A Citizen's Guide to Indiana

Masson's Blog

PROBING Indiana’s Privates

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A gratuitously juvenile title for what will be a minimal post. I haven’t been able to attend to my blogging duties with much diligence lately, but one of the things I know I want to take a look at is the PROBE report. TDW has been good enough to post the entire report here. It is a study intended to assist in improving the efficiency of Indiana government and help cut out the deadwood. Apparently privatization figures prominently.

The big trick with privatization is ensuring transparency and accountability. I think you always have to watch for sleight of hand from folks who don’t think much of our ability to govern ourselves generally. And by this, I’m referring to those folks –often folks in public office, ironically — who constantly bewail the ability of government to do anything right. I think that, among those who think this way, there is an inclination to use privatization as a step along the road to eliminating the service entirely. And, let’s not forget the potential to mine the public infrastructure for private profit. If not for one’s self, for one’s friends and well-wishers. What a deal, right? Gut a public service you didn’t really like in the first place, generate profit for folks you like, and get a reputation for thinking outside the box and being a fiscal conservative. But, maybe I’m just burning down a straw man here. Perhaps such people don’t exist.

Sutton picks up 2 votes in White County

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The recount in the Lehe/Sutton race for the Indiana House of Representatives is still underway. Unofficial recount numbers have Sutton gaining 2 votes on Lehe in White County. Prior to the recount, Lehe lead Sutton by 27 votes.

White County constitutes about 22% of the total vote for the district. The other counties are Newton, Benton, and Lake. Lake County constitutes somewhere around 40% of the district’s votes.

December 7th: Still living in infamy

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This is the 65th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese Imperial Navy. Wikipedia has a pretty good entry.

The Imperial Japanese Navy made its attack on Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941. The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii, was aimed at the Pacific Fleet of the United States Navy and its defending Army Air Corps and Marine air forces. The attack damaged or destroyed twelve U.S. warships, destroyed 188 aircraft, and killed 2,403 American servicemen and 68 civilians. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto planned the raid as the start of the Pacific Campaign of World War II, and it was commanded by Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, who lost 64 servicemen. However, the Pacific Fleet’s three aircraft carriers were not in port and so were undamaged, as were oil tank farms and machine shops. Using these resources the United States was able to rebound within six months to a year. The U.S. public saw the attack as a treacherous act and rallied strongly against the Japanese Empire, resulting in its later defeat.

When you think about it, it’s pretty remarkable that it took us only 1,347 days from being sucker punched on 12/7/1941 to having defeated the combined might of the Axis powers by VJ Day – August 15, 1945; a span of 3 years, 8 months, and 8 days.

Indiana Governors

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This is pretty cool: A list of Indiana Governors with dates of service and links to a portrait and a brief biography. For example, we have Henry Lane of Crawfordsville who served two days as Governor. Seems he had a deal with Oliver Morton, (a lawyer, Wayne County native, and Miami University alum — hmm, sounds like somebody I know) the other main Indiana Republican leader. Back in those days, the state legislature elected the state’s members to the United States Congress. Senate. Morton was originally a Democrat, so Lane was more palatable to the conservative old-line Whigs. So, Morton and Lane agreed that Lane would run for Governor and Morton as Lt. Governor. If they were elected and the Republicans gained control of the legislature, Lane would be elected to the U.S. Senate, Lane would then resign the Governorship, and Morton would succeed him. And that’s what happened.

Carpenter: FSSA Privatization comes down to faith

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Dan Carpenter has a good column on the subject of welfare privatization entitled Show ’em it’s not the money.

Can the profit model enshrined by Gov. Mitch Daniels work for the most sensitive task of state government when part of the team of operators has a history of failing to get it right, ethically, legally and practically?
It can and will, say Daniels and his welfare chief and rehabber, Mitch Roob, because Indiana has learned from mistakes elsewhere, has kept a public core to its privatization project, has demanded and gotten concessions and protections and goodies galore from its contractor, and has thrust public and private partner alike into the glare of a show-me situation.

Plus, they care. They will prove the caricatures wrong. Government by business will do the business of the people, better and faster, from the fattest taxpayer to the poorest candidate for vital services. And the people who get paid to help the needy will not be caricatured, or cast out, either. Bureaucracy, not bureaucrats, is the target.

Never mind the history of failures and fraud carved through several states by consortium-member and former Roob employer, ACS. Carpenter concludes that social services professionals and people with disabled loved ones, along with the Democrats and the unions, remain at best agnostic about the deal. If they are to be converted, Carpenter suggests, “the gospel may have to become less reverent toward the moneychangers.”

Best wishes to James Kim and his family (updated #2)

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I’ve been following somewhat closely the story of James Kim and his family. Kim was a contributor to shows on Tech TV and he is known to some of the folks on The Well, one of my online hangouts. Kim was reported missing on November 30, 2006. According to an AP report, Kim’s wife and two young children were found alive in their Saab station wagon on a snowy road in southwest Oregon. Kim had gone for help and has not been located. They had intended to take a state highway off the Interstate to get to a lodge near Gold Beach on the Oregon coast. They missed the highway, decided to take a different road, took a wrong fork in the road and ended up stuck about 15 miles from the fork.

James Kim was wearing tennis shoes, jeans, a gray sweater and a jacket as he left the car on Saturday, and had initially planned to return that afternoon if he could not find help, according to Oregon authorities.

They said his footprints eventually dropped down into a drainage known as Big Windy Creek.

By Monday, the search included three privately chartered helicopters and a fourth helicopter hired by the state. There were also dozens of searchers on the ground.

The search today will include helicopters with thermal-imaging technology, along with dog teams, a boat and horses. Roads in the area are commonly used in the summer, but are not plowed in winter.

As a father and a lover of the mountains — any mountains — this strikes a chord. What a nightmare. It further hammers home some of the rare advice my Dad gave me. He’s normally a joking sort. But when my buddy and I were out visiting him in Colorado then about to take off on our own into the mountains, he got uncharacteristically serious and said something to the effect of, “You be careful out there; you take the mountain for granted, and it’ll kill you.”

This does serve as a reminder of how much we take our comfort and safety for granted. I’m not really speaking of the Kim family now. I don’t have any idea what their preparations or mental state were like. But I can see getting into a jam like that, simply because I have a tendency to believe that just because there is a road, it’s safe to drive on. I believe this simply because it’s a government constructed road, not through any independent evaluation of the road or its conditions. It’s a credit to our society that we feel this safe, but it occasionally leads to some bad decision making.

Like I said, that last paragraph wasn’t directed at the Kims. I have no idea of their situation. Hopefully James will turn up alive and healthy.

Update: I frequently find myself drawing odd connections between things that seem, at first blush, unrelated. With the James Kim post still on my mind, this happened once again as I was reading a post at Paul Retherford’s site, itself referencing a Kemplog post, which was in turn referencing a Washington Post article about an eco-village in North Carolina. (If I’m not careful, we’re gonna get fractal or recursive here or, god-forbid, turn this thing into an Ouroboros. Sorry, I was just getting link-happy there.)

Anyway, the Retherford post highlighted a quote from the Post article:

We live in a world we didn’t make, by rules and customs and laws we didn’t invent, using tools and technologies we don’t understand.

He goes on to elaborate:

It is partly because our production systems are so efficient that we are so removed from them. Unfortunately, if we allow ourselves too much separation from the pork we eat or the electricity we use, we lose the big picture. We stop valuing the energy, engineering, and effort that gave us the end-product. And we lose the biological connection between the life of the pig and our need for nourishment. We lose the ecological connection between the land stripped for coal and the power line running to our house.

And what, pray tell, does this have to do with being stranded in the snow on a mountain? It goes back to my Dad’s warning. If you take the mountain for granted, it’ll kill you. Nature, as they say, is a Mother. And, she bats last. As we become further removed from nature, our appreciation for its power is dulled and, we end up making decisions that are not fully informed. And the consequences can be severe.

Update #2 Damn. The AP is reporting that Mr. Kim was found dead today (12/6/06).

American Family Association: Christian Oaths of Office Only

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In reaction to Islamic Minnesota Representative Keith Ellison’s decision to use the Koran in taking his oath of office, the “American Family Association” has proclaimed that only the Bible is acceptable for taking such oaths.

Insofar as a member of Congress taking an oath to serve America and uphold its values is concerned, America is interested in only one book, the Bible. If you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don’t serve in Congress.

The most visible proponent of this view seems to be conservative Town Hall columnist and radio show host, Dennis Prager.

I don’t particularly care for religion getting mixed into oaths of office in the first place, but I’m not unduly riled up about it. The point of an oath of office is to imprint upon the office holder’s mind the seriousness of the undertaking and the office holder’s duty to perform to the best of his or her abilities. Associating the undertaking with something the office holder regards with solemnity serves that end. For a devout Christian — associating it with the Bible or Christianity; for a devout Muslim — associating it with the Koran or Islam. If I were taking an oath of office, I think associating it with the U.S. Constitution would serve the same purpose. In other words, the oath of office has to do with the personal relationship between the office holder and the office and not very much to do with the public’s relationship to the office.

So, besides being evidence of intolerant bigotry, this nonsense about a “Christian Nation” and the Bible being the only acceptable text for oaths of office is actually counterproductive to what an oath is supposed to accomplish. How on earth could an oath taken on the Bible enhance a Muslim’s sense of duty to the office? I only hope that this kind of garbage spewing from Prager and the American Family Association reveals their true nature to the public at large and serves to marginalize them in the public dialogue.

New Committe Chairs in Indiana House

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The Associated Press has an article reporting on House Speaker Bauer’s appointment of new committee chairs in the Indiana House of Representatives.

WAYS AND MEANS – Chair: State Rep. William Crawford (D-Indianapolis). Vice chair: State Rep. Bob Kuzman (D-Crown Point).

Budget Subcommittee chair is State Rep. William Cochran (D-New Albany), with State Rep. Dennis Avery (D-Evansville) serving as subcommittee vice chair.

Higher Education Subcommittee chair is State Rep. Sheila Klinker (D-Lafayette).

Medicaid and Health Subcommittee chair is State Rep. Peggy Welch (D-Bloomington).

K-12 Education Subcommittee chair is State Rep. Terry Goodin (D-Crothersville).

AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT – Chair: State Rep. Phil Pflum (D-Milton). Vice chair: State Rep. Steve Stemler (D-Jeffersonville).

COMMERCE, ENERGY AND UTILITIES – Chair: State Rep. Dave Crooks (D-Washington). Vice chair: State Rep. Kreg Battles (D-Vincennes).

COURTS AND CRIMINAL CODE – Chair: State Rep. Phil Hoy (D-Evansville). Vice chair: State Rep. Nancy Dembowski (D-Knox).

EDUCATION – Chair: State Rep. Greg Porter (D-Indianapolis). Vice chair: State Rep. Joe Micon (D-West Lafayette).

ELECTIONS AND APPORTIONMENT – Chair: State Rep. Matt Pierce (D-Bloomington). Vice chair: State Rep. Dennie Oxley (D-English).

ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS – Chair: State Rep. Ryan Dvorak (D-South Bend). Vice chair: State Rep. Mara Candelaria Reardon (D-Munster).

ETHICS – Chair: State Rep. Clyde Kersey (D-Terre Haute). Vice chair: State Rep. Earl Harris (D-East Chicago).

FAMILY, CHILDREN AND HUMAN AFFAIRS – Chair: State Rep. Vanessa Summers (D-Indianapolis). Vice chair: State Rep. John Day (D-Indianapolis).

FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS – Chair: State Rep. Jeb Bardon (D-Indianapolis). Vice chair: State Rep. Vanessa Summers (D-Indianapolis).

GOVERNMENT AND REGULATORY REFORM – Chair: State Rep. Dan Stevenson (D-Highland). Vice chair: State Rep. Phil GiaQuinta (D-Fort Wayne).

INTERSTATE AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION – Chair: State Rep. Earl Harris (D-East Chicago). Vice chair: State Rep. Chet Dobis (D-Merrillville)

INSURANCE – Chair: State Rep. Craig Fry (D-Mishawaka). Vice chair: State Rep. Dave Cheatham (D-North Vernon).

JUDICIARY – Chair: State Rep. Linda Lawson (D-Hammond). Vice chair: State Rep. Trent Van Haaften (D-Mount Vernon).

LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT – Chair: State Rep. Duane Cheney (D-Portage). Vice chair: State Rep. Dennis Tyler (D-Muncie).

LOCAL GOVERNMENT – Chair: State Rep. Vernon Smith (D-Gary). Vice chair: State Rep. Sheila Klinker (D-Lafayette).

NATURAL RESOURCES – Chair: State Rep. Bob Bischoff (D-Lawrenceburg). Vice chair: State Rep. Paul Robertson (D-Depauw).

PUBLIC HEALTH – Chair: State Rep. Charlie Brown (D-Gary). Vice chair: State Rep. Peggy Welch (D-Bloomington).

PUBLIC POLICY – Chair: State Rep. Trent Van Haaften (D-Mount Vernon). Vice chair: State Rep. Jerry Denbo (D-French Lick).

ROADS AND TRANSPORTATION – Chair: State Rep. Terri Austin (D-Anderson). Vice chair: State Rep. David Niezgodski (D-South Bend).

RULES AND LEGISLATIVE PROCEDURES – Chair: State Rep. Scott Pelath (D-Michigan City). Vice chair: State Rep. Russ Stilwell (D-Boonville).

SMALL BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT – Chair: State Rep. David Orentlicher (D-Indianapolis). Vice chair: State Rep. Carolene Mays (D-Indianapolis).

TECHNOLOGY, RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT – Chair: State Rep. Scott Reske (D-Pendleton). Vice chair: State Rep. Dave Crooks (D-Washington).

VETERANS AFFAIRS AND PUBLIC SAFETY – Chair: State Rep. Vern Tincher (D-Riley). Vice chair: State Rep. Ron Herrell (D-Kokomo).

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.

USDOT asks Southwestern Counties for more information

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The United States Department of Transportation, considering the joint petition of several southwestern counties to transfer from Central Time back to Eastern Time has sent a letter to the petitioning counties asking for more information. I don’t have time at the moment to provide much of an analysis, but I thought I’d post a link to the letter and let you all have at it.

Full Day Kindergarten

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The Governor is pushing for full day kindergarten. I’m pretty sure this is a good idea, but would certainly entertain alternate views. My only real direct experience is with my own kids. I know that my 3 year old doesn’t really have the attention span to last a full day in school, but 2 years is a lot of time for some pretty dramatic developmental changes. Presumably studies have been done to show kids, by and large, are up to going to school for a full day at age 5 and that it does them good?

The linked article says that Gov. Daniels proposes to require all schools to offer the full day program but to leave attendance up to the discretion of the parents.