Indiana Blog Review

The Courthouse's Take

Scott Fluhr walks us through the convoluted gambling revenue sharing among southern Indiana counties and the latest developments therein.

Committee Chairmen

Doug Masson lists the new chairmen in the State House of Representatives and comments:

I was pleased to see that Representative Crooks is the Chairman of the House Commerce Committee, a committee on which I served as staff counsel about 10 years ago. I think Rep. Crooks was a fairly junior member at that point. I see that Kreg Battles, who defeated Troy “I’ll Never Vote For It” Woodruff, has been appointed as co-chair. I was also pleased to see that Representative Dvorak is the chair of the Environmental Affairs committee.

Jim Shella points out:

If you're wondering where Pat Bauer gets the support he needs to continue as the leader of Democrats in the Indiana House of Representatives, and you understand that leadership positions are the way you reward supporters in politics, then take a close look at the list of committee chairs released yesterday.  Bauer's core support is in the Black Caucus.

African Americans hold 6 committee chairmanships . . .

The number of African Americans with no leadership post:  zero.

But Advance Indiana isn't happy with the new Ways & Means Committee Chairman:

If Bauer cares anything about ethics, he needs to clear the air immediately concerning Crawford's ties to Shrewsberry & Associates, a local MBE/DBE consulting firm founded by William Shrewsberry, a former deputy mayor under Mayor Bart Peterson (D).

Senate Jockeying

Frugal Hoosiers:

One interesting story that came out of last week and received little attention was the attempted shake up of the Senate Democrat Caucus.  Senator Vi Simpson attempted to take control of the caucus by running for minority leader, a position that has been occupied by Sen. Richard Young for years. This move presumably was a first step toward a Vi Simpson run for Governor, putting her a position of leadership and giving her a platform of relevancy for two years.

Legislative Pay

Chris Douglas:

Never has a  topic been thrown about with so much heat and so little light as legislative pay and benefits.  If we don't begin to pay our elected officials seriously, we're going to get the worst form of public servant.  In many  cases, we already have it.

Marcia Oddi:

Could this be a coincidence? So far I've read three stories today, from different parts of the state, all making a point that Indiana legislators are poorly paid.

She also finds more on the topic.

Advance Indiana:

It seems to me that Indiana's current compensation system is not at all transparent. Per diem pay is being systematically used and abused to boost legislative pay . . .

The current system is also quite generous to lawmakers who hold jobs where employers do not penalize them for time spent away tending to legislative business . . .

. . . if Indiana legislators think they are undercompensated, they should begin by devising a more straight-forward system of pay than the current system, which by design makes their pay appear much less than what it actually is. Indiana should also consider whether it wants full-time or part-time legislators.

Leo Morris:

But unless we're going to make it enough for a full-time job, the General Assembly will continue to draw the same kind of people it now does -- i.e., people who can take off from their normal jobs a few months a year -- and continue to not attract the "middle class."

FSSA Privatization

Advance Indiana: "The $1 billion privatization agreement is being done for all the wrong reasons."

MORE: AI continues:

The Star's Tim Evans describes Governor Daniels' $1.16 billion decision to privatize Indiana's welfare system as "bold", but I can think of several, more apt descriptions. "Ill-advised", "reckless" and "rushed" are all better adjectives in my mind.

And Doug Masson says the recent snag "highlights one of the problems with privatization — lack of transparency and lack of accountability."

Absentee Democracy

William R Groth at the American Values Alliance discusses how Indiana's new voter ID law leads to more great disenfranchisement via absentee ballots.

O-Day

Abdul reports from the General Assembly's Organization Day.

Transparency Or Muddying the Waters?

Doug Masson says Gov. Daniels has plenty to worry about if the legislature gets involved with the FSSA privatization contract.

The (Other) Good Effect

Fort Wayne Observed points out a benefit of Indiana's voter ID law:

Thousands of Hoosier voters will have their voter registration address records changed to reflect their proper voting address.  This will ensure much more accuracy in 2008 in ensuring voters are properly represented in elections for legislative seats and possible congressional seats.  It will mean that voters are properly allocated in the correct city council districts.

Voter ID Wars

credo gives her take on Indiana's Voter ID lawsuit.

Abdul links to the audio of the appeals argument.