I’ve visited Kiev and Hanoi recently, and it’s been extremely revealing. Ukraine is struggling with how to deal with a declining Russia that is looking for dignity in all the wrong places—like in Crimea—and Vietnam is struggling with how to deal with a rising China that is looking for oil in all the wrong places—like in Vietnam’s territorial waters.
This election season is going to be all about women. OK, not entirely. Men will be involved on many significant levels, like running the network of oligarchs who take advantage of our weakened campaign finance laws to manipulate the American democratic process in pursuit of their own selfish ends.
Donald Sterling has caught the attention of America and reminds that the struggle to combat inequality and discrimination is ongoing and that the idea that we are living in a post-racial America is truly inaccurate. Every now and then, the negative perceptions we harbor about those different from us become public and we declare how unacceptable it is in our modern society.
There have been times young Hoosiers flooded into the political arena. Indiana’s first territorial governor, William Henry Harrison, was in his late 20s when he assumed office. Jonathan Jennings just turned 30 when he became the first state governor.
As the end of the school year quickly approaches, it seems prudent to let you, the Hoosier taxpayer, know exactly what your hard-earned dollars are going to support.
T.E.A Party: Taxed Enough Already. How hard is that? I was privileged to speak at the first rally of these fine folks April 15, 2009, when about 3,000 Hoosiers gathered on the south lawn of the Statehouse in a 40-degree drizzling rain. No burning underwear, no stolen bicycles, no tussles with the police and not a single potty-mouth slogan or sign. Just folks who could make it to the event because it was held late enough in the day that they were finished with the day’s work. Yes, work, as in “having a job.”
Two years into the Pence administration, claims and counterclaims abound about its tax policy. Critics claim the policies shower unwarranted benefits on those who need it least at the expense of the middle class, while supporters claim the policies promote economic growth and prosperity.
I am an accidental tourist in the land of government finance. The natives are friendly enough to me, but they seem to like one another less and less.
Indianapolis is grappling with one of its most violent years, leading citizens to ask hard questions about why such crime is growing and what we can do about it. While this crime spike has generated loud calls for a much larger police force, the city’s lean budget cannot be our only solution.
Gov. Mike Pence recently signed an executive order creating a data-sharing project called the Governor’s Management and Performance Hub. The idea is to have a centralized clearinghouse for public data that top policymakers can use to systematically analyze problems—child fatalities and infant mortality, for instance—and the state’s handling of them.
Take a second, please, to think back to the evening of May 2. It was just a couple of weeks ago, a Saturday, and, just possibly, a day worth remembering.
In the interest of disclosure, I encouraged Mike Pence to run for president in early 2010, for the 2012 nomination. House Majority Leader Dick Armey frequently told us that every senator woke up in the morning, looked in the mirror, and saw a potential president. The curse has spread to governors as well as far beyond. Give a good speech and you are suddenly the great new hope.
Like you, I am eager to pull up a seat to watch candidates throw caution aside in their political ads. It’s like dissecting a mystery where you piece together parts of what the candidate says, what their opponents say about them, and what you end up believing.
In 1854, the Indiana Democratic Party was led by Jesse Bright, a man described as “hateful and extraordinarily ambitious.” He rose to power as a bully and apparently remained one. His pugnaciousness was no small part of the events that led to a two-year period in which Indiana had only one U.S. senator.
Justice John Paul Stevens retired in 2011 after 35 years of distinguished service on the U.S. Supreme Court. He has now published a book advocating adoption of six amendments to the Constitution.
It always was a little awkward entering a polling place during the primary and declaring to the poll judges which ballot I wanted. As a news reporter, I didn’t like having to declare my affinity for one party or the other.
It’s difficult to imagine a chain Tex-Mex restaurant generating much excitement. But crowds are flocking to the Hamilton Town Center newcomer.
Recently, Citizens Energy Group received regulatory approval to raise rates [April 23 IBJ] to continue updating the community’s aging water and wastewater systems.
Technology that makes a vast amount of public records available with a few keystrokes can also make monitoring government actions more difficult for Hoosiers.
Two races on my 2014 watch list were challenges to GOP state representatives Bob Behning of Indianapolis and Jerry Torr of Carmel. The issues differed, but each race showed continued erosion of union political power.
