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AUTO BAILOUT DRAMA BUILDS: Hardline opponents of an auto industry bailout branded the industry a “dinosaur” whose “day of reckoning” is near, while Democrats pledged today to do their best to get Detroit a slice of the $700 billion Wall Street rescue in this week’s lame-duck session of Congress (Associated Press). 
The companies are seeking $25 billion from the financial industry bailout for emergency loans, though supporters of the aid for General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC have offered to reduce the size of the rescue to win backing in Congress. Senate Democrats intended to introduce legislation Monday attaching an auto bailout to a House-passed bill extending unemployment benefits; a vote was expected as early as Wednesday. A White House alternative would let the car companies take $25 billion in loans previously approved to develop fuel-efficient vehicles and use the money for more immediate needs. Congressional Democrats oppose the White House plan as shortsighted. Majority Democrats will need at least a dozen GOP votes in the Senate to prevent opponents from blocking their measure — assuming all Senate Democrats support it. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky questioned whether there was sufficient Democratic support for an auto bailout in a statement released today. “The silence from the Democrat rank and file on this matter has been deafening,” McConnell said. So far two Republicans publicly have voiced support for the idea. Several others, included Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman on Sunday, have indicated they might accept a rescue under strict conditions. Sens. Richard Shelby of Alabama and Jon Kyl of Arizona said it would be a mistake to use any of the Wall Street rescue money to prop up the automakers because a bailout would only postpone the industry’s demise. “Companies fail everyday and others take their place. I think this is a road we should not go down,” said Shelby, the senior Republican on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. “They’re not building the right products,” he said. “They’ve got good workers but I don’t believe they’ve got good management. They don’t innovate. They’re a dinosaur in a sense.” Added Kyl, the Senate’s second-ranking Republican: “Just giving them $25 billion doesn’t change anything. It just puts off for six months or so the day of reckoning.”
61,000 HOOSIERS IN AUTO INDUSTRY: The auto industry — including domestic and foreign makers and parts suppliers — directly employs about 61,100 Hoosiers, according to the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers (Indianapolis Star).
NEW BUSH POSITION: The Bush White House stressed today that it supports help for the struggling auto industry, but believes it should not be taken from the $700 billion financial system rescue program (Associated Press). As lawmakers were returning to a lame duck session to focus on the troubled industry, President Bush’s chief spokeswoman issued a statement saying the administration “does not want U.S. automakers to fail.” She complained that reporting on the White House’s on this issue has involved “attempts to shorthand the administration’s position.” Perino’s early morning statement also made clear, however, that the administration steadfastly opposes drawing funds from the bailout plan to help Detroit. She said the $25 million that Democrats favor taking from the rescue plan should come, instead, from a Department of Energy program previously approved to develop fuel-efficient vehicles.
OBAMA SEEKS ‘BRIDGE LOAN TO SOMEWHERE’: President-Elect Obama said he believes aid is needed but that it should be provided as part of a long-term plan for a “sustainable U.S. auto industry” — not simply as a blank check (Associated Press). “For the auto industry to completely collapse would be a disaster in this kind of environment,” Obama said in a “60 Minutes” interview airing tonight on CBS. “So my hope is that over the course of the next week, between the White House and Congress, the discussions are shaped around providing assistance but making sure that that assistance is conditioned on labor, management, suppliers, lenders, all of the stakeholders coming together with a plan — what does a sustainable U.S. auto industry look like? We want a bridge loan to somewhere as opposed to a bridge loan to nowhere.”
GETTELFINGER COMMENTS: United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger would not flat-out reject further concessions by members on top of the two-tiered wage system and other concessions the union gave the automakers last year, but he bristled at calls for further sacrifices by his members (Associated Press). “Let’s go to AIG, Bear Stearns, active and retired workers: Did anybody go in and ask them to give back wages and benefit levels?” Gettelfinger said on WDIV-TV in Detroit. “What about the bond traders? Did anybody ask them? What about the cleaners in the building? Why would the UAW be any different? We made an agreement, and we made major concessions. So how can you blame the autoworkers?”
LUGAR, BAYH COMMENT: Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana helped write the government loan program that kept Chrysler Corp. alive 30 years ago (Gannett News Service). But the Republican remains uncommitted on a possible $25 billion emergency-aid package for domestic automakers. Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., supports trying to stabilize the industry, though he says Congress must insist on structural reforms. As prospects for immediate help for the auto industry fade in Washington, the split between Indiana’s senators reflects the lack of unified support for a rescue plan. Automakers and some lawmakers targeted the financial industry money as the fastest option. “Clearly, that would be the quickest way to go about it. Speed is of the essence here,” Bayh said. “But, again, I think it’s got to be a compromise: short-term help but an insistence on long-term structural reform so the system can be self-supporting.” Lugar’s spokesman said the senator “will review the bill text when it comes out … and analyze what is being proposed.” Spokesman Andy Fisher said the Senate used a “deliberative process” in 1979 when Lugar helped write the $1.2 billion loan guarantee program that saved Chrysler. Fisher said that legislation protected taxpayers, included cooperation from states like Indiana that had thousands of Chrysler employees, and included concessions from Chrysler, its dealers and the United Auto Workers. “I don’t think having those major companies go bankrupt and their hundreds of thousands of employees and retirees being stranded is going to do anything but hurt the economy at this fragile time,” Bayh said. “What we need to focus on are those things that would actually help the economy. If we could stabilize the auto industry, that would be a major step in the right direction.”
POLL SHOWS BAILOUT FAVORED SLIGHTLY: A slight majority of Americans believe the government should give loans to American automakers, according to a poll released Friday. The poll was paid for by GM, but pollster Peter Hart said the company had no input in the design or interpretation of the survey (Gannett News Service). Fifty-five percent of those surveyed said the government “should provide loans to America’s automakers so they have the money to manufacture vehicles” and 60 percent said they believe the car companies will face bankruptcy without the loans.
FOREIGN MAKERS COULD BE BUFFER: The failure of one or more of Detroit’s Big Three automakers would put a huge initial dent in American manufacturing, but in time foreign car companies would pick up the slack by stepping up production in their plants here, many industry experts and economists say (New York Times). many industry experts say the big foreign makers are established enough to take control of the industry and its vast supplier network more quickly than is widely understood. “You would have an auto industry in the United States more like that of Mexico and Canada: foreign-owned,” said Sean McAlinden, chief economist at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich., which describes itself as a nonprofit organization that has “strong relationships with industry, government agencies, universities, research institutes, labor organizations” and other groups with an interest in the auto business. The transition to that new equilibrium would surely be painful. The big American companies employ about 240,000 workers, and their suppliers an additional 2.3 million, amounting to nearly 2 percent of the nation’s work force. “The transplants, deprived of enough suppliers, would have to rely on imported vehicles while they scramble to reorganize the supply system,” Mr. McAlinden said, speaking of the foreign companies with manufacturing plants in the United States. “That would take them about a year.” Given Chrysler’s weakness, the new kings of the auto industry would presumably be Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Volkswagen, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Hyundai-Kia. (Volkswagen has not yet opened a plant in the United States, and BMW and Hyundai each have one plant.) Like the Big Three, they would together dominate manufacturing in the United States, becoming big customers for steel, aluminum, plastics, glass, machine tools, computer chips and rubber.
SUPPLIER PERCENTAGES: The American automakers, of course, have bought more and more parts from overseas. But 85 percent of their products are made in North America, compared with 60 percent for the foreign-owned automakers, said Dan Luria, research director at the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center (New York Times). Vehicles built entirely abroad drive down the percentage at the foreign-owned automakers. The popular Toyota Prius, for example, is not yet manufactured in the United States. That will come soon, Toyota says. But given worldwide demand for the car, Toyota achieves economies of scale by centering production in Japan rather than using multiple sites.
RIVALS COULD ASSUME SOME OPERATIONS: Rather than collapse outright, a carmaker could file for bankruptcy protection. If it obtained financing, the company could then continue operating and slim down to a more manageable size, with cuts occurring over a period of months or years. But some of its operations could be taken over by another automaker or it could even be forced to liquidate (New York Times). “If the Big Three go down, a bunch of the suppliers go down, and the transplants share a number of the suppliers,” said Alan Reuther, director of the United Automobile Workers’ Washington office — trying in effect to enlist the foreign-owned makers in the effort to save the Big Three. So far those manufacturers have stayed on the sidelines, avoiding any suggestion that they would like to see any of the American automakers disappear. “Toyota strongly believes that a strong market with vigorous competition is in everyone’s interest,” said Tina Ewald, a Toyota spokeswoman.
HONDA EXPANSION TO BE SLOW: Today, Honda President Takeo Fukui is scheduled to preside over the dedication of Honda Manufacturing of Indiana LLC, the half-mile-long plant that began making cars last month in Greensburg (Indianapolis Star). But now, no one thinks the $550 million plant is in line for a quick expansion. Sales of new autos of all makes have dropped 14.6 percent this year through October. Forecasters say next year could be worse. “Things have changed considerably since the announcement of this plant was made in 2006,” Honda spokesman Andrew Stoner said. Honda Greensburg, set up to assemble 200,000 compact Civic sedans a year, has some built-in shock absorbers to help it weather lean times.
Presidential
ROEMER ON HOMELAND SECURITY SHORTLIST: Department of Homeland Security secretary choices include former Rep. Timothy J. Roemer, Indiana Democrat and member of the 9/11 Commission; New York City Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly; James Lee Witt, former Federal Emergency Management Agency director; and Richard A. Clarke, the former Clinton White House counterterrorism coordinator. Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton also is a candidate for the DHS post (Gertz File).
REV. WRIGHTS SPEAKS OF DEMONS AT GARY: The Rev. Jeremiah Wright didn’t shy Sunday from his role as a lightning rod in the presidential election (Post-Tribune). Though he said “haters” tried to use him to derail President-elect Barack Obama’s successful campaign, Obama’s former pastor urged parishioners at Gary’s Trinity United Church of Christ to concentrate their anger on the ills plaguing America. “You ought to be angry when this nation has money for bombs in Baghdad but none for houses in New Orleans,” Wright told a capacity crowd at the dedication service for Trinity’s new church on 20th Avenue. During an animated, often playful 45-minute sermon in one of his first public appearances since Election Day, Wright talked of Jesus’ decades-long fight against demons. But it was clear from the outset he had some modern day demons in mind as well. “Those are demons y’all — I’ve seen some on CNN,” he said to applause. To Wright, “journalists-come-lately” missed the point by repeatedly playing the same short video clips without making an effort to find out what he was talking about. It was a sentiment echoed by parishioners after the service. “(Wright) hasn’t wavered in his message,” said Josie Mayfield King of Gary. “It has always been about hope, and he was 100 percent taken out of context during the campaign.” But Wright, who retired from Trinity in Chicago before the furor over his comments, said he has outdistanced his detractors. “Hannity, Colmes and O’Reilly say I was trying to hurt Barack, when I was helping him,” Wright said, referring to cable news personalities. “Twenty years ago, when y’all couldn’t even pronounce his name, I was serving him.”
Indiana Governor
DANIELS REJECTS PRESIDENTIAL TALK: Post-election chatter that Gov. Mitch Daniels could lead the national party back to the White House in 2012 hasn’t changed Daniels’ stance that governor is the only position he’s interested in (Indianapolis Star). “How many ways are there to say no?” Daniels asked reporters this past week while in Washington to accept an award from Governing magazine for his achievements as governor. “We’ve just been hired for a job we’re very serious about. We have a lot left to do. That will have our full attention.” But in addition to ruling out a future bid for himself, Daniels also says it’s not his place to tell the party what it needs to do to be victorious again. “We’re committed to making our 2.2 percent of America as good as it can be,” Daniels said. “If there’s lessons in something we do that can be applied elsewhere, that’s great. But that’s not our assignment.”
Congress
SEN. INHOFE CALLS BAILOUT ‘OUTRAGEOUS’: U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe said Saturday that Congress was not told the truth about the bailout of the nation’s financial system and should take back what is left of the $700 billion “blank check” it gave the Bush administration (Tulsa World) “It is just outrageous that the American people don’t know that Congress doesn’t know how much money he (Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson) has given away to anyone,” the Oklahoma Republican told the Tulsa World. “It could be to his friends. It could be to anybody else. We don’t know. There is no way of knowing.” Inhofe’s comments, unusually pointed even for a senator known for being blunt, come on the heels of Paulson’s shift in how he thinks the bailout funds should be spent. Last week the Treasury secretary announced he was abandoning his plan to free up the nation’s credit system by buying up toxic assets from troubled financial institutions. Instead, Paulson wants to take a more direct action on the consumer credit front. “He was able to get this authority from Congress predicated on what he was going to do, and then he didn’t do it,” Inhofe said. “So, that’s enough reason right there.”
BAYH DOESN’T WANT TO PUNISH LIEBERMAN: Sen. Evan Bayh thinks Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman should apologize for his attacks on President-elect Barack Obama during the presidential campaign but should keep his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (Indianapolis Star). “We ought to maximize our chances of getting good things done for the American people rather than focus on score settling,” Bayh told reporters last week. Lieberman, an independent, left the Democratic Party in 2006 but still caucuses with the Democrats. But after campaigning hard for Republican John McCain, Lieberman has been in discussions with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., about his future role. Many Democrats would like to take away Lieberman’s chairmanship but also recognize they’ll need every vote they can get to pass Obama’s agenda. Bayh said Lieberman’s gavel can always be taken away in the future if he “behaves in ways that are hostile to the administration.” “Why not try reconciliation first and see if that can be made to work in a positive way?” Bayh asked. “We can always resort to revenge later.”
Indiana General Assembly
FORT WAYNE CASINO UNLIKELY: “Pssstt. Have you heard Fort Wayne is going to become a casino town?” Or so go the persistent rumors and gossip for the past year. The subject comes up at cocktail parties and City Council meetings (Fort Wayne Journal Gazette). Local blogs and newspapers have polled on the possibility, with slight majorities against the idea. Some people have even picked a spot for the fictitious casino – the north river development site along the St. Marys River. But legislatively, the likelihood is slim, especially with no coalition of local officials, businesses and citizens actively or publicly pushing the idea. The last casino approved by the General Assembly was in French Lick, and legislators did so through an existing but unused license rather than creating a new one. And dozens of supporters in orange shirts came to the legislature every day for a decade before they succeeded. Then there are the competitive factors as casinos around the state are making less money. Any shuffling of the 11 licenses could negatively affect the entire landscape. “I would be utterly amazed if (a Fort Wayne casino) ever happened,” said Rep. Trent Van Haaften, D-Mount Vernon, chairman of the House Public Policy Committee where all gambling legislation is heard. “We have done quite a bit in regards to gaming in the past two years, and I am of the belief that it is time to let it settle; let those companies do business in the places they are at currently.”
LONG SAYS CASINO MOVE WILL STALL IN SENATE: Senate President David Long, R-Fort Wayne, has made it clear that legislation to move an existing casino license will stall in the Senate unless legislators and city officials from the Gary area come up with a relocation agreement that pleases all sides (Fort Wayne Journal Gazette). “There is currently not a license available. That could change, and if that does, that’s why there is some behind-the-scenes maneuvering,” Long said.
SOUTHERN CASINOS TRANSFORMING INDUSTRY: A decade ago, a Las Vegas-owned company gambled $300 million that an Indiana casino would hit the jackpot along the Ohio River downstream from Louisville (Louisville Courier-Journal). Now, as the former Caesars riverboat — now called Horseshoe — marks its 10th anniversary tomorrow, state regulators, gambling executives, industry analysts and local political leaders overwhelmingly agree the bet paid off, despite a recent downturn linked to the ailing U.S. economy. Harrah’s Entertainment, has steadily built a massive entertainment, dining and hotel complex around its 5,000-passenger floating casino. It has generated more than $740 million in state gaming and admissions taxes, of which $215 million went to Harrison County. The county also has received another $100 million from the casino in profit-sharing. “It’s been amazing what’s happened. It’s been quite a ride,” said Terry Miller, a Harrison County commissioner and an early casino supporter. Beyond transforming the mostly rural county, the boat’s arrival also launched what Churchill Downs executives describe in retrospect as a “sea change” in the competitive landscape for gambling locally. “That facility and others like it in Southern Indiana put significant pressure on Churchill Downs and the entire horse-racing industry in the state of Kentucky,” said John Asher, vice president for racing communications at the Louisville racetrack. “They were the first salvo.” Horseshoe — along with a flotilla of other Ohio River casinos — is credited with forcing Kentucky officials to sharpen their push for expanded gambling and helping accelerate Churchill Downs’ own $121 million transformation.
AUTHOR SAYS HOOSIERS DON’T GET IT: Richard Longworth has been invited all over the Midwest to speak about the decline of industry and the impact of globalization on this region, but he’s gotten just one invite to discuss such matters in Indiana (South Bend Tribune). Longworth, author of the book “Caught in the Middle: America’s Heartland in the Age of Globalization,” spoke recently to the Indianapolis Committee on Foreign Relations. Why don’t Hoosiers seem to be interested in discussing these important issues? Longworth has a theory. “There is a feeling here that good enough is good enough. Things keep slowly going down and down, but there’s still food on the table. It’s a slow motion catastrophe,” said Longworth, who was in South Bend on Friday. He serves on an advisory committee for Notre Dame Law School’s International Human Rights Law Institute. There’s a great deal of denial in the Midwest, including in Indiana, he said. Longworth has praise for Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels for his willingness to seek new means of financing public projects, such as the lease of the Indiana Toll Road to a foreign conglomerate in order to raise money for needed public projects. “The old means of financing have to be rethought and I think Daniels understands this. I think this means looking globally,” said Longworth, a former Chicago Tribune reporter. To succeed in the future, Midwesterners increasingly will have to look to the Chinese and other foreign sources to finance ventures here, he said. And that might mean some Chinese companies establish businesses here, he said. “Yes, it’s going to change things, but things are already changing,” Longworth said. Communities that settle for good enough and won’t take chances on new ideas are not where venture capitalists want to gamble their money, Longworth said. “It’s a real handicap for a place like Indiana,” he said. The Midwest is far beyond the era when adjacent towns and cities could afford to compete among themselves to attract a new factory, he said. If a new employer brings jobs, the whole region benefits, he said. The Midwest needs to work as a comprehensive economic region to attract new jobs and ideas, he said. Longworth sees some signs that attitudes are starting to change. An Ohio man is working to establish a venture capital fund to serve the entire Midwest. A Global Midwest Initiative recently was created as a way to share ideas and encourage discussion about such topics. “This isn’t a little downturn,” Longworth said of the decline of 20th century industry. “Those jobs aren’t coming back.”
Townships
BIG PAY RAISES IN WASHINGTON TWP: I’ve had quite a few e-mails and calls about when the Washington Township Board meets (Abdul in the Morning, WXNT). The Board meets this Thursday at 6:15 p.m. at the Trustee’s Office at 1595 E. 86th Street to vote on its budget. That budget includes a nice big pay raise. The raise would take the part-time advisory board’s salary from $2,200 to $3,800 annually. And remember, the township doesn’t have a fire department to manage anymore. So there’s nothing like a near 70-percent raise when you have 80-percent less work to supervise.
Iraq War
HOOSIERS RETURNING FROM IRAQ: About 130 members of the Indiana National Guard’s 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team are scheduled to return to Indianapolis tonight (Indianapolis Star). The soldiers, on duty in Iraq for the past nine months, are the third group of more than 3,000 Guard personnel scheduled to return during the next three weeks, according to a news release. After their arrival at Indianapolis International Airport, members from Battery B, 1st Battalion, 163rd Field Artillery, based in Evansville, and Headquarters Company for the 76th brigade will reunite with family and friends about 9:30 p.m. in Building 9 at Stout Field, 2002 S. Holt Road. The 163rd Field Artillery conducted about 75 combat logistics patrols in northern Iraq and escorted about 2,500 supply vehicles across 5,600 miles, and the Headquarters Company commanded the 76th during its deployment, the release said.
State
SURVEYORS TO RE-ESTABLISH INDIANA/MICHIGAN LINE: It has been 25 years since Ruby and Richard Evans moved from the Hoosier State to southwestern Michigan, but the retired couple could one day find themselves back home in Indiana without having left their current house (South Bend Tribune). For several years, land surveyors searched the 104-mile-long border between Michigan and Indiana for the wooden mileposts that were installed when the state line originally was staked out in 1827. Although a few markers were found, nearly all had rotted away long ago, blurring the exact location of the border that stretches from southern Lake Michigan to Ohio’s northwestern corner. Surveyors from both states have started talking to lawmakers about the need to install new, permanent markers and re-establish the border. Once that happens, property that for years was believed to lie in one state could turn out to be in another, creating quandaries regarding property and income taxes, police jurisdictions, school districts and numerous other matters. “The biggest thing for me would be the taxes,” said Ruby Evans, 60, who lives on the north side of State Line Road in Berrien County’s Niles Township. Her neighbors across the street live in the city of South Bend, Ind. When the state line is re-established, it could end up moving north or south up to a few hundred feet, affecting property owners like the Evanses, said John McNamara, the county surveyor for St. Joseph County, Ind. “Some people who think they now live in Indiana will end up in Michigan and some people in Michigan will end up in Indiana, and vice versa,” he said, adding that some areas won’t see any changes.
FOOD PANTRIES BARE: For a good indication of families’ financial woes, check out their kitchen pantries (Muncie Star Press). “If you talk to anybody that runs a food pantry, they will tell you that the demand this year has almost doubled, if not more, than this time last year,” says Major Douglas Rick of The Salvation Army of Delaware County. “A lot of people were just making it last year, just getting by. This year, if they didn’t come into the food pantry, they wouldn’t be making it at all.” On a statewide level, 28 percent of Indiana’s working families, or more than one in four, earned less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level, according to the most recent Working Poor Families Project report, released in late October. That threshold was $41,228 in 2006. That number of families was an increase of 2 percent, or 17,000 families, from a 2004 study.
CRACKING DOWN ON INTERNET PROSTITUION: Last October, Lake Station police said they arrested a woman, clad in black silk pajamas, after witnessing her offer an undercover officer 30 minutes of sex for $45 (Times of Northwest Indiana). The Lake Station woman represents a national trend — people allegedly plying the sex trade through online classified sites such as Craigslist, which also offer everything from concert tickets to collectible Barack Obama election newspapers. To date, however, the Lake Station woman faces no criminal charges in connection with the case, and police and attorneys in the case did not respond to repeated inquiries from The Times seeking comment on the matter. A year later, ads in Craigslist’s Northwest Indiana “erotic services” section have spiked while law enforcement officials in Indiana, Illinois and other states try to protect against similar incidents. In an agreement with attorneys general from more than 40 states, Craigslist is attempting to crack down on ads that could be used for prostitution, human trafficking and child exploitation. The company now requires a person posting an erotic services ad to provide a working phone number and charges a $5 fee for erotic services posts, the proceeds of which will go to charity. If subpoenaed, Craigslist will provide poster credit card and telephone information to law enforcement. Brent Embry, of the Indiana attorney general’s consumer protection division, called the multistate agreement “good policy.” “I think it’s a good example of working with industry to create good solutions,” Embry said. “Responsible companies should have the opportunity to collaborate with law enforcement.”
DOWNTURN FOR ETHANOL: Bankruptcy. Red ink. Painful shakeout. Those terms, normally associated with old-line manufacturing, now are popping up to describe what was seen just three years ago as a sure bet for Indiana: high-tech ethanol plants. Ethanol producers across the Midwest are being squeezed by falling prices, tight credit, overbuilding and the volatile market for corn, a major raw ingredient for the fuel. As a result, many have seen their profits shrink and their stock prices fall. Several have slid into bankruptcy and have scrapped deals and projects (Indianapolis Star). The latest setback came Friday, when Aventine Renewable Energy Holdings, struggling to conserve cash, said it would slow construction of a plant in Mount Vernon, Ind., near the Ohio River, and delay the opening for about nine months. The plant, designed to produce 220 million gallons of ethanol a year, had been scheduled to open early next year. “The margins in the ethanol business today are not very good. They are near break-even,” said company spokesman Les Nelson. The abrupt reversal raises the question of whether the ethanol industry, once seen as a major force in Indiana’s agricultural economy, is just going through a temporary market slump or embarking on a severe downturn.
Cities
MANY ‘WHAT IFS’ IN TERRE HAUTE: The possibility of a special Terre Haute mayoral election is raising many questions about how it would be conducted and how party nominees would be chosen (Terre Haute Tribune-Star). “A bomb went off [Thursday] morning,” said Pat Mansard, Vigo County clerk. She was referring to an Indiana Court of Appeals decision that throws out the 2007 mayoral election and calls for a special election. In the 2-1 decision, the court ruled that winner Duke Bennett was ineligible to take the office he won when he defeated incumbent Kevin Burke. The court majority also concluded that Burke could not win an election in which voters were not fully informed of Bennett’s ineligibility. As far as a special election, “There are a lot more questions than answers,” Mansard said. “We’re going to have to wait until we get direction from the courts … We’re plowing new ground here.” On Friday, Mansard and other members of the County Election Board still were working on the recent general election and certifying results. Bennett has said he plans to appeal the latest court ruling to the Indiana Supreme Court, which could overturn the Appeals Court decision. Mansard suggests the legal process must play out before specific special election procedures are known. “We don’t know if it’s going to unfold pretty rapidly or if it’s going to take more time,” she said. She and others appear to agree on one point, that it’s likely the nominees for the election would be chosen through a caucus of eligible precinct committeemen and women. Calls to the Indiana Election Division were referred to Jim Gavin, communications director with the Secretary of State’s office. “The Election Division is reviewing the ruling and will be prepared to assist local election officials in conducting a special election, if that’s ultimately what transpires,” Gavin said. He had no further comment related to special election procedures. Bill Treadway, Vigo County Republican chairman, said the Appeals Court decision is unprecedented in Indiana. “This is kind of a first,” Treadway said. “In the state of Indiana, we’ve never had a sitting elected official removed after an election based on a Hatch Act violation.”
JEFFERSONVILLE CUTS COMING: The Jeffersonville City Council is expected to vote on approximately $382,000 in cuts needed in order to make ends meet for it’s 2008 budget Monday (News & Tribune). About $155,500 of those cuts will come from the general fund budget, which is financed by property tax revenue. Cuts are also expected to be made out of the city’s motor vehicle and parks funds. The cuts are needed because the budget and tax levy approved by the state came in far lower than what the city had approved, according to Councilman Nathan Samuel, a member of the council’s Budget and Finance Committee. The state’s budget order was delayed and only arrived in October — 10 months into the year for which the council was budgeting. The cuts were made to appropriations that still had quite a bit of money left in them and hadn’t been heavily used through the first 10 months of the year, Samuel said. “This should get us awfully close to a balanced budget,” said Councilman Ron Grooms, chairman of that committee.
CUTS COMING TO SCHERERVILLE: Layoffs and a freeze on hiring summer help are potential ways Schererville could bring its proposed 2009 estimated budget in line with anticipated revenue, town officials said (Times of Northwest Indiana). It depends on how the numbers shake out, Town Manager Bob Volkmann said. The economic downturn is forcing Schererville to make $1.5 million in reductions to balance its general fund budget. Clerk-Treasurer Janice Malinowski said last week that she and Volkmann are going to review every department and make needed spending reductions. During a budget discussion at a recent study session, Councilmen Rob Guetzloff and Perry Ferrini said they didn’t think the Town Council should get a raise, although they supported a raise for staff. Guetzloff said employees should at least get a 2 percent to 3 percent raise to cover cost-of-living increases. A 2007 vote gave Schererville councilmen a raise for 2008. Each earned $9,669.75 for work on the Town Council and an additional $11,694.92 for serving on the utility board. President of the council and board each earned a little more.
HOBART SEEKS PLANNER: A replacement for City Planner Sergio Mendoza won’t likely be hired until sometime after the first of the year, Clerk-Treasurer Deborah Longer said Wednesday (Times of Northwest Indiana). The city already is advertising for Mendoza’s replacement through both regional, state and national publications, she said. Mendoza, 34, has accepted a position with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources as a resource planner for Lake Michigan coastal communities. His last day as Hobart’s city planner is Friday. Mendoza has served as city planner for close to five years. Advertisements for Mendoza’s replacement have been placed through the American Planning Association, the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns and a regional publication that includes most of the Midwest states, Longer said.
Counties
TAX BILLS DOWN 28% IN TIPPECANOE: An analysis of Tippecanoe County’s 2008 tax bills show the average homeowner’s bill dropped by about 28 percent (Lafayette Journal & Courier). In some areas of the county the percentage of tax decrease was even greater. For example, bills on median-valued homes in the Otterbein area of Tippecanoe County dropped by 52.6 percent. In the two areas of Tippecanoe County with the most homes — the unincorporated county area served by Tippecanoe County School Corp. and parts of Lafayette served by Lafayette School Corp. — tax bills dropped on average 24.9 percent and 27.3 percent, respectively.
ST. JOE JAIL PEPPERBALL ALLEGATION: Several inmates of the St. Joseph County Jail say they were injured and their rights violated after at least two incidents in which jail workers suddenly fired upon them with pepperball-filled guns (South Bend Tribune). Five inmates in the jail’s “B pod” told The Tribune they were kicked and shot at with pepperballs by guards Oct. 8 after the warden called inmates out of their cells. Another inmate reported a similar incident Sept. 29 in another part of the jail, the “J pod.” Sheriff Frank Canarecci referred The Tribune to A. Howard Williams, attorney for the St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department. A pepperball gun in a jail setting “is not used except in extraordinary circumstances, usually to gain control when there is noncompliance by one or more inmates,” Williams said.
WARRICK OFFICES OPEN: Who will take Republican Phil Baxter’s seat on the Warrick County Commissioners? And who will assume Democrat Tim Mosbey’s spot on the Warrick County Council? Those are two unanswered questions in the wake of Election Day. Baxter was elected county surveyor on Nov. 4, and Mosbey made a successful bid for election to the County Commissioners (Evansville Courier & Press). Who will be selected to their soon-to-be-vacant posts remains a mystery, but leaders of the two political parties will have to make decisions soon. It’s something they’ve done before. Both parties have had to fill seats through a caucus process within the last two years. In May 2006, Democrats selected Gerald Bass to fill the vacant seat on the Warrick County Council left by the late Raymond Bracher. In May 2007, Republicans chose Nova Conner to fill the seat left by her late husband, Carl. Neither Warrick County party chairman would name interested parties, but both said decisions are forthcoming.
LONE REPUBLICAN ON PORTER COUNCIL: Starting January, Karen Conover won’t have fellow Republican colleagues to lean on in times votes split along party lines (Post-Tribune). She’ll be the lone Republican on the Porter County Council, outnumbered by the other six Democrats. The Nov. 4 election secured incumbent Dan Whitten for another term and at-large seats for Democratic candidates Laura Shurr Blaney and Sylvia Graham. Mike Bucko, Rita Stevenson and Bob Poparad make up the rest of the Democrat-dominated council. But the party minority status doesn’t mean much to the councilwoman. Next year will continue to be “business as usual.” “I will always vote what I think is best for the government I serve,” said Conover, who represents the Center District. “I’m not going to change how I think and feel.” At the same time, she’ll “miss terribly Jim Burge and Bill Carmichael.”
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