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Seeking to sway politicians: Lobbyists savor the challenge of playing the game, which requires chess-like strategizing

January 10, 2005

When Maureen Ferguson was a lobbyist for the Indiana Petroleum Council, she went skiing for the first time, in Colorado. As her ski instructor was taking her up the mountain, he asked her what she did for a living. When she told him, he “went off” on how the oil industry was corrupt and running the government, and she recalled that she found herself fearing for her life. Now when someone asks Ferguson what she does, sometimes she tells them,…

Lilly maintains focus on its pharmaceuticals: Drugmaker has no plans to replicate J&J’s diversity

January 10, 2005

Johnson & Johnson loves to profit from a balanced product line, and it has competitor Eli Lilly and Co. to thank-in a roundabout way-for its latest bit of leverage. New Jersey-based J&J plans to expand its medical device business by buying Guidant Corp., which Lilly created and then spun off in the early 1990s. J&J leaders think the proposed, $25.4 billion deal will create better balance among a line of businesses that has been led by pharmaceuticals, which made up…

CHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary: Avoid Florida-like snags on stadium

January 10, 2005

NAPLES, Fla.-As I entered the state of Florida yesterday, I remembered that just about a year ago I was at a meeting in South Miami where Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was holding court on economic development efforts. His pride and joy was a deal to bring the Scripps Research Institute to Palm Beach County on the state’s east coast. I wrote a column about it in our Feb. 9, 2004, issue. Bush and his team had lured the highly regarded…

BEHIND THE NEWS: REIT run leaves analysts ‘worried and optimistic’Ex-executive settles with SEC

January 31, 2005

Mall developer Simon Property Group Inc. and many of the nation’s other top real estate investment trusts have earned investors huge returns since 2000, so huge that continued gains seem unlikely. Or do they? That’s the million-dollar question as investors close the book on 2004, one of the best years in the history of REITs. For the 12 months, Simon posted a total return of 47 percent, while REITs overall returned 31 percent. It was the fifth straight year REITs…

STATEHOUSE DISPATCH: Boards and commissions moratorium prompts concern

January 31, 2005

Expect House Bill 1188, authored by Rep. Rich McClain, R-Logansport, and awaiting a hearing in the new Committee on Government and Regulatory Reform, to provoke a lot of questions and controversy. In fact, the measure already has caused some panic among assorted business, professional, trade and local government interests. McClain’s measure, which should receive a favorable reception in the new panel chaired by red-tape-busting Rep. Jim Buck, R-Kokomo, would place a one-year moratorium on the operation of all-yes, all-statutorily created…

IDEM levies fewer fines: Air pollution violators account for half of state’s penalties

February 7, 2005

Four of the 10 largest environmental penalties levied against Indiana companies in 2004 involved air pollution violations, an area of regulation likely to come under renewed focus after the first-ever “fine particulate” health warning was issued last week for Marion and five other counties. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management, which sounded the alarm, assessed $1.2 million in air pollution penalties last year-almost half of the $2.4 million in 1999, according to state records. The decrease in air penalty amounts…

BULLS & BEARS: How managing investments works from the top down

February 14, 2005

Another variation of the asset allocation and diversification theme that is common on Wall Street is what’s called a “topdown” investment strategy to manage a portfolio. Investors who practice this sort of money management are generally more concerned with the economic outlook and its effect on various “market sectors” than the business fundamentals of a particular company. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index is the most commonly used measuring stick for the investment performance of many mutual funds and money…

EYE ON THE PIE: Focus on expenses, not revenue, in state budget

February 21, 2005

In fewer than 700 words, I’m going to tell the story of how we finance government in Indiana. It’s my belated valentine to the Indiana General Assembly. The data are for 2001-2002, but things don’t change much from year to year. Indiana governments had revenue of $34.2 billion in fiscal 2002. But forget about separating state and local government finances. It’s a fraudulent idea to talk about local taxes vs. state taxes. The two are totally intertwined. Localities can do…

OneAmerica grows bullish on its future: New leadership hopes to sustain steady growth

February 21, 2005

OneAmerica Financial Partners Inc. kept busy with a brand change, a record year for retirement services and the arrival of several new leaders in 2004. New President and CEO Dayton Molendorp plans to keep the positive momentum flowing with 34 key projects outlined in the 2005 business plan. But analysts say the Indianapolis company will have to grow in the face of strong competition and a pressing need to keep up with technology. The company formerly known as AUL unveiled…

VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Are traditional pension plans an endangered species?

February 28, 2005

Defined benefit plans, or pension plans as they are more commonly known, were a core component of the benefits provided by blue chip employers until the 1980s. About 40 percent of all American workers were covered by these plans. Under such plans, employees are guar anteed monthly retirement checks for life based upon their compensation, years of service and other factors. Recently, however, the use of pension plans has dropped dramatically. In 2003, only 20 percent of the work force…

Unifying Indiana’s IT efforts: State’s new CTO plans to centralize computing

March 7, 2005

Indiana’s state Web portal, access-Indiana, won at least a dozen awards over the last four years. It was frequently lauded as a model of modern government efficiency-robust, reliable and user-friendly. But, according to new Indiana Chief Technology Officer Karl Browning, the reality was only skin deep. Certainly, accessIndiana is the handsome public face of state information technology. But beneath the surface, there’s a tangled mess of unconnected systems, each managed independently by a separate agency. Gov. Mitch Daniels, a Republican,…

EYE ON THE PIE: Do we need agriculture department?

March 14, 2005

Indiana’s General Assembly reflects Hoosier values. It wants to make us more like other states. If others have daylight-saving time, so should we. This is called progress. If others have a Department of Agriculture, so should we. This, too, is called progress. The idea that we should differentiate ourselves from others, that we should find new solutions to problems, is not examined. Let’s look at House Bill 1008, which would create an Indiana Department of Agriculture. This proposal was given…

Smoke carries economic toll: Ban backers cite health, productivity costs

March 14, 2005

The annual cost of treating the secondhand-smoke-related illnesses of Marion County residents likely exceeds $16 million, a cost borne partly by businesses that provide their employees health insurance. Businesses also shoulder harder-to-calculate costs in the form of lost productivity and absenteeism, according to a 2002 study for the Marion County Health Department believed to be the best estimate yet of the local impact of cigarettes. But backers of the proposed City-County Council ordinance that would ban smoking in Indianapolis’ bars…

Conseco Insurance Group plans sales rebound: Insurer boosts product line, agent recruitment

March 28, 2005

Conseco Insurance Group just closed the book on a disappointing 2004 but its leaders already have a jump on several initiatives to prevent a repeat in 2005. The Conseco Inc. subsidiary launched two new life insurance products earlier this year and is aiming for a 25-percent increase in new business in 2005, according to Brad Corbin, the insurance group’s new executive vice president of sales. The insurer also has started burning some phone lines to boost the independent sales force…

Wishard aims to even it up: Health system could break deficit string

April 4, 2005

About half the bills Wishard Health Services used to send out came back sans payment thanks to an error. Now that happens only 4 percent of the time, a change that saves millions, according to Wishard number-crunchers. Improvements such as these might spur a multimillion-dollar turnaround in Wishard’s ledger this year, said Matt Gutwein, the leader of Marion County’s safetynet hospital. Wishard will attempt to break even by the end of 2005, a far cry from the $77 million deficit…

Smoking warriors expand battlefield: Health advocates accuse grocers, retailers of misleading public with smoke-free claims

April 11, 2005

Bars and restaurants aren’t the only firms that will soon feel the heat from health advocates pushing laws to ban smoking in public places. Some are broadening their gaze to drugstores and even supermarkets as potential health risks-and they’re naming names of offending businesses. It’s a radical approach in a mildmannered metro area, where few dare to poke fingers in the eyes of the business or political elite. And it’s in stark contrast to groups such as Smoke Free Indy,…

VIEWPOINT: We need Social Security as a safety net

April 18, 2005

The proposed use of personal savings accounts for Social Security tax investment fundamentally changes what Social Security was meant to provide. It was meant to be a minimum guaranteed platform of financial security in old age. If everyone could and would save a material amount of their lifetime earnings, investing in a disciplined diversified manner, we wouldn’t need Social Security. But the reality is, that’s never going to happen. The poor, non-earners and the profligate simply aren’t up to the…

EYE ON THE PIE: Lessons from a low-profile death

April 25, 2005

Worldwide, about 57 million people will die this year. Few will make headlines like Pope John Paul II and Terri Schiavo did. Many will die as did Kianna Rowe Karnes of Indianapolis, attended by family but abused or neglected by the health profession. Karnes was 44 when she died a few weeks ago from kidney cancer. She was not brain dead. She was not at the end of a long life, but in the rich, middle years where she could…

Applied Engineering Services Inc.: Engineering firm builds clientele slowly

May 9, 2005

Starting a new company is a tricky business, even if you’ve done everything right. Applied Engineering Services had the funding, the contacts and the skills it needed when it started in 1998. Still, the first year or so was hardly easy. “We didn’t hit the ground running,” recalled Terry DeBoo, one of the principals in the company. “The first year was pretty tough.” Applied Engineering is a consulting engineering firm that focuses much of its business on the central utility…

Rule changes to get scrutiny: State agencies now must consider economic impact

May 30, 2005

Indiana’s small-business owners will encounter a friendlier regulatory environment in July, when sweeping legislation takes effect requiring state agencies to consider the impact of their policies on small businesses before adopting them. House Enrolled Act 1822 should help ease the burden of what advocates consider unnecessary regulations on small businesses by requiring agencies that intend to change or adopt a rule to provide an economic-impact statement first. The statement must include a regulatory-flexibility analysis that evaluates alternative methods that could…

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People

Rick Bossingham

Articles

Seeking to sway politicians: Lobbyists savor the challenge of playing the game, which requires chess-like strategizing

Lilly maintains focus on its pharmaceuticals: Drugmaker has no plans to replicate J&J’s diversity

CHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary: Avoid Florida-like snags on stadium

BEHIND THE NEWS: REIT run leaves analysts ‘worried and optimistic’Ex-executive settles with SEC

STATEHOUSE DISPATCH: Boards and commissions moratorium prompts concern

IDEM levies fewer fines: Air pollution violators account for half of state’s penalties

BULLS & BEARS: How managing investments works from the top down

EYE ON THE PIE: Focus on expenses, not revenue, in state budget

OneAmerica grows bullish on its future: New leadership hopes to sustain steady growth

VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Are traditional pension plans an endangered species?

Unifying Indiana’s IT efforts: State’s new CTO plans to centralize computing

EYE ON THE PIE: Do we need agriculture department?

Smoke carries economic toll: Ban backers cite health, productivity costs

Conseco Insurance Group plans sales rebound: Insurer boosts product line, agent recruitment

Wishard aims to even it up: Health system could break deficit string

Smoking warriors expand battlefield: Health advocates accuse grocers, retailers of misleading public with smoke-free claims

VIEWPOINT: We need Social Security as a safety net

EYE ON THE PIE: Lessons from a low-profile death

Applied Engineering Services Inc.: Engineering firm builds clientele slowly

Rule changes to get scrutiny: State agencies now must consider economic impact