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OBAMA ‘ALL BUT SETTLED’ ON VEEP: Senator Barack Obama has all but settled on his choice for a running mate and set an elaborate rollout plan for his decision, beginning with an early morning alert to supporters, perhaps as soon as Wednesday morning, aides said (New York Times). Mr. Obama’s deliberations remain remarkably closely held. Aides said perhaps a half-dozen advisers were involved in the final discussions in an effort to enforce a command that Mr. Obama issued to staff members: that his decision not leak out until supporters are notified. .jpg)
Mr. Obama had not notified his choice — or any of those not selected — of his decision as of late Monday, advisers said. Going into the final days, Mr. Obama was said to be focused mainly on three candidates: Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana, Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia and Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware. Some Democrats said they still hoped that he would choose Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, or Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, who has been under steady consideration by Mr. Obama’s campaign. By all indications, Mr. Obama is likely to choose someone relatively safe and avoid taking a chance with a game-changing selection. Mr. Obama’s advisers said he all but reached his decision while on vacation in Hawaii. They said it was the end of what proved to be an unexpectedly intense process, condensed because he did not want to start actively vetting potential running mates before Mrs. Clinton quit the race in June. The team of advance workers and aides involved in planning the rollout — timed to galvanize Democratic voters as Mr. Obama heads to Denver next week for the party convention — have not been told who Mr. Obama will be selecting. If all goes according to plan, the announcement will be made with text and e-mail messages to supporters early in the morning, in time to capture coverage on the morning news shows and take advantage of a full day’s news cycle. Mr. Obama and his running mate will begin, perhaps that day, a visit to swing states. Plans call for them to be on the trail together for much of the time between the day of the announcement and the day Mr. Obama arrives in Denver, a week from Wednesday, but their most intense campaigning together will come after the convention. Mr. Obama’s schedule calls for him to awaken on Tuesday in Orlando, Fla., and by the end of the day be in Raleigh, N.C. By Wednesday, he is scheduled to be in Virginia. The Obama campaign has cautioned against reading anything into his schedule, saying it could be changed in an instant to accommodate the plan to introduce the running mate. Aides said the announcement would come at the earliest on Wednesday morning.
OBAMA HASN’T MADE THE PHONE CALL: ABC’s Jake Tapper reported this morning on Good Morning America that Barack Obama has not yet informed his choice for vice president. "He hasn’t made the phone call," Tapper said. He said the decision would come later in the week.
VEEP WITH FOREIGN POLICY EXPERIENCE: The rampant speculation during the selection process encompassed many of the best-known names in the party, including Mr. Kerry and Mr. Gore, Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico and former Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia (New York Times). The big choice for Mr. Obama, advisers said, was the extent to which he needed to choose someone who would fill perceived holes in his résumé — lack of experience, particularly in foreign policy — versus a candidate who would reinforce his promise of change or one who might help him win a contested state. Mr. Biden, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, clearly fell into the category of helping Mr. Obama on foreign policy, while Mr. Kaine is a relative newcomer to national politics and would reinforce the notion of change. Both Mr. Kaine and Mr. Bayh would help Mr. Obama in a state that Democrats are trying to put in play.
VEEP STAFF IN THE DARK: The Illinois senator has staffers in place to aid the No. 2 and his or her spouse, including more than a dozen seasoned operatives who have set up shop in a section of the campaign’s Chicago headquarters. They are running through various logistical scenarios involved in taking over the relatively normal life of a person unknown to them and thrusting them into the unrelenting glare of a presidential campaign (Associated Press). Obama was believed to have narrowed his list to Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. While it seemed increasingly unlikely that he would choose his vanquished rival, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, some Democrats speculated Monday that he could pull a surprise and choose her. Even as they were kept out of the loop on the decision, Obama’s staff debated who would make the right choice. Many said if the candidate asked them, they would suggest Biden because of his foreign policy experience and strong debate skills; Sebelius because she’s a respected Washington outsider who has won a Republican state; or Bayh because he can appeal to Democrats uneasy about Obama and could help him win Indiana.
‘FINGER IN THE WIND’ GOVERNOR: As governor, Evan Bayh was a pragmatist, often out of necessity (Times of Northwest Indiana). When he took office, the House was evenly divided between the parties, and Republicans ruled the Senate during his eight years in office. "He was a very good governor. He’s a very progressive young man, and they love him in Indiana," said state Sen. Frank Mrvan, D-Hammond. "His office was always open (as governor), and I don’t think he was very partisan. He’ll make a great vice president." Bayh is often called bland, and his keynote address at the 1996 Democratic National Convention was widely criticized. He’s also been called a finger-in-the-wind leader who prefers to avoid controversy. "I sometimes questioned whether he brushed his teeth without taking a poll," said state Rep. Charlie Brown, a Gary Democrat.
McCAIN TO ANNOUNCE VEEP AUG. 29: Sen. John McCain plans to celebrate his 72nd birthday on Aug. 29 by naming his running mate at a huge rally in the battleground state of Ohio, Republican sources said (The Politico). That’s a week from Friday, and the day after his rival, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, accepts the Democratic nomination at a 70,000-person spectacular in a Denver stadium. The campaign has begun building a crowd of 10,000 for Dayton, Ohio, according to an organizer. McCain is scheduled to appear with his running mate at a large-scale event in Pennsylvania shortly thereafter.
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Economy
DELPHI TO CUT 600 IN KOKOMO: Delphi Corp.’s Electronics & Safety division will cut 600 salaried positions from its North American work force by year’s end, company officials announced Monday (Smith, Kokomo Tribune). The majority of those job losses will be at the division’s Kokomo headquarters. A conference call on the announcement coincided Monday morning with a “town hall meeting” teleconference Electronics & Safety president Jeff Owens conducted with salaried employees at all of the division’s North American properties. Delphi spokesman Milton Beach said the cost-cutting plan, which also includes undisclosed material and energy savings goals, was made necessary by market conditions. “The auto industry is facing some tough times — unprecedented times in North America,” Beach said Monday. “People are no longer buying trucks and SUVs … they’re mostly buying small vehicles which have less electronic equipment — the stuff we produce at Delphi.”
COMPANY TO EXPAND IN CARMEL: Carmel-based Pharmakon LTC Pharmacy is planning a $1.2 million expansion of its packaging and distribution operations in Central Indiana (Inside Edge). The expansion is expected to result in 52 new jobs by 2011. Pharmakon says it will move its headquarters and distribution center to a 21,000 square-foot facility in Carmel during the first quarter of 2009 and hire new pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and shipping personnel. The company currently employs about 60 people in Central Indiana.
OIL PRICES CONTINUE TO DECLINE: Oil prices dropped below $112 a barrel Tuesday in Asia, extending an overnight decline as Tropical Storm Fay avoided oil-producing infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico (Associated Press). Analysts also said oil pricing is likely to remain suppressed amid concerns that a global economic slowdown may further dampen world oil demand. But intermittent supply concerns due to the hurricane season and ongoing conflicts such as that between Russia and Georgia are likely to halt any sharp slide in pricing. "Continuing worries about a U.S. economy slowdown, which may spread to the euro zone and perhaps also Asia are weighing down on oil pricing," said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with consultancy Purvin & Gertz in Singapore.
Congress
PELOSI GETTING THE MESSAGE SAYS PENCE: U.S. Rep. Mike Pence released the following statement Monday in response to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent radio address on energy (Howey Politics Indiana): “Since Congress adjourned on August 1st, House Republicans have taken to the House floor to call upon the Speaker of the House to bring Congress back into session and allow a vote on comprehensive energy legislation that would provide the American people more access to American oil. It seems that Speaker Nancy Pelosi finally may be getting the message. When the floor protest began over two weeks ago, Speaker Pelosi said Republicans would have to use our ‘imagination’ to get a vote on more domestic drilling. By last week she apparently had changed her position, telling a national television audience for the first time that Congress ‘can have a vote’ on more domestic drilling. On Saturday in a national radio address, Speaker Pelosi went on to say that the Democrats’ plan ‘will consider opening portions of the Outer Continental Shelf for drilling. Now that Speaker Pelosi has announced her willingness to allow a vote on comprehensive energy legislation that would allow more domestic drilling, the American people should hold her to this commitment and demand that Congress immediately return to Washington, D.C. and vote.
PUCKETT TO FIRE TREASURER DUE TO OVERDRAFTS: Republican congressional candidate Luke Puckett said Monday he will remove campaign treasurer Art Willis after the discovery that his campaign paid almost $2,000 in bank service fees to Lake City Bank from late April through the end of June (South Bend Tribune). Sixty different payments to the bank, 53 of which were for $34 each, appear in a report the campaign filed Monday with federal officials. The payments, which total $1,946, started on April 30 and run through the end of the reporting period on June 30. Sixteen of the payments were made June 2. "That was a group of debit card transactions that were drawn against an account that didn’t cover them," Willis said Monday. The expenses were mostly meeting and travel expenses, he said. "When Luke or (campaign manager) Kyle (Bailey) was on the road, they incorrectly assumed that there was enough cash to cover the debit entries," Willis said. "And there wasn’t." Puckett said he accepts full responsibility for the problem, but that he didn’t know about the bank fees until his staff called him Monday afternoon. An emergency staff meeting was held Monday night to assess the situation, he said. "It’s DEFCON 5 right now," Puckett said. "The buck stops at my desk and so I’ll deal with it tonight."
GREENPEACE LOBBIES HILL, SODREL: The fight against global warming came to the congressional campaigns of 9th District candidates Baron Hill and Mike Sodrel yesterday (Louisville Courier-Journal). Supporters of the Greenpeace environmental organization presented thousands of petitions and letters at the offices of Hill, the Democratic incumbent, and Sodrel, the Republican challenger. Edyta Sitko, a Greenpeace organizer who went to Sodrel’s Jeffersonville office, said the former congressman "really has yet to tell us what his position is, what he is going to do to protect us" from global warming. More than 2,300 petitions and letters were attached to a "wall" of plastic-foam panels erected in front of Sodrel’s office by Greenpeace supporters, and Sitko gave Melane Guthrie, a scheduler for the candidate, a basket of letters and a T-shirt urging action.
State
WORKERS TO GET $8.5M IN SUIT: For 20 years, the state required some of its employees to work more hours than those in other state agencies yet paid them the same (Indianapolis Star). Now it appears the state is going to pay for that decision — as much as $8.5 million. The state reached a tentative agreement Monday on a class-action lawsuit that could affect an estimated 15,000 state employees who, from 1973 to 1993, worked 40-hour weeks but received the same pay as others in similar jobs who worked 37.5 hours a week. The lawsuit was filed 15 years ago but was delayed repeatedly. The suit was scheduled to go to trial today. John Kautzman, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, said the state would fully compensate the affected employees up to $8.5 million, including compensation pay for those extra 2.5 hours per week, fees and expenses. Attempts to reach the state attorney general’s office for comment were unsuccessful.
TOLL ROAD, STATE TRAFFIC DOWN: Nationwide and statewide cutbacks in driving have not spared the 157-mile Indiana Toll Road (Post-Tribune). The Interstate, under lease from Indiana for the next 73 years, saw a 6.1 percent decline in traffic during the first three months of 2008 versus the same period of 2007. The April through June period followed with a 10.75 percent decline in average daily traffic. Statewide, the number of miles driven on Indiana roads in June fell by 5.2 percent over last year, and nationwide, the year-to-date totals are off 2.8 percent.
Counties
NEW PUTNAM SHERIFF NAMED: Putnam County commissioners put a new sheriff in place Monday after accepting the resignation of Sheriff Mark Frisbie (WTHR-TV). Frisbie is at the center of a federal and state investigation, accused of running up $4,000 in bills on a department-issued credit card. He resigned late Friday following an investigation by the FBI, State Police and the Indiana State Board of Accounts. First Deputy Virgil Lanning was named Monday night as acting sheriff for the county. "I just came back late last night, so I walked into the office this morning to this," Lanning said Monday. "We have kind of known all along that something was going to happen eventually."
VANDERBURGH ABORTION ORDINANCE ALARMS PP: The Vanderburgh County Commissioners’ lightning-quick passage of an abortion-related ordinance without public input will get a response tonight from Planned Parenthood of Indiana (Evansville Courier & Press). The ordinance, crafted at the suggestion of longtime anti-abortion activist Bill Butterfield, states a doctor may not perform an abortion in Vanderburgh County without having hospital admitting privileges in the county or an adjacent county. The doctor also must inform the patient where she can receive follow-up care in case of complications. Tina Noel, a spokeswoman for Indianapolis-based Planned Parenthood, said officials of the organization will be at tonight’s County Commissioners meeting at 5 p.m. in Room 301 of the Civic Center. Noel said they are not sure what action they will take. The Planned Parenthood officials may be joined by local supporters and government advocates who say they have been scrambling to organize a response to the commissioners’ action. "People have been concerned about the process that was used, both the process and the substance (of the ordinance)," said Lezlie Simmons, a retired attorney and community activist.
PROSECUTOR ‘DECEITFUL’ SAYS DELAWARE JUDGE: Delaware County Prosecutor Mark McKinney acted deceitfully in using confidential settlements to distribute and spend seized money and property from accused drug dealers, according to a report issued Monday by Delaware Circuit 2 Judge Richard Dailey (Muncie Star Press). "McKinney’s actions are purposeful, deceitful, and directly against the interests of his clients, the Muncie Common Council and Delaware County Council," the judge wrote in the findings of his probe on civil drug forfeitures. "He knowingly and willfully violated a court order and sought to conceal this action from the court." McKinney on Monday evening issued a statement denying "any effort to mislead or deceive anyone."
Cities
WEINZAPFEL SUPPORTS SCHOOL FUNDING REFERENDUM: Members of Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel’s Education Roundtable reaffirmed their support of a public school funding referendum on Monday (Evansville Courier & Press). The roundtable, which consists of about 25 representatives of area universities, organized labor and groups with interests in education, has approved a resolution supporting the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp.’s plan to build, renovate and expand schools. Members on Monday wanted to know what else could be done. "Is there anything this group can do to assist with passage of the bond issue?" industrialist Robert Koch II asked during the roundtable meeting at The Victory. EVSC Superintendent Vincent Bertram and others replied that a newly formed political action committee, Citizens Supporting Schools, is organizing a campaign backing the 20-year bond issue, which will be on the Nov. 4 general election ballot.
HAMMOND SHOULD SEEK RDA BUS HELP: The director of the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority on Monday indicated the RDA would entertain an application from the city to fund bus service (Times of Northwest Indiana). "It’s true we haven’t given money to Hammond for their bus service, but it’s also true they haven’t asked for any," said Tim Sanders, the RDA’s executive director. City Council President Dan Repay in July recommended eliminating the city’s transit system to save money and said a regional approach should be taken to fund transportation. The city must cut next year’s budget by at least $1.3 million because of state-mandated property tax caps. Repay has said cutting transit funding would save Hammond $1 million. Hammond contributed $11 million to the RDA, and Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. and Repay often have been critical of the RDA’s assistance to Valparaiso’s express bus service to Chicago, which is to begin soon. The men question why the agency would help Valparaiso but not Hammond.
WORKERS GIVEN ‘RUDY CLAY DAY’: When five firefighters reported for duty Monday just to be sent home, they became among the first in the city assigned to what many employees now are calling a "Rudy Clay Day" (Post-Tribune). Across the city, employees in most departments were adjusting to new work schedules designed to result in a 20-percent pay cut. Mayor Clay has said the city will run out of money by October without the cuts because his city is facing a $13 million budget shortfall. Now that the new policy is in effect, though, employee unions are starting to take action. "I mailed off grievances this morning," Ted Bilski, business agent and trustee for Teamsters Local 142, said.
NEW GARY POLICE CHIEF: The city of Gary saw a fourth person named chief of police in 15 months following Monday’s surprise announcement that interim Police Chief Larry Wright was removed (Times of Northwest Indiana). Lt. Reginald Harris became permanent chief of police effective Monday, following a 22-year career with the department. Harris has worked as a commander, supervisor and officer in the patrol and auto detail divisions. "I am looking forward to accepting the challenge of moving the department forward. Along with the men and women of the department, I want to fulfill the major dream of making Gary a safe city," Harris said in a written statement. Wright, 59, said he learned of the new chief being named Monday morning. Wright said he did not know what his new assignment would be. "I have no idea yet. We’re still negotiating that," Wright said.
MAN AWAITS $4.5M FROM HAMMOND: Although Larry Mayes is expecting a $4.5 million legal settlement any day now, he is not living like a rich man (Times of Northwest Indiana). Court records filed Monday say Mayes has had trouble paying rent in "one of the most dangerous sections of Gary," where his home has been robbed and vandalized and he has had trouble holding a steady job. Against the advice of his lawyer, he has resorted to taking out a series of high-interest judgment loans while he waits for the day that his $4.5 million check will come from the city of Hammond. A jury in 2006 awarded Mayes $9 million after it concluded that city police violated his civil rights in 1982 by withholding information from his defense team before sending him to prison for 19 years for a violent rape that high-tech DNA evidence proves he did not commit.
Townships
FIRE DEPARTMENTS TEAM UP: At a recent session at South Central school, volunteer firefighters from Noble and Hanna townships practiced a mutual aid alliance between the two departments (Michigan City News-Dispatch). Wallace said the cooperation allows both departments to handle emergencies in a more timely response. "At any given time, we can arrive quicker," Wallace said. "We can also have a plan of attack," said Capt. Steve Koontz, president of Hanna Township Fire Department. Wirtes introduced new assets to one of his fire trucks that will allow fires to be handled in a more efficient manner. The department received a $4,000 grant from the Indiana Department of Homeland Security to install a new generator and several large lights on a truck. The lights will allow the department to brighten a greater area for larger fires. Although both townships have cooperated for years, a recently passed law mandates cooperation between the two departments. The new Mutual Aid Box Alarm System, or MABAS, will now sound alarms for both fire departments when a fire breaks out in either township.
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