. Their latest mail piece
actually politicizes personal tragedies without remorse
and proves once again they will say anything to attack
Mike Pence. It’s shameful. Since he took office in 2013,
Governor Pence and the General Assembly have budgeted
$1.26 billion in additional state funds for transportation.
In fact, INDOT plans to invest nearly $3.2 billion in bridge
and pavement preservation over the next five years, which
represents a 58 percent increase from the previous five
years.”
U.S. Senate: Critical FEC reports coming
The next the third quarter FEC reports will be
critical to all of the Senate campaigns, with perhaps
Republican Eric Holcomb and Democrat Baron Hill having
the most to gain from a good report. Both posted underwhelming numbers in the second quarter, $150,000 for
Page 9
Hill and $200,000 for Holcomb. Robust numbers for both
will add a more competitive tone for Holcomb’s effort as
he competes with U.S. Rep. Marlin Stutzman (who posted
$600,000 in June) and Todd Young ($1 million). A good
report for Hill could keep Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. out of the race.
Young and Stutzman have not determined whom
they will back to succeed John Boehner as speaker. Currently Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Reps. Jason
Chaffetz and Daniel Webster are seeking the post. Young
campaign spokesman Trevor Foughty told HPI, “Todd is
looking forward to hearing from the candidates for speaker
when he returns to Washington this week. Above all else,
he wants a speaker who will not just talk about conservative principles, but will actively work to advance them into
law. He’s continuing to evaluate them all through that
lens.” U.S. Rep. Marlin Stutzman, who is running against
Young for the U.S. Senate, has also not publicly backed a
candidate. Stutzman Chief of Staff John Hammond IV told
HPI, “I don’t believe he’s decided yet, but I will not get to
speak with him about this until late tonight or tomorrow.”
On Thursday, the Freedom Caucus, of which Stutzman is a
member, announced it was backing Webster.
Stutzman (R-3rd CD) wants a provision to defund
Planned Parenthood in the next appropriations bill that
Congress will have to approve when current government
spending expires on Dec. 11. But he says there’s a major
impediment in the chamber he wants to join, the Senate.
A candidate for the seat of retiring GOP Sen. Dan Coats,
Stutzman said that Senate rules requiring 60 votes to
move legislation – known as the filibuster – could allow
Democrats to preserve Planned Parenthood’s federal support. “The filibuster rule needs to go,” Stutzman said in an
HPI interview on Sept. 30 (Mark Schoeff Jr., Howey Politics
Indiana). “The filibuster rule protects senators from casting tough votes.” Stutzman wants “majority voices” to hold
sway in the Senate. He’s not concerned that Republicans
may want to employ the filibuster to block legislation when
they’re in the minority. Stutzman said that the Indiana
Senate, where he once served, works fine without a similar
procedure. “It’s an abused rule in the (U.S.) Senate.”
Rep. Stutzman issued the following statement
today following the adoption of H. Res. 461, which establishes a Select Investigative Panel of the Committee on
Energy and Commerce. “Planned Parenthood’s practices of
harvesting the bodies of innocent babies rightly sparked
outrage and concern from Americans all across the political spectrum. Important questions remain and it is critical
that the legislative branch get all the answers it can. This
bipartisan panel is the appropriate and necessary vehicle
to determine the truth about the practices of organizations
like Planned Parenthood and how we can improve important legal protections for children and unborn babies.”
And Stutzman once again dismissed talk of resigning his House seat in order to concentrate on his attempt
for the Republican Senate nomination to replace Coats. “I
don’t know where that was coming from,” Stutzman said
of the rumor in an HPI interview on Sept. 30 (Schoeff,
HPI). “I’m not going to run away from this job to run for
the Senate.”
Stutzman called for “common sense” leadership
while meeting with Clay County Republicans Saturday
night (Phillips, Brazil Times). Is Speaker of the House John
Boehner responsible for the lack of action in Washington
and will his resignation mean Congress, the Senate and
the White House will be better able to work together?
“I don’t think John Boehner was the reason bills weren’t
being passed,” Stutzman said. He points at the Senate,
and said lack of action can be attributed in large part to
the Senate’s filibuster rule. Because Republicans have 54
of the 100 seats, they could not reach the 60-vote threshold to break debate and call for a vote often enough.
Stutzman said this is not a Constitutional rule but a Senate
tradition to avoid cutting off discussion too soon. “I think
there’s plenty of blame to go around among the White
House, the Senate rules and then just the leadership style
we’ve seen over the past several years by all three leaders,
frankly,” he said. Stutzman repeatedly called for “responsibility” and “common sense” in Washington. He describes
himself as a conservative with friends in the Tea Party but
says he is a Christian first and a common sense conservative. “I associate with people who want to get things done
and just use common sense,” he said. When asked who he
would like to work with in the White House, Stutzman said
he likes Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson and Marco Rubio. He
said he was pulling for Scott Walker and would like to see
a Midwestern governor win the nomination. When asked
about Donald Trump, he said that Trump has some good
qualities but some things about Trump concern him. “But,
he has brought a new sense of debate to the Republican
Primary,” Stutzman added.
Former American Legion Commander Bob Spanogle has endorsed Eric Holcomb’s U.S. Senate bid (Howey
Politics Indiana). “I’m writing today to urge your immediate support of a veteran and defender of our freedoms,
Eric Holcomb, who is a conservative Republican running
for the United States Senate,” Spanogle wrote. “He will
be a new fresh voice running for the open seat in Indiana
and he needs our support to win. When my friend Eric
says he wants to make America safer, stronger and freer,
I know he means it. That’s why I’m supporting his candidacy for the United States Senate. He’s the type of person
we need in Washington, D.C., representing and reflecting our values. Will you support a veteran who will fight
for a safer, stronger, and freer America? A veteran of the
United States Navy and member of the American Legion
Post 0711, Eric understands the tough challenges we face
at home and abroad. He’s been to Israel, looked down
at war-ravaged Syria from the relative calm of the Golan
Heights and gazed into Lebanon, a country playing host to
Iranian-backed Hezbollah snipers seeking any opportunity
to wreak havoc and terror.”
John Dickerson was trying to talk former Lt. Gov.
Kathy Davis into a run for the U.S. Senate seat being
Page 10
vacated by Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Coats when she
turned the tables on him (Bloomington Herald-Times).
After that, Dickerson, who spent his career advocating for
people with intellectual and developmental disabilities for
the Arc – most recently as executive director of the Arc of
Indiana from 1983 until stepping down in July – and had
been planning an early retirement, instead decided to try
and spend at least the first six years of retirement making a difference on Capitol Hill. Politicians in Washington
currently aren’t following the process that’s designed to
make the country work well, and they’re “throwing word
games around” and speaking in sound bites rather than
really discussing the issues facing the American people, he
said. “We aren’t talking about the important issues when
we’re sitting throwing rocks at each other,” Dickerson said.
People in D.C. have told Dickerson he needs to raise at
least $10 million to have a successful campaign. He called
that figure “obscene” and said he intends to focus on a
grassroots effort.
leave little time, focus, or energy to campaign for Indiana’s
3rd U.S. House seat,” he said in a statement.
9th CD: ‘Old Bulls’ gather for Zoeller
Attorney General Greg Zoeller’s campaign raised
close to $35,000 Monday night during a White River
cruise. The drawing card were former Indiana Republican
Chairmen Gordon Durnil, Rex Early and Mike McDaniel
(pictured below). Also on the bill was Krieg Devault managing partner Deborah Daniels. Zoeller is seeking the 9th
CD nomination, running against State Sens. Brent Waltz,
Erin Houchin as well as Jim Pfaff and Robert Hall.
3rd CD: Brown signs tax pledge
State Sen. Liz Brown has signed the taxpayer
protection pledge sponsored by Americans for Tax Reform
(Howey Politics Indiana). The pledge reads: “I, Liz Brown,
pledge to the taxpayers of the state of Indiana, and to the
American people that I will: Oppose any and all efforts to
increase the marginal income tax rates for individuals and/
or businesses; and oppose any net reduction or elimination
of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar
by further reducing tax rates.” “I want to congratulate Sen.
Brown for signing the taxpayer protection pledge. Until
you take tax increases firmly off the table, real and lasting spending restraint is impossible,” said Grover Norquist,
president of Americans for Tax Reform. “The American
people are tired of the tax-and-spend policies coming from
Washington and they are looking for solutions that create jobs, cut government spending, and get the economy
going again. Signing the pledge is the first step in that
process.” “Washington has a spending problem and new
taxes aren’t the solution to the mess D.C. politicians have
created,” said Brown. “Lower taxes provide an incentive to
employers to create more jobs, thus boosting our economy
and strengthening our communities. We need new leaders
in Washington who understand that more spending and
higher taxes are only going to hurt our nation. I signed
Americans for Tax Reform’s pledge on the very day that
they asked me to because I’m ready to go to Washington
and fight for lower taxes.”
Scott Wise said today he would suspend his bid
for the 3rd District U.S. House seat being vacated by Rep.
Marlin Stutzman (Fort Wayne Journal Gazette). Wise, of
Columbia City, a former member of the Whitley County
Council, ran for the 3rd District seat as a Republican in
2008 and as the Libertarian Party candidate in 2010 and
2014. He received 4 percent of the vote in both races as a
Libertarian. “Wise still believes dramatic change is necessary in Washington, but has found his career and family
Mayors
Elkhart: Neese assails Moore leadership
Elkhart mayoral hopeful Tim Neese took aim at
Mayor Dick Moore’s leadership style in arguing why he
should be elected at a candidate forum Thursday (Vandenack, Elkhart Truth). As is, the attitude in City Hall,
Neese said, is “if it’s not my way there’s no compromise.”
The Republican, a former state lawmaker and head of the
Solid Waste Management District
of Elkhart County, said he would
seek opposing views as mayor,
not yes-men. “I want to work with
people who will actually challenge
me,” he said. He later returned
to the theme, saying he’s “better equipped to compromise with
people.” Moore, 81, said he’s not ready for retirement. “I
want the third term. I want to do it again,” he said. He
focused on infrastructure projects completed during his
tenure – the Lerner Theatre, actually launched under prior
administrations, Main Street improvements, downtown
lighting and beautification. And he noted more in the
hopper including improvements and beautification along
North and South Main Street to match the roadway in the
city center. “We’re still going,” said Moore. Horse Race
Status: Leans Neese.
Fort Wayne: Harper rips “tax and spend”
City Councilman and mayoral challenger Mitch
Page 11
Harper on Thursday criticized the city of Fort Wayne’s 2016
operating budget (Gong, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette).
Speaking at his campaign headquarters on the city’s
southwest side, Harper, a Republican challenging Mayor
Tom Henry in the Nov. 3 municipal election, said the city’s
growth has been stymied by what he described as bad
budget practices that are unsustainable. “It’s been said by
the administration that this is a
flat budget. It’s not,” Harper said.
Harper charged that spending for
2016 has increased by $7 million,
raising total city expenditures
from $210 million to $217 million.
The budget also allows for what
Harper called a structural deficit
of about $2 million and adds
$8.5 million in new debt. He also
took the opportunity to criticize a
2013 property tax increase, saying that it did not pay for more
police officers and infrastructure
improvements or close a $9.2
million budget shortfall as city officials had stated it would. Harper
voted against the increase in
June 2013. “When we increased
the levy, the people who got hit
with the property tax increase
were people who owned modest
homes in the city of Fort Wayne,
a lot of them who have been
having to pay, on relatively limited incomes, increases in utility
charges from the city, folks who
have to deal with other expenditures when they have to sit
down each month and have to work out how they’re going
to pay their bills,” Harper said.
In an email, Henry’s campaign described Harper’s
budget characterizations as inaccurate, stating that total
departmental budgets were $192,165,393 in 2015 and
are $192,342,401 in the proposed 2016 budget (Fort
Wayne Journal Gazette). “We’ve increased our investment
in public safety by 18 percent, made record investments
in neighborhood infrastructure and revitalized our downtown,” Henry said. All of this led to a friendly environment
for job growth, with over 5,000 new jobs created since
2011 and an over 45 percent decrease in unemployment.”
The Henry for Mayor campaign released its third
TV ad of 2015, “For All Of Us.” The spot highlights some
of Mayor Henry’s crucial investments in public safety: An
18% increase in public safety investment, the combination of city/county 911 operations, and the creation of the
Gang and Violent Crimes Unit, all of which contributed to
making Fort Wayne safe, with property crime down 17%,
car thefts down 43%, and homicides down 50%. Horse
Race Status: Likely Henry.
Evansville: Poster
maker ‘identified’
An admittedly overzealous volunteer for Democratic mayoral candidate Gail Riecken has taken credit for
crafting a Fall Festival campaign poster so controversial
that Riecken accused Republicans of creating it to embarrass her (Langhorne, Evansville Courier
& Press). Witness accounts, descriptions
and submitted photographs led the
Courier & Press to a man who identified himself as Michael Howard Ray, a
66-year-old retired contractor, Vietnamera Navy veteran, lifelong Democrat
and “off-and-on” resident of Evansville.
Ray said he had suffered brain damage
as a result of an auto accident. Asked
if the brain damage has any relation to
the poster, he said, “We’ll see.” There is
some question about Ray’s true identity. Jason Ascher, Riecken’s campaign
manager, said Ray introduced himself
to him as Michael Townsend. Ray said
the Riecken campaign “must be talking about someone else.” Shown a
photograph of Ray, Riecken said she
recognized him as a campaign volunteer
named “Michael,” but she refused to
provide a last name. “I’m not going to
out somebody,” Riecken said. “It’s done,
it’s over with. It’s done. I had nothing to
do with it. The Democrats had nothing to do with it. Horse Race Status:
Leans Winnecke.
Terre Haute: Firefighters endorse Bennett
Republican Terre Haute Mayor Duke Bennett was
endorsed by Firefighters Local 758 on Tuesday. Bennett
is facing Democrat Vigo County Councilman Mark Bird.
Bennett picked up the FOP endorsement last week. Horse
Race Status: Leans Bennett.
South Bend: Public safety dominates only
debate
Housing, public safety, transportation, and economic development took center stage Tuesday during the
first and only mayoral debate between incumbent Democrat Pete Buttigieg and Republican challenger Kelly Jones
(Blasko, South Bend Tribune). Said Buttigieg, “While I
don’t feel that we should be turning back the clock by any
means in our police department … I do certainly believe
more community policing, and particularly encouraging
officers to get out of their cars and interact with residents
… will help officers more effectively do their jobs.” Horse
Race Status: Safe Buttigieg. v
Page 12
Redistricting study
finds support, but
many skeptics
By MAUREEN HAYDEN
CNHI Statehouse Bureau
INDIANAPOLIS – Public watchdog Julia Vaughn
and her allies spent a decade convincing lawmakers to
rethink how they slice up the state’s voting districts. That
was the easy part.
Harder will be crafting
details of a plan that could take
the work of political map-drawing
away from politicians inclined to
bend boundaries in their favor.
“I can see reform in the
distance,” said Vaughn, head of
Common Cause Indiana. “What I can’t see is whether it
will be window dressing or real reform.”
On Thursday, Indiana stepped deeper into what’s
become a national debate over who should draw the maps
of legislative and congressional districts.
A dozen member study committee, reluctantly
created by the Republican-controlled Legislature this year,
met for the first time in what may be a two-year process
toward change.
Much of the conversation among eight lawmakers
and four non-legislators focused on whether Indiana needs
reform at all.
As in most
states, Indiana’s Constitution leaves it to
lawmakers to adjust
district boundaries,
required every 10
years after the U.S.
Census counts the
population.
Tom Sugar,
a Democrat and one
of the non-legislators
on the committee,
likened the process to
letting elected officials
pick their own voters.
State Sen. Brandt Hershman, the committee’s
Republican co-chairman, questioned that premise. “My
fear,” he said, “is that we’re making some assumptions,
bolstered with some political rhetoric.”
Whatever the committee does next, it won’t
be in isolation. At least 20 states engaged in similar efforts
this year, looking at various ways to reduce or remove
politics from the work of crafting voting maps.
Another 23 states already have some sort of commission involved in redistricting, though the make-up and
independence of those groups vary.
In Arkansas, for example, a commission composed
of the governor, attorney general and secretary of state
oversee redistricting. In California, a 14-member citizens
commission of Democrats, Republicans and independents,
and culled from thousands of applicants, works with university researchers to draw the lines.
Tim Storey, who’s spent 30 years studying the
topic for the non-partisan National Council of State Legislatures, said he’s often asked which model works best.
“The answer is no one really knows,” he said.
“There no definitive political science on it yet.”
However, it’s safe to say that reform gets messy.
In the past five years, maps drawn in 40 states,
including those with redistricting commissions, have faced
court challenges.
That includes Arizona, where voters approved an
independent redistricting commission in 2000.
Earlier this June, the U.S Supreme Court ruled the
Arizona commission is constitutional, clearing the way for
other states to use similar groups. But Arizona’s electoral
maps are back in dispute with Republicans now arguing
that they were drawn to give Democrats better odds of
getting elected.
Storey said he isn’t surprised by the ongoing legal
fight. “Politics and redistricting are inseparable,” he said.
“The outcome of a line-drawing process, whether
you give it to legislature or an independent commission
or a group of kindergartners with their crayons, is always
going to have major
political implications,”
he said.
In Indiana, supporters of reform
make a similar
argument for a more
independent process.
Map-drawing, they
note, has long-term
implications.
Study committee
member Ted Boehm,
a retired state Supreme Court justice,
said leaving the work
to legislators yields
too much partisan
power and and too little voter engagement.
Last fall, a University of Chicago School of Law
study that followed redistricting after the 2010 census
found Indiana’s districts to be among the most politically
contorted in the country.
The study cited the 2012 state legislative races
in which Republicans won 58 percent of all votes cast in
House races but took control of 69 of the 100 seats to
Page 13
claim a super majority. In 2014, Republicans took 71 of
the 100 seats.
In addition, it’s up to lawmakers to draw lines for
Indiana’s 50 state Senate districts and nine Congressional
seats, that are now dominated by Republicans.
Critics of the process say they’re just as
troubled by results of the 2014 general election, in which
Indiana posted the lowest voter turnout in the nation, with
just 28 percent of eligible voters participating.
Few races were competitive, giving voters little
incentive to show up.
Political scientist Andrew Downs, director of the
Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics, said Democrats
and Republicans are both guilty of map-making to protect
Redistricting facts
open to interpretation
By MORTON MARCUS
INDIANAPOLIS – Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015, was
a beautifully bright day in the Capital City. At the Statehouse, the Interim Study Committee on Redistricting held
its first meeting. Thus began a process likely to determine
the services, taxes and regulations for every business and
household in the state.
As expected, some elected
members of the committee questioned the need for changing the way
congressional and legislative districts
in Indiana are drawn. That makes
sense since it is the self-perpetuating
General Assembly which benefits from
the current system in which the party
in power (whichever party that is)
draws the lines every 10 years after
the federal census.
Likewise, it was to be expected that the public
members of the committee stressed the need to reexamine the current system, which results in low voter turnout
when there is little competition in Hoosier elections. For
instance, 44 of the 50 state senators in the 2014 General
Assembly won by landslides in excess of 55 percent of the
votes.
Both sides called for facts. But facts are of
little consequence when we disagree on the interpretation
of those facts. The temperature is reading 40. Dad says it’s
cold, wear a jacket. The kid says it’s not cold; no jacket or
sweater needed.
What do we want from elections? Some people,
particularly elected people, and the people who support
and are, in turn, supported by them, want to win. Others want an election to be a contest, not between parties
incumbents and their partisan interests.
Downs said he’s skeptical that Indiana’s study
committee will deliver major reform.
“I think what we’ll see is some tweaks around the
edges,” he said.
To get much more than that, reformers will have
to incite voters to push lawmakers.
“It’s hard to get people to care about redistricting,”
he said. “It’s not sexy by any stretch of the imagination.”v
Maureen Hayden covers the Indiana Statehouse
for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach her at
[email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @MaureenHayden
or personalities, but a referendum on ideas represented
by those parties and personalities. Winning this year is
desired, but establishing ideas in the minds of citizens is
the longterm goal. That’s how, in the 1960s, John Kennedy
and Barry Goldwater shook up conventional politics.
Indiana voters, in 2014, turned out in record low
numbers when half the members of our House of Representatives ran unopposed. When political parties decide
they cannot win and do not put forth candidates to establish ideas, they lose, this year and into the next decade.
When election districts are drawn to give one
party overwhelming odds to win, voters will be less inclined to appear at the polls. But is that thought supported
by the data? Are persistently weak turnouts destructive to
democracy? These questions may be beyond reasonable
expectations for the Legislative Services Agency (which
provides support to the committee) to offer definitive
answers.
As I talked about these matters in several counties
during the past week, I found great interest among members of the public. However, there is overwhelming skepticism about politicians yielding any part of their power over
the redistricting process to a non-partisan commission.
If Hoosiers are to achieve non-partisan redistricting throughout the state, they must overcome the sloth
induced by skepticism and become active supporters of
change. If a more responsive legislature is important to
you, open discussions about non-partisan redistricting with
your neighbors and legislators. And contact the Interim
Study Commission, Indiana Common Cause, or the League
of Women Voters with your thoughts. v
Mr. Marcus is an economist, writer, and speaker
who may be reached at mortonjmarcus@yahoo.
com.
Page 14
Rutherford prepares
to challenge for U.S.
Libertarian chair
By BRIAN A. HOWEY
INDIANAPOLIS – Mark Rutherford believes it’s
time for the Libertarian Party to become a real, political
party that can actually help get its
candidates elected. For that reason,
Rutherford is putting a team together to seek the Libertarian Party
chair next May in Orlando. It could
involve a challenge to current Chairman Nicholas Sarwark of Phoenix.
“We already have the policy
developing apparatus,” Rutherford
said of CATO Institute, Reason Magazine and Fee.org. “What we need
is a political organization to help
get like-minded candidates elected.
The ultimate goal of the party is to
get people elected. We’ve had excellent opportunities but
we’ve lost them because we couldn’t get people elected.”
Rutherford’s push comes as both the national Republican and Democrat parties are unpopular with voters.
An NBC/Wall Street Journal Poll taken in late September
put the Republican Party’s approve/disapproval at 29/45%
while the Democratic Party stood at 41/35%.
“The way I look at it, we’re in the middle of the
political spectrum,” said Rutherford, an Indianapolis attorney who has been the state party chairman, as well as a
member of the national party board. “But we’re not doing
what is needed to get the middle elected.”
In Indiana, only a couple of dozen Libertarians
have been elected to office, including city and town council members in
Greenfield, Gosport, Silver Lake and
Universal City; a town judge in Hagerstown; and a smattering of township
officials. The party regularly nominates a gubernatorial ticket, secretary
of state and congressional candidates,
but none have ever captured more
than 10% of the vote. Its gubernatorial ticket and secretary of state win
enough votes to automatically qualify
for the ballot.
Nationally, Libertarians
have been elected to the legislatures in New Hampshire and Alaska.
While independent Jesse Ventura was
elected governor of Minnesota, there
have been no Libertarian nominees
elected to Congress, or as governors.
Many people seem sympathetic to the Libertarian caucus. Former Gov. Mitch Daniels, for instance, has
acknowledged his own Libertarian streak. “But if people
don’t think you can be elected, they won’t spend much
time on you and won’t vote for you,” said Rutherford.
The national Libertarian Party has some assets,
including ballot access in 40 states for its candidates. Its
presidential nominees usually quality in between 46 and
50 states. But he describes the party as “hiding in plain
sight” because of its inability to build the party infrastructure and funding to give its nominees a shot at winning.
“It’s moribund,” Rutherford said of the national LP. “It’s not
getting better, it’s not getting stronger and it’s not taking
advantage” of widespread dissatisfaction with the national
Republicans and Democrats who are polarized in Congress.
If Rutherford prevails next spring, he said he
will be making a “ton of phone calls” and reaching out to
“people who have the resources to make it work. I have to
make the case of why we’re different and why we should
be getting our people elected.”
He acknowledges it will take time. Seven years
ago, the Students for Liberty was created and now has
300 chapters, many on college campuses. So there is a
wave of recent college graduates who are getting careers
started and, within the next decade, find themselves with
the experience and rationale to work within the Libertarian
Party as a way to challenge Republicans and Democrats.
Rutherford acknowledges hearing people lament that they
“don’t have a political party” because the GOP or Democrats have “left them behind.”
It’s happened this way before. At the height of the
Barry Goldwater and, later, the anti-Vietnam movement,
Indiana University was home to a developing conservative
movement headed by R. Emmett Tyrrell and Tom Charles
Huston that eventually created the American Spectator
and fueled the 1980 Reagan Revolution a decade and a
half later. v
Page 15
Evolving qualifications
for president
By PETE SEAT
INDIANAPOLIS – In the mind of Dr. Ben Carson,
a Muslim is not qualified to be president. In the mind of
Bill Kristol, Ben Carson is not qualified to be president.
And in the mind of André Carson, one of two Muslims in
Congress, if his fellow followers can’t be president, maybe
neurosurgeons like Ben Carson shouldn’t be either.
Regardless of what any of these men believe, all
three are highlighting an age-old debate about the unregulated stipulations of what
constitutes a person who is
“presidential.”
So what, exactly, makes
one presidential? The constitutional requirements are simple
and to the point. An individual
seeking the presidency must
be a natural born citizen of the
United States, no younger than
35 years old and a resident
of the country for at least 14
years. That’s it. Oh, and contrary to Dr. Carson’s personal
preference, no religious test can be used to determine
eligibility for that or any other office.
Beyond that, Americans have concocted various criteria that we believe makes one fit for the highest
office in the land, including governing experience, legislative accomplishments, leadership ability and a compelling
message and vision for the country. It’s important to note,
however, that said criteria are evolving and what is unpresidential today is presidential tomorrow.
For instance, until John F. Kennedy, being Catholic
wasn’t presidential. Before George W. Bush, having a master’s degree in business administration wasn’t presidential.
And prior to Barack Obama, being black wasn’t presidential. Heck, we still live in a world in which being a woman
isn’t technically presidential either, that is, until we elect
one.
Among the intangible qualifications is that of
temperament, one that is being used against Donald
Trump in an attempt to dislodge him from atop Republican primary polls. In the second GOP presidential debate,
speaking of Trump, Carly Fiorina said, “I also think that
one of the benefits of a presidential campaign is that the
character and capability, judgment and temperament of
every single one of us is revealed over time and under
pressure. All of us will be revealed under pressure.”
By raising the issue of temperament, she tried to
turn Trump’s great asset, his disdain for political correctness, into a liability. Trump, naturally, disagreed by saying
he has a “great temperament.” I guess that settles that.
But in a Rolling Stone interview, Trump worked to define
presidential by exclaiming “Look at that face!” when Fiorina appeared on television. Trump, it seems, was attempting to make the case that Fiorina is not presidential based
on her gender.
That moment recalls the admonishment of youth
in which we were told to never judge a book by its cover.
Yet, that’s in large part how we determine presidential
suitability in the television era. Whereas prior to the boob
tube we waged contests of wit (in most cases), we now
engage in contests of appearance.
The New York Times reported in 2012 that Mitt
Romney’s debate preparations, while also helping him
bone up on issues and lines of attack, also taught him
“how to keep his composure, look presidential.” The good
news for Romney was that with his well-coiffed salt-andpepper hair, he looked the part. But that wasn’t enough,
he still fell short.
Another 2012 Republican aspirant, Jon Huntsman,
also looked the part. If the man never spoke a word you
could easily point at him in a “pick the president” line-up.
Yet, he barely made it out of the starting gate. Even so,
television’s impact has been so pronounced (think back to
the Kennedy-Nixon debate of 1960) that I’m left to wonder
if the medium had existed in the 1860s, the awkward looking one-term congressman from Illinois who went on to
save the Union would have stood a chance.
Another president from Illinois, Barack Obama
has himself evoked a myriad of questions regarding what
is presidential and what is not. From the moment he was
sworn into office, our nation’s 44th president has gone
well out of his way to broadcast his message through less
traditional means, which has evoked the ire of his critics in
both the Republican Party and the media.
He’s shown up on ESPN to discuss his NCAA
bracket at length and in great detail multiple times. He’s
bantered with YouTube sensations. He’s traipsed around
Alaska with television host and adventure seeker Bear
Grylls. None of these public relations stunts would have
been viewed as presidential prior to 2008, but now, depending on whom you ask, they are standard operating
procedure for a commander-in-chief.
And depending on the results of the 2016 presidential election, we could find ourselves adding to the
definition of presidential again. We could make CubanAmerican presidential. We could make Indian-American
presidential. We could make reality television host presidential. Who knows, we might even make neurosurgeon
presidential. v
Pete Seat is senior project manager at the Indianapolis-based Hathaway Strategies. He was previously a spokesman for President George W. Bush,
U.S. Sen. Dan Coats and the Indiana Republican
Party. He joins Howey Politics Indiana as a regular
columnist.
Page 16
Pence-Gregg II will
be different from 2012
By JACK COLWELL
SOUTH BEND –Those voters aren’t owned by a
candidate. Those 1,275,424 Indiana voters providing the
narrow winning total for Republican Mike Pence for governor in 2012 aren’t all still his for reelection in 2016.
Those 1,200,016 Hoosiers voting instead for
Democrat John Gregg in his surprisingly strong challenge
to Pence last time aren’t all still his as he tries again.
It’s not, as some Democrats hope, that Gregg for victory
needs only to sway just a small
number of voters to switch
this time as they look askance
at Pence’s record and add to
Gregg’s 2012. Nor is it, as some
Republicans hope, that Pence
starts with his 2012 supporters
and to win bigger needs only to
sway some voters lost as they
looked askance at a perceived
goofus on the GOP ticket for senator last time.
It’s a mistake to look at votes for a candidate in
the last election and assume that candidate will have those
voters again in the next.
Every election differs from the last. Different issues. Different outlooks on how things are going, on party
brands, on campaign appeals. Different motivation for various segments of the electorate to get to the polls or stay
home. If you think a candidate can count on past voter
support in a new campaign, look no farther than Iowa,
where Rick Santorum won the most votes in the 2012 Republican caucuses and now gets 1 percent in polls there.
Closer to home, former Republican Congressman
Chris Chocola clobbered Democratic challenger Joe Donnelly in 2004. Just two years later, Donnelly clobbered
Chocola right out of Congress. Who would have thought
after their first match that polls would show Chocola being
hurt in the second encounter by voter displeasure over the
Toll Road sale and time issue?
Issues come and go.
In the campaign for governor next year,
neither Pence nor Gregg starts out owning the 1.2 million
or so voters each won in 2012. Yes, each will start with a
party base, with the Republican voter base larger than the
Democratic base in Indiana. But what will sway voters in
the middle ground, the independents and the Rs and Ds
who don’t always vote a straight party ticket?
Gregg counts on changes since the last race to
win, and not just the change in trimming the size of his
moustache and being less folksy this time. The biggest
change is that Pence has a record as governor this time,
and Gregg hammers at that, especially the “religious free-
dom” act controversy. Pence counts on changes, too, for
a bigger win, with a record he extols and expectation that
party brands will be different.
Will Republicans this time have a more popular
nominee for president to provide coattails for Indiana
statewide candidates? Or will it be the other way around,
with a Democratic presidential nominee proving more
popular than President Obama was last time in Indiana?
Will Republicans avoid having someone on the
state ticket like Richard Mourdock, the perceived goofus
for the Senate who dragged down totals for Pence and
other Republicans in 2012? Democrats hope that the state
GOP ticket will again provide an easy target if Congressman Marlin Stutzman wins the Republican nomination for
the Senate. They note that Stutzman, like Mourdock, is a
Tea Party favorite who attacks moderates and is backed by
the Club For Growth. They would like to see him as a fall
target. But could anybody be another Mourdock? And what
of the image to emerge of the Democratic nominee for the
Senate. Could anybody do as well as Donnelly for the Senate last time?
Gregg won’t be able to sneak up, unknown and
untouched by any negative TV, as he did at the start last
time. Many factors are beyond the control of Pence and
Gregg, including control of all those who voted for them
last time. v
Colwell has covered Indiana politics over five decades for the South Bend Tribune.
Get rid of regressive
payroll taxes
By MICHAEL HICKS
MUNCIE – The Great Recession is now a full six
years behind us, but many of its effects continue to linger.
One of these is in the way we pay unemployment compensation taxes, which is one of the
most regressive tax burdens borne
by low-income workers. To understand this, you must first comprehend one of the most byzantine
federal tax programs ever devised.
Let me try to explain.
The slide into the Great Recession
caused well more than half of states
to borrow from the federal government to help pay unemployment
claims. This debt is supposed to be
paid back as the economy recovers. Indiana will be able to
pay off that debt sometime next year, but there is a catch.
Businesses are levied a tax to pay off this debt,
Page 17
but each year the state owes a balance to the federal
government causes the businesses in a state to face an
escalating tax. The tax grows by 0.3 percent annually and
so in 2015 it is already large. The extra tax stops once the
amount is paid off, but there’s another catch.
Businesses pay these federal taxes, which are
different from the state unemployment taxes most of us
are familiar with. The federal tax levies a flat rate on the
first $7,000 earned by each new employee, each year. The
state tax levies a tax based upon an insurance-like formula
to collect money from firms that are more likely to lay off
workers. Firms that rarely lay off workers pay much lower
rates. That means the federal tax has two problems the
state taxes don’t.
Though businesses pay the tax administratively, it
is the workers, not the businesses, who actually bear most
of the burden of this tax through lower wages or fewer
working hours. This is called the “incidence” of taxation.
The reason for this is that the state tax is levied more
heavily on firms that frequently lay off workers, and these
McDermott continues
to eye Senate race
By RICH JAMES
MERRILLVILLE – If you want to know if Hammond
Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. plans to run for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate next year, just ask him. And
he will tell you that, yes, he is
continuing to think about it. Just
last week he said that he will
make a decision following the
Nov. 3 general election where
he is seeking a fourth term as
mayor. He is heavily favored to
win that election.
McDermott did say there
are a couple of factors that will
weigh in on his decision. On the
Democratic side, McDermott
contends that neither announced candidate, former U.S.
Rep. Baron Hill and John Dickerson, the former head of a
disabilities education organization, “has gained the traction” needed to win the nomination. McDermott went so
far as to say active Lake County Democrats have no idea
who is running for the Senate nomination.
Which Republican candidate appears to be
leading the field in November also will impact his decision.
McDermott said it would be easier running against former
Republican Party Chairman Eric Holcomb than U.S. Rep.
Todd Young of Bloomington. McDermott said he and Young
businesses tend to have a more specialized, better-compensated labor force. That makes them less likely to get
stuck with the cost of the tax, and more likely to benefit
from it down the road. But that isn’t the only problem; the
tax is unfair in more fundamental ways.
The federal unemployment tax is a flat tax on the
first $7,000 of income. So, a retail worker making $10 an
hour pays twice the share of his income as a manufacturing worker who makes $20 an hour. So, the federal unemployment tax is a terribly regressive tax, but there is more.
Because the tax is charged to each new worker, anyone
who changes jobs pays it twice in a year. That is almost
always lower-wage workers.
Indiana can end this federal tax in 2015 by
paying off the debt early with general fund reserves. We’ll
still have to build up our unemployment trust fund reserves. But, by my estimate, paying off this debt early will
add something like 5,100 jobs and $220 million incomes
in 2016. More importantly, it’ll eliminate one of the most
regressive taxes now facing low-income Hoosier workers.
v
have similar political and military backgrounds. U.S. Rep.
Marlin Stutzman also is seeking the nomination.
Unfortunately for McDermott, U.S. Sen. Dan Coats
isn’t seeking reelection. McDermott said he likes the contrast between himself and Coats – a youngish guy on the
move versus an older career Washington, D.C., politician.
He said he definitely would be running if Coats was seeking reelection.
If McDermott should opt to seek the Democratic
nomination, his problems will begin at home. Lake County
Democratic Chairman John Buncich held a fundraiser during the summer and essentially endorsed Hill, who was
in attendance, for the nomination. John Gregg, the likely
Democratic nominee for governor, also was on hand.
McDermott’s largest problem at home is that
he isn’t particularly liked by Gary where Democrats make
up the largest block of voters in the county.
Following the 2010 Census, it was learned that
Hammond had overtaken Gary as the most populous city
in the county. McDermott was overjoyed and let just about
everyone know it, much to the dismay of Gary residents
and politicians. And during Gary’s push for legislative authority for a land-based casino, McDermott was the most
vocal opponent, contending that would hurt Hammond’s
highly profitable Horseshoe Casino.
And when he recently was county Democratic
chairman, McDermott pretty much gave Gary the cold
shoulder. v
Rich James has been writing about state and local
government and politics for more than 30 years. He
is a columnist for The Times of Northwest Indiana.
Page 18
Indiana Republicans
and Rep. McMillin
By SHAW FRIEDMAN
LAPORTE – What is it about the modern Indiana
Republican Party that folks there would not only welcome
an obviously ethics-challenged Judd McMillin into the fold,
but promote him as “leadership
material” to be the second highest ranking GOP member of the
Indiana House as majority leader?
With the Indianapolis Star
last Friday chronicling McMillin’s
controversial 10-year run, Republican leaders had to be blind not to
see the train wreck coming, with
one serious transgression after
another following this guy. This
wasn’t some barely detectible,
faint odor coming from him. Judd
McMillin had the foul stench of an
ethics impaired politician following him like that cloud that
followed the Peanuts character “Pigpen” ever since McMillin’s scandalous resignation as a deputy prosecutor in Ohio
a decade ago.
Is the only criterion for membership in the highest levels of the IN GOP Club these days that you’ll blindly
vote to support “voodoo economics”
– consisting of endless tax cuts for the
largest corporations and the wealthy
while slashing funds for roads, public schools, public safety and social
services? With that criterion, Judd’s an
“A-lister” and warmly welcomed into
the fraternity, apparently.
Sure, McMillin proved his
bonafides for the voodoo economics
caucus when he chose to vilify food
stamp recipients last year by demanding all of them be drug-tested. He
showed his true colors however, opposing Democratic Rep. Ryan Dvorak’s
amendment to his bill that would have
ensured that all recipients of government benefits, including legislators, be drug-tested. Couldn’t have that, now
could we, Judd? We certainly couldn’t have some wealthy
government vendor or supplier drug-tested. Heck, they’ve
earned their right to suck at the government teat rather
than what Judd views as some shifty, undeserving welfare
recipient.
Ethics? Who needs ‘em, right, Judd? Like
sitting on a riverboat grants committee and steering grant
awards to a company he started in 2010. And one lousy
turn deserves another as he apparently steered more
grant money to another firm represented by his small law
firm. Again, these sordid tales of conflict of interest played
out on the front pages of the Indianapolis Star a few years
ago but Brian Bosma and his House Republican Caucus
were insistent that McMillin was “their kind of guy” and
belonged in leadership.
The capper – far apart from McMillin’s idiotic
sexual escapades which apparently proved his undoing –
was McMillin’s naked use of power to try to punish those
in a state agency he’d been in conflict with while representing private law firm clients. That’s right, he chose to
retaliate against the DNR by trying to strip some of their
law enforcement powers that had long been held by DNR
conservation officers. McMillin represented private law
firm clients who had been arrested on 18 different charges
brought by DNR officers and he actually introduced a bill
to strip money and authority from the agency. (Personal to
lawyers in the House GOP caucus: You’re under an affirmative duty under our Code of Ethics to report misconduct
like that, not laugh about it over drinks at Shula’s!)
So how did his colleagues in the House GOP
caucus handle his transgressions and obvious misuse of
his official position? Did they take him to the House Ethics
Committee or refer him to the Disciplinary Commission
that regulates lawyer misconduct? Nah – let’s promote this
guy to the second highest ranking position in the Indiana
House. Clearly, this ain’t your father’s Indiana GOP.
Can anyone imagine that Republicans like Dick
Lugar, John Mutz or Ed Simcox would have tolerated the
repeated ethics breaches and stench of impropriety from a
colleague or worst yet, promoted
him? How can Brian Bosma and
the leadership of the Indiana Republican Party claim any commitment to government ethics when
they not only enabled this serial
ethics violator but promoted him?
Polling shows that ethics and transparent government
matter to Hoosier voters. Our
job as Hoosier Democrats is to
make sure that voters know there
is a desperate need for balance
and that the absolute power that
comes from “super majorities” in
both chambers is not conducive
to good government. Yes, gerrymandering has made the
hill steeper to climb, but Democratic candidates should
make a point of standing up for open, transparent government that serves the people, rather than backroom,
closed-door deal-making and sleazy politics represented by
the likes of ex-Majority Leader Judd McMillin.
Clearly, the Indiana GOP is no longer capable of
policing its own. The voters need to do it for them. v
Shaw Friedman is former legal counsel for the Indiana Democratic Party and a longtime HPI columnist.
Page 19
Dave Bangert, Lafayette Journal & Courier:
Mitch Daniels has the ear of national leaders the way few
do, as evidenced by how far conservatives, in particular,
will bend to get the governor-turned-university president’s
views on higher education, debt and beyond. So why not
on this one, when he speaks about “this disappearing
middle” in an age of threatened federal shutdowns, hail
Mary budgeting and dysfunctional (read: absent) legislation of consequence? The answer was disheartening,
bordering on depressing, when Daniels and former U.S.
Rep. Lee Hamilton, an Indiana Democrat, joined C-SPAN
founder Brian Lamb at Purdue University Monday for a
discussion about the state of democracy and its future.
Disheartening, not because they didn’t nail the problem.
They did. Disheartening because, as they outlined their
takes on a Congress frozen by its own polarization, their
discussion kept circling an implied warning: We’re in for
a lot more of this. That is, until we realize we’re a nation
that can’t shake the consuming need for confirmation
bias. “A term you hear all the time, and rightfully so,” said
Daniels, Purdue’s president. “And not just in
the space we’re talking about here, in public
policies and public affairs. It’s a problem in
science and other places. … It’s very, very
easy now to fortify your biases and prejudices,
and deny yourself, really, troubling, disturbing, challenging information or opinion.” The
remedy? “Certainly, a start could be if national leadership
would more forcefully call for more open-mindedness and
coming together around at least a few goals,” Daniels said,
“that might be a start.” Good luck with that. v
Matthew Tully, IndyStar: There is one funda-
mental question we need to ask about the epidemic of gun
violence that has produced, and that will continue to produce, a daily stream of tragedy and heartbreak across this
country. Can we do better? That’s it. That’s the question.
That’s where we need to start. Let’s put aside all of our
divisions and disputes for a moment and ask that question.
Can we do better? It is an essential question because the
answer will tell us whether we are up to the challenge of
trying to do better. It will tell us whether we are willing to
explore the vast middle ground on this issue, and whether
we can come together to both encourage and demand
action. Unfortunately, it is not clear what our collective
answer would be. Many of the statements by leading
politicians and special interest group advocates, as well
as emails I receive with regularity, make it seem as if we
need to resign ourselves to the reality that, no, we cannot
do better. Stuff happens, and that’s the way it is. So in the
wake of yet more mass shootings around the country, and
amid a relentless stream of individual shootings here, let’s
put aside debate-killing questions about whether every
act of gun violence can be stopped, or whether this mass
shooting or that mass shooting could have been prevented
by this or that law. Let’s accept the reality that there is
not a perfect response and that the issue is riddled with
complexities, and then let’s ask that one basic question.
Can we do better? Not perfect, just better. If the answer is
yes, then let’s at least try. Can the city of Indianapolis do
better than suffering through 105 criminal homicides, the
vast majority of which involved guns, through the first nine
months of the year? Can the nation do better than not
responding in any meaningful way to mass shootings that
have claimed young adults at college campuses, young
children at an elementary school, parishioners at a church,
soldiers at military bases, and so many other victims at
so many other locations that it’s hard to keep them all
straight? v
John Krull, Statehouse File: Indiana Gov. Mike
Pence wants to make nice with the state’s business community. That may not be easy. Pence is up for reelection
next year. Normally, a conservative Republican governor
who hates taxes with the same level of animosity other
people reserve for cancer could count on enthusiastic
support from business leaders. But these are
not normal times. Many business leaders believe
Indiana’s divisive and highly publicized battles
over a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and the Indiana Religious
Freedom Restoration Act damaged the state’s
image. They also think it made it hard for them
to recruit talent to and make deals outside Indiana. Two
things about Pence’s role in those debacles concern business leaders. The first is that he didn’t listen to them
while the fights were going on. Many of the state’s largest
employers lined up against the same-sex marriage ban.
They tried to warn the governor – and legislative leaders
– that it was likely to be a costly battle that would slow
growth in Indiana. They don’t feel that they were heard.
The same happened with RFRA. A lobbyist for one of the
state’s most prominent companies told me he and the
company’s lawyers sat down with the governor’s people
and legislative leaders. The lobbyist and the lawyers from
this heavyweight employer warned the elected officials
and their staffs that there was a big problem with RFRA
and the damage could be great. “They brushed us off,”
the lobbyist told me. “They didn’t want to hear it.” The
second thing that troubles business leaders about Pence is
that he still doesn’t seem to get it. His public statements
dismiss the RFRA fight – and its resulting damage – as a
blip, little more than a fading memory. Business leaders
tell a different story. They say the damage is both deep
and lasting and they see no way to solve that problem
without first acknowledging that we do, in fact, have a
problem. Even former Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice
Randall Shepard – not exactly a wild-eyed liberal – told me
when we were on the air a few days ago that RFRA and
its legacy could do quite a bit of lasting harm to the state
“unless we manage it very well.” v
Page 20
Fiat-Chrysler
strike avoided
DETROIT — Fiat Chrysler
has avoided an expensive strike at
its U.S. plants after reaching a tentative labor agreement with the United
Auto Workers union (Associated
Press). UAW announced
the agreement just after
11:59 p.m. Wednesday,
which was the deadline
the union had set to reach
a new deal or possibly
go on strike. The ItalianAmerican automaker confirmed it had
reached a new tentative agreement
with the union but said in a statement
that the company cannot discuss the
specifics because the deal is subject to
member ratification. A spokeswoman
declined further comment. UAW, which
represents around 40,000 FCA factory
workers at 23 U.S. plants, said in a
post on its website that its bargaining
committee had “secured significant
gains.” Local union leaders will vote on
the proposed deal Friday at a meeting
in Detroit. If the leaders approve the
tentative agreement, UAW will release
details and the ratification process will
begin, a UAW spokesman said.
Hamilton Co. eyes
iPads for voting
flipping through
NOBLESVILLE - Tired of
pages and pages
of names to sign in at your polling
place on Election Day? There’s an app
for that (Sikich, IndyStar). Hamilton
County Elections Administrator Kathy
Richardson wants the county to switch
to an increasingly used electronic poll
book system. But several Hamilton
County Council members aren’t sure
they’re ready to sign off on the idea.
She is asking the council for about
$414,000 to buy 220 iPads, polling
software and related equipment. She
also would need $30,500 in each
of the next two years for software
upgrades. If the request is approved,
she hopes to have the system in place
by May’s presidential primary..
Fiscal leaders hear
local tax options
INDIANAPOLIS – Legislative
fiscal leaders considered a uniform law
Wednesday that would allow counties and municipalities to adopt their
own food and beverage tax (Kelly,
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette).
But restaurants pushed back
against the idea, which could
be considered in the 2016
legislative session. Right
now, individual counties or
communities come to the
legislature seeking permission for local
elected officials to adopt a food and
beverage tax. Each request requires
a special bill to be passed by lawmakers. The Interim Committee on Fiscal
Policy received a report Wednesday
showing that 13 counties and 14
municipalities levy the tax. Most of
them are at 1 percent, though Marion
County and Orange County are at 2
percent. In all, $87 million was collected in food and beverage taxes in fiscal
year 2015. Allen County collected
more than $7 million. Hoosier cities,
towns and counties want legislators
to pass a uniform law allowing local
adoption of the taxes and allowing
the revenue to be used for a variety
of functions. “Cities and towns should
be able to control their own destiny
on this issue,” said Justin Swanson of
the Indiana Association of Cities and
Towns.
Donnelly provisions
in Defense bill
FORT WAYNE - The defense
authorization bill approved Wednesday
by the U.S. Senate contains provisions introduced by Sen. Joe Donnelly,
D-Ind (Francisco, Fort Wayne Journal
Gazette). His proposals, aimed at
reducing military suicides, would train
Defense Department medical providers in suicide risk recognition and
management, encourage the Pentagon to instruct physician assistants in
psychiatric care and create a designa-
tion for private health care providers
that demonstrate knowledge of the
mental health needs of military personnel. The Senate passed the $612
billion defense bill by a 70-27 vote,
with Coats and Donnelly supporting
the legislation. The House approved
the measure last week by a 270-156
vote..
Courier & Press
bought by Gannett
EVANSVILLE - The Evansville
Courier & Press, the Henderson Gleaner and other Journal Media Group
newspapers will soon have a new
owner. Journal Media Group properties
will become part of Gannett. The deal
is expected to close in the first quarter
of 2016. “We will continue our mission
of serving the community,” said Jack
Pate, publisher of the Courier & Press
and The Gleaner.
Legislators revisit
big box taxation
INDIANAPOLIS - A panel of
lawmakers is grappling with a growing
controversy over how property tax values of so-called “big box” stores – like
Walmart, Kroger and Walgreens – are
assessed (Smith, Indiana Public Media). The big box assessment issue is
a complex one, but roughly boils down
to this: should big box stores be taxed
according to their value as used by
their current owner or by their value if
sold? Counties and county assessors
say it should be the former, the socalled “value in-use.” But the big box
stores want to be assessed by how
much they could get for their stores if
they’re sold – typically a much lower
amount. And a series of Indiana Tax
Court rulings have been using the big
box stores’ preferred method – so
much so that Allen County Assessor Stacey O’Day says she’s stopped
appealing. “I mean, I have to pick
my battles and I don’t think that I
can spend tax dollars – my tax dollar
money – on that knowing what I feel
the end result’s going to be,” O’Day
says.