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‘INTENSIVE’ VEEPSTAKES PERIOD BEGINS; BAYH TO SPEAK: With Barack Obama leaving Hawaii for Chicago today, the Democratic veepstakes enters the homestretch. Obama has said, "The vice presidency is the most important decison I can make before I become president. .jpg)
This will be my final councelor in the White House." A CNN feature this morning listed Sens. Evan Bayh, Joe Biden and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine as the most speculated. Reporter Candy Crawley cited campaign sources as saying at least two other unnamed potential nominees have been told by Obama campaign "not to pay too much attention" to speculation around that trio. Crawley said that could mean the campaign may take an "entirely different direction." Washington Post reporter Dan Balz predicted that Obama will make a "relatively safe choice" since "there are enough questions about him." CNN airs an Anderson Cooper special at 10 tonight, "The Crucial Choice: The Next Vice President." Bayh, Biden and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson are scheduled to speak on Wednesday Aug. 27 - the night the vice presidential nominee will speak - the Obama campaign announced Thursday. They are scheduled to speak earlier than the vice presidential nominee. Unscheduled speakers include Kaine, Sam Nunn, John Kerry and Al Gore.
DEMS MIGHT NEED 11 PICKUPS TO CONTROL SENATE: Earlier this week, we explored the possibility of Senate Democrats controlling 60 seats following the fall election — a scenario we deemed a long shot at best (Cillizza, Washington Post). In the interim, two addenda occurred to us. The first, pointed out by NBC’s Matthew Berger, is the tenuous relationship between Senate Democrats and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.). While Lieberman currently caucuses with Democrats, he has emerged as one of the leading critics of Barack Obama and is being actively mentioned as a potential vice presidential pick for John McCain. As you might guess, that doesn’t sit very well with Democrats, many of whom are urging — privately and publicly — to toss Lieberman out of the Democratic caucus when Congress reconvenes in January. Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) are both on the vice presidential short list but with different candidates. (Photo by Freddie Lee/FOX News Sunday via Getty Images)Lieberman could also decide that he and his Democratic colleagues no longer see eye to eye and simply become a caucus of one or even head over to the Republican conference if he so chose. Either way, Democrats would be down a seat — even if their dream 60-seat scenario comes to pass in November. The second is the possibility that Sen. Evan Bayh (Ind.) will be named by Obama as his vice presidential choice — a move that, if Obama were to win in November, would create a vacant seat in a state that currently has a Republican governor and tilts toward the GOP at the federal level. That possibility puts even more importance on the race between Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) and former Rep. Jill Long Thompson(D) going on in the Hoosier State this fall. Should Daniels win re-election he would almost certainly appoint a Republican to replace Bayh (perhaps even himself?), an appointment that would reduce Democrats’ ranks by one seat until 2010. Given these two variables, it seems as though if Democrats really want to be safe in their filibuster-proof majority, they would need to claim 11 pickups in November, a total that would bring them to 62 seats in the upper chamber. And that is a VERY tall order.
‘AMAZING’ RECOVERY FOR INDIANA CORN CROP: Two months after flooding swamped many Indiana farms, the state’s corn crop is in the midst of an "amazing" rebound after weeks of good weather that revived once waterlogged fields (Columbus Republic). But Purdue University agricultural economist Chris Hurt said farmers now have a new weather worry - the threat of an early frost that could slash the yields of late-planted crops. Hurt said Thursday that Indiana’s corn and soybean crops are a week to 10 days behind average in development and if the state’s current streak of unseasonably cool weather lingers into September cold weather could end the growing season early. A killing frost in mid-September 1974 caused significant crop losses, he said. "For heaven’s sake, no early frost," Hurt said. Hurt said Indiana’s corn crop has made an "amazing" recovery since June flooding left many fields in central and southern Indiana under water following a parade of drenching storms. In June, state officials said Indiana’s agricultural losses could reach up to $840 million, but the actual losses will be significantly below that number, said Ken Klemme, acting director of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture. He said the early damage estimate was based on a worst-case scenario assuming that the 9 percent of Indiana corn and soybean acreage affected by the flooding would suffer total losses. As it turned out, Klemme said that many of the crops in that acreage recovered to some extent, while other acreage ruined by flooding was replanted.
Indiana General Assembly
"LUCRATIVE’ PENSIONS FOR LEGISLATORS: If you want to understand why so many people don’t trust politicians, take a look at the Indiana Legislators’ Retirement System (Tully, Indianapolis Star). State lawmakers created this generous perk for themselves in 1989 and then defended it for nearly two decades. The program has allowed lawmakers to quietly build up government retirement accounts beyond the means of average Hoosiers — even though most lawmakers have other full-time jobs with benefits or are already retired. How generous is it? "That is about as lucrative a program as I’ve ever heard of," Tom Hardin, a financial planner with Canterbury Investment Management in Zionsville, told me. "You wouldn’t be able to find that anywhere — in corporate America or elsewhere." But you can find it at the Indiana Statehouse, where under the lawmakers’ plan, taxpayers hand out a $4 match for every $1 lawmakers invest in their accounts. Year after year, the state contributes an amount equal to 20 percent of a legislator’s salary, including hefty per diem payments in many cases. According to a file leaked to The Indianapolis Star and verified by state officials, lawmakers have contributed $3.6 million to their pension accounts since 1992, when they put the finishing touches on the system. During that same time period, taxpayers contributed $14.2 million to the lawmakers’ accounts.
THE BIGGEST BENEFICIARIES: Among the many lawmakers who have benefited under it, Sen. Beverly J. Gard, R-Greenfield, and Rep. Bill Crawford, D-Indianapolis, are the two who have benefited most. They are among 25 lawmakers who have received more than $100,000 in taxpayer-funded pension matches since 1992 (Indianapolis Star). Gard has put $32,727 of her own money into her account during this time. Indiana taxpayers have contributed $130,908. Crawford’s numbers are similar. He contributed $32,710 from 1992 through this summer; taxpayers chipped in $130,842. Think of it this way: On a personal investment of about $2,000 a year for 16 years, Gard and Crawford each saw more than $163,500 contributed to their accounts. That doesn’t include investment returns. Those figures aren’t publicly available. But according to the annual return rates on different funds available to the General Assembly, lawmakers who accumulated $160,000 in contributions since 1992 likely would have more than $215,000 in their accounts — considerably more if they chose a more aggressive fund. Crawford was unapologetic and unimpressed with critics of the program when I talked to him at the Statehouse recently. "We deserve a pension," he told me. Because he takes time off during the legislative session from his other government job — a $77,000-a-year gig at Ivy Tech Community College — Crawford said, "I lose more money than I make during the session. Our work is a 365-day-a-year job, so there has to be recognition of that."
TERRE HAUTE COUNCIL PASSES HATE CRIME RESOLUTION: The Terre Haute City Council voted 8-1 Thursday night in favor of a resolution urging the State of Indiana to adopt hate crimes legislation (Terre Haute Tribune-Star). Councilman Turk Roman, D-2nd, was the lone “no” vote. A large crowd filled the City Court room where the council meets to watch the vote and speak about the resolution. “This is a very important resolution,” said state Rep. Clyde Kersey, D-Terre Haute, who spoke to the nine-member council before the vote. Indiana is one of five states not to have a hate crimes law on the books, he said. “We’re way behind the others,” he said. Indiana’s proposed hate crimes law is House Bill 1076, said Rep. Vern Tincher, D-Riley, who also spoke to the councilmen. Such a law would allow judges to take an act of racial hatred or other hatred into account in sentencing, he said. “It is a first step,” he said. Councilman Norm Loudermilk, D-3rd, moved that the council adopt the resolution. Councilman Jim Chalos seconded Loudermilk’s motion. “Hate crimes are so difficult,” Roman said. Judges in Indiana already have the authority to impose tougher sentences if some sort of racial or other prejudice motivates a crime, he said, adding that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution guarantees equal protection of the law. “We already have all of the facets in place,” he said.
75 RALLY FOR RESOLUTION: Around 75 people gathered Thursday night on the steps of the Vigo County Courthouse to urge the Terre Haute City Council to pass a resolution supporting statewide hate crimes legislation (Terre Haute Tribune-Star). The crowd sang “We Shall Overcome” and held up signs reading “Terre Haute United Against Hate, Racism and Prejudice.” “What an awesome sight,” said Jeff Lorick, director of the Terre Haute Human Relations Commission. Thousands of Americans are victims of hate crimes each year, he said.
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Indiana Governor
DANIELS PUSHES FDK: In his fourth education-related campaign proposal, Gov. Mitch Daniels said he wants the state to expand state funding for full-day kindergarten. He also proposed the state help fund a private program that trains math and science professionals to teach in Indiana classrooms — a program he compared to a Rhodes Scholarship for teachers (Corbin, Evansville Courier & Press). Daniels, a Republican, said that if re-elected he would ask the 2009 Legislature to complete funding for statewide full-day kindergarten over four years, a cost he said he estimated at about $50 million. In 2007, the Legislature passed and Daniels signed a state budget that included $33.5 million in full-day kindergarten funding for the 2007-08 school year and $58.5 million for the 2008-09 school year just started. For the second year in a row, the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. is offering full-day kindergarten at all 15 of its elementary schools. Figures from the Indiana Department of Education indicated that once funding became available, enrollment increased 43 percent, with 46,409 students attending full-day during the last school year, compared to 32,356 attending half-day the previous school year. "We must take that last, long jump to universal availability," Daniels said Thursday during an appearance at the University of Indianapolis.
WOODROW WILSON PROGRAM WOULD EXTEND: That campus is one of four in the state that is the site of the Woodrow Wilson Indiana Teaching Fellowship, a teacher-preparation program for top math and science graduates (Evansville Courier & Press). Private dollars through the Lilly Endowment will fund a master’s degree program for 80 applicants across the four campuses: University of Indianapolis, Ball State University, Purdue University and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. As part of his campaign proposal, Daniels said, he wants to use state funding to extend the Wilson fellowship program to fund 200 applicants per year. He said it would cost approximately $5 million per year, and funding could be found within the existing $300 million Department of Education budget.
THOMPSON, BAUER REACT: Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jill Long Thompson also supports offering full-day kindergarten to all students, said campaign spokesman Jeff Harris, but the state needs to grow the economy so it can afford to maintain such programs. "These are just some election-year gimmicks," Harris said of Daniels’ proposals, according to the Associated Press. House Speaker Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, said both programs Daniels announced are beneficial to education, but Bauer wondered where Daniels would come up with the money to pay for the initiatives.
SUPT. SAYS STATE SHOULD PICK UP FDK TAB: Valparaiso schools Superintendent Michael Benway said state lawmakers should commit to picking up the entire tab for full-day instruction (Guinane, Times of Northwest Indiana). "If you believe it is a priority, why wouldn’t you fully fund it?" he said. "I think just about every other state in the union offers it." Benway said a $1,047 grant falls short about $2,000 per student of what the district needs to offer full-day kindergarten without charging tuition to parents who can afford it. Other districts have told the Indiana Department of Education it costs them $1,500 to $2,000 per student to offer full-day kindergarten instead of state-mandated half-day classes.
THOMPSON APPEARS WITH STEELWORKER: The retired Union Township steelworker who made a splash with his health care question at the Democratic presidential debate in Chicago appeared with Democratic candidate for governor Jill Long Thompson in Gary on Thursday to bolster her campaign (Post-Tribune). Speaking to a roomful at United SteelWorkers of America Local 1014 offices, Thompson rolled out the health-care reform component of her "One Indiana Plan" to build an economy that works for all Hoosiers. "It is outright unacceptable that the Daniels administration turned its back on the state’s most vulnerable Hoosiers of low income, children, adults and seniors, opting instead to forge ahead with … another attempt to privatize more of Indiana all under the guise of savings," she said. Stephen Skvara, executive board member for USWA District 7, said, "I’ve been going over Jill’s plan and I’m tremendously impressed." Skvara said the problem is that health care "has become big business." He said rising premiums and the resulting loss of insurance and increase in bankruptcies and personal debt from putting medical expenses on credit cards "is destroying families and tearing companies apart." He said the problem is the insurance companies, which he called "monsters" that put only 70 cents of each premium dollar toward health care. Her main proposal is the creation of a health-insurance purchasing pool, similar to arrangements in Ohio, Wisconsin and other states, managed by a quasi-governmental body with financial incentives to participating small businesses. "Why is the size of your premium determined by the size of your business? That’s just not right. I’m going to make it possible for small businesses to negotiate (lower insurance rates) like big companies," she said.
DANIELS TO MAKE ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENT TODAY: Gov. Mitch Daniels will make an economic development announcement at 3 today in the governor’s office (Howey Politics Indiana).
SCHELLINGER FUNDRAISER … FOR DANIELS? Citizens of Rush County are very sentimental about the covered bridge in Moscow that was swept away by a tornado in June. Hence they are tickled that Gov. Mitch Daniels came calling last week to announce that the bridge will be rebuilt (using private money). What did not make as big a splash is the identity of the architectural firm handling the project. It just happens to be CSO Architects, which is owned in part by Jim Schellinger (Ruth Holladay). Last time we heard much about Schellinger is when he was running for governor on the Dem ticket in the primary. Although he had his party’s official backing, he was beaten by Jill Long Thompson, also a Dem. To add insult to injury, Schellinger’s firm will also be holding a fund-raiser for Daniels, whose campaign is already flush.
Iraq War
MADISON BURIES A SON: The Madison Consolidated High School Band fell silent, its sound replaced by the low, clipped marching rhythm of uniformed soldiers carrying the flag-draped casket of Spc. Jonathan Menke (Louisville Courier-Journal). More than 600 mourners stood in the school gymnasium yesterday to honor the 2005 Madison graduate as the casket made its way to the front and was placed lengthwise under the podium. Menke, 22, and fellow Indiana National Guardsman Sgt. Gary Henry, 34, of Indianapolis, were killed by a bomb that detonated on an overpass above their Humvee near Baghdad on Aug. 4. Both were members of the 38th Military Police Company based in Danville. A third soldier in the vehicle, Spc. John Blickenstaff of Twelve Mile, was seriously injured in the explosion, said Lt. Col. Deedra Thombleson, spokeswoman for the Indiana National Guard. Max Muhoray, a childhood friend of Menke, set the tone for yesterday’s service when he read from a text message Menke sent to another friend a week before the fatal explosion. "Jon stated … ‘Stay out all night, sleep all day … because that is what I would be doing.’ By saying this, Jon really emphasized taking advantage of every day," Muhoray said.
DANIELS HONORS SOLDIER, PARENTS: Gov. Mitch Daniels noted that people often mourn the "lost years" and opportunities when a young person dies (Louisville Courier-Journal). "We question why" the life had to end so soon, he said. The proper consideration, Daniels argued, is "how it was lived. That’s what matters in our memory and in the world to come." Addressing Menke’s parents, the governor said, "You have, in my view, achieved the highest level of citizenship: raised a good son." In a final public honor, the Army posthumously awarded a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star to Menke, both presented to his parents by Daniels.
Presidential
OBAMA OPENS HAMMOND OFFICE: The new Barack Obama campaign office on Indianapolis Boulevard in south Hammond is modest. It looks like an insurance office, and the plain lobby houses a television that looks older than at least one of Obama’s campaign organizers (Times of Northwest Indiana). To voters, the fanciness of the campaign offices may not matter as much as the number of them. The Obama campaign has opened 19 offices across Indiana — including four in the region — and plans to add another 10 or more before the Nov. 4 general elections, according to State Communications Director Jonathan Swain. The presumed Democratic presidential nominee also has made 43 stops in Indiana since January, including three during the last month, Swain said. Obama made a surprise lunchtime visit last week at the Schoop’s restaurant in Portage. Republican challenger John McCain, by comparison, has not opened a campaign office in the state and has visited twice this year, said Indiana Republican Party Communications Director Jay Kenworthy. The Indiana Republican Party is listed as McCain’s state office on the campaign’s Web site.
Congress
PENCE TO RESUME PROTEST: U.S. Rep. Mike Pence will return to Washington Friday to participate in the House floor protest urging Speaker Nancy Pelosi to allow an up or down vote on domestic oil drilling. "I think that it’s a very significant statement by Speaker Nancy Pelosi last night that, to use her words, the House ‘can have a vote’ on more domestic drilling. This represents evidence that the Democratic leadership is hearing from the American people, is hearing from many Democrats in the Congress who would like an opportunity to vote on more domestic drilling. And I welcome it. But I still believe Congress should not wait until this fall or sometime around Christmas after the elections to give the American people more access to American oil." (Howey Politics Indiana)
State
79 HOMESTEAD AWARDS: The Indiana State Department of Agriculture will honor today 79 families with the Hoosier Homestead Award (Inside Edge). The award recognizes families that have owned the same farm for more than 100 consecutive years, with the farm consisting of more than 20 acres or producing more than $1,000 worth of agricultural products per year.
Cities
KOKOMO NEARS BUDGET: Randy Morris’ dream of new parking meters for the entire downtown evaporated Thursday, but almost everything else in Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight’s budget survived (Kokomo Tribune). Handed a budget request that already contains a net spending cut over the current year, city council members haven’t had to do much heavy lifting thus far in the budget process. Next year, the city is expected to bring in $54.2 million in revenue. Goodnight’s budget request is $54.56 million. And after chopping the city council’s health insurance budget in half, and axing all but $10,000 of Morris’ $48,000 parking meter request, a number of smaller cuts have put the council within hailing distance of its balanced budget goal.
2% RAISE IN MADISON: Madison Mayor Tim Armstrong is proposing that city employees receive 2 percent pay raises next year, but said he will not be asking the City Council for a raise for himself (Madison Courier). Armstrong told the council at a four-hour budget work session Tuesday night that he would have liked to propose larger raises, as some Indiana municipalities are increasing workers’ pay as much as 4 percent next year. But some cities are giving no raises, and others are eliminating jobs, he said. "It would be better to give less of a raise and have jobs than give bigger raises and then in a year have to cut," Armstrong told the City Council. Because of the state’s new property tax reform law, Madison expects to have $36,783 less to spend next year, and in 2010, that will rise more than tenfold to $391,460.
Counties
CLARK ADS ASSESSOR QUESTION ON BALLOT: The Clark County Election Board approved a measure to place a referendum on the general election ballot this fall (News & Tribune). The referendum, recently certified by the commissioners, will give Jeffersonville Township residents the option to choose whether they want to keep Township Assessor Vicki Conlin or allow County Assessor Vicky Kent Haire to take over the assessing duties for the township. Haire already has been placed in charge of all the property tax assessments for the rest of the county, including the 10 county trustee assessor’s duties, and the Charlestown and Silver Creek Township assessor’s duties. The change in assessment authority is the result of House Bill 1001, which mandated that all townships with less than 15,000 parcels of real property be under the umbrella of a single countywide office. Only Jeffersonville was exempted, with the bill mandating that voters decide. The question — “Should the assessing duties of the elected township assessor in the township be transferred to the county assessor?” — will be placed on all Jeffersonville Township ballots.
Corruption
NO RELEASE FOR HAUGHEE: Former Hebron Town Council President Michael Haughee failed again Thursday to persuade a judge to allow him to bond out of jail in order to pursue an appeal of his sexual assault conviction (Times of Northwest Indiana). Yet he said the loss is one for all inmates at the Porter County Jail. Haughee, who is a suspended attorney and former Lake County deputy prosecutor, argued he should be released in part because the jail, unlike the Indiana Department of Correction, does not provide inmates access to law books. "I’ve been denied that right," he said. "Porter County is not an island. It’s not a gulag." Haughee said he has heard the same complaint from fellow inmates at the jail. "This case doesn’t just apply to me," he said.
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