State legislators seem to be looking for excuses to dodge the recommendation in the Kernan-Shepard report
to eliminate township-level government.
This wasnâ??t unexpected. Township officials often are close friends and political allies of legislators, so
the legislators donâ??t want…
The weakening economy is producing worse and worse tax revenue forecasts for Indiana. As a result, Democrats
are calling for Gov. Mitch Daniels, a Republican, to open the stateâ??s $1.3 billion rainy day fund.
Tough times like these are what…
The bill in question seems like a long shot. It would abdicate government’s responsibility for protecting citizens’ health
and safety, and place it in the hands of individual business owners.
A third nominee to join the Obama administration has gone down in flames after revelations about problems
with income taxes.
A Senate panel last night called off confirmation hearings for U.S. Rep. Hilda Solis, who was nominated to
lead the Labor…
All things considered, there shouldnâ??t be a fuss about President Obamaâ??s plan to cap salaries of executives
in companies that receive federal bailouts.
Thatâ??s the take of Dan Dalton, an Indiana University specialist on corporate governance.
Dalton points out that…
Gov. Mitch Daniels said yesterday he wants to spare schools and public safety from the scalpel as he looks
to prepare an honestly balanced budget during a time of declining tax revenue.
But Democrats accuse the Republican of crimping…
I think about the economic crisis, the housing crisis, the climate crisis, the energy crisis, the automotive crisis, the Middle
East crisis, the education crisis, the college affordability crisis and all the other crises — real, imagined and manufactured
— and I wonder whether they’ll drive us to the precipice, or even the apocalypse, and whether we’ll change at the last
minute, and, should we survive, whether we’ll remember what we want to forget or forget what we want to remember.
A bill that would require legislators who leave office to wait at least one year before they could become lobbyists got a
chilly reception in a Senate committee last session and went no further.
The election for me was like looking up for a change instead of having a spiral-down feeling, which was good.
The only way more ideas, more candidates, more party platforms can gain
any traction, any consideration by the public at large, would be for all political parties to receive, and run only on public
funds.
Smoking in public places is in retreat across the country, and now Charlie Brown, the state representative
from Gary, wants to ban it in bars, casinos and other enclosed places in Indiana.
Brown plans to introduce a bill during…
Could Gov. Mitch Daniels run for president in 2012?
Mitch Daniels has plenty of reason to feel good about himself these days.
Last week, he won reelection in a landslide after cutting a wake through a change-averse state, and without
going negative on his opponent, Jill Long Thompson.
Daniels also needs…
For the first time in more than 40 years, Indiana helped elect a Democratic president.
Sen. Barack Obama’s election and call for change and hope, as well as Ind. Gov. Mitch Daniels’ re-election after
dramatic changes, shows that Americans can become successful again.
Change agents Barack Obama and Mitch Daniels won over Hoosiers yesterday, but from different ends of the
political spectrum.
Barack Obama took the state after a campaign in which he promised to increase regulations on business, raise
taxes on…
Whatever costume you wore on Halloween, let Joe the Plumber, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Tyrannosaurus Rex, President
Bush, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, Sgt. Joe Friday and other characters of this election cycle continue to spark a lively
dialogue with your friends, family and neighbors.
Republican Sen. John McCain has been unable to achieve the same Indiana fund-raising edge on his Democratic opponent that
President George W. Bush did in past elections. Bush rang up an Indiana fund-raising advantage of $1.7 million over Sen. John
Kerry in 2004, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. And his popularity in Indiana allowed
him to spend those dollars to help him campaign in other states while easily winning Indiana’s electoral
votes. But this election, Sen. Barack Obama had outraised Republican John McCain by $360,000 through the end of August, when
McCain’s decision to take public campaign funds forced him to stop raising funds directly for himself.
Obama did not take public funds, and so has continued to raise money.
In this year’s election cycle, the policy watchword is "change." But amid the partisan debate, another type of
change is revolutionizing the way candidates track voters and spread messages. Communication tools like
text messaging, social networking and YouTube are increasingly integral to successful politics.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jill Long Thompson promises to buoy Indiana’s slumping rural counties with a three-tiered
incentive plan. Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels has a different vision for stoking the state economy. He wants to build on Indiana’s
strengths–such as world-class research at universities–to innovate and create jobs.
