Gerry Weaver, CTO of Indiana’s Office of Technology, is interviewed in Computer World. He asserts that he has saved the state $25 million in annual costs related to Indiana’s IT infrastructure. It’s something of a puff piece, but for all I know Weaver’s glowing assessment of his achievements may be warranted. Any commentary on the State’s revamping of the IT infrastructure out there?
North Korea
Kim Jong Il has apparently tested a nuclear weapon in North Korea. With our resources sunk into Iraq and our international influence squandered, we’re left in the position of relying on China to do the right thing and try to handle its crazy neighbor. That’s not a great position for us to be in.
IN-03: Hayhurst putting out television ads in race against Souder
TDW has a post discussing the Journal Gazette’s Political Notebook entry about Dr. Hayhurst’s purchase of ad time in his effort to unseat Mark Souder in Indiana’s Third Congressional race.
Hayhurst has purchased $300,000 worth of air time until election day. His two main messages so far appear to be, “if you want to change Washington, change the people you send there” and also, Dr. Hayhurst’s belief that every American ought to have access to affordable health care.
TDW labels the Hayhurst campaign as the “Most Likely Political Surprise of 2006.”
IN-09: Baron Hill accuses “Millionaire Mike” of keeping money with Foley taint
In the 9th District, Baron Hill is apparently the first candidate out of the gate to use a television commercial featuring pedophile Congressman Mark Foley against his Republican opponent.
Former Rep. Baron Hill, D-Indiana, criticizes Rep. Mike Sodrel, R-Indiana, for refusing to return $77,000 in campaign contributions “from the House leadership who knew about but did nothing to stop sexual predator Congressman Foley.
“Millionaire Mike, he says nothing and refuses to return the money,” an announcer says in the ad that is scheduled to run at least through the weekend, a Hill campaign spokeswoman tells CNN.
. . .
The ad also features images of former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, R-California, who is now serving time in jail for accepting bribes as well as former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, who is fighting charges that he broke Texas campaign laws. The ad notes that Cunningham had donated $2,000 to Sodrel, while DeLay, who resigned earlier this year, had given the congressman $20,000.Melanie Morris, Hill’s spokeswoman, said Sodrel “should return the money from those in the House leadership who kept this under wraps.
“Basically, our point is there is a crisis in leadership and Mike Sodrel isn’t doing anything about it,” she said. “He is part of the problem.”
Gotta hate that Foley taint.
IN-08: Responding to Foleygate Hostettler points finger at 33 year old Democratic scandal
John Hostettler is one of the candidates who probably has the most to lose because of the revelations that Republican leadership did nothing for months and maybe even years when evidence surfaced that Florida Republican Mark Foley was attempting to seduce underage, male Congressional pages. This is because Hostettler, more than most Representatives, runs on a platform that the Republican Party is the morally superior party. If that claim is seen to be a bunch of hoakum, particularly by the conservative Christian right, Hostettler is in big trouble. His campaigns rely heavily on a huge percentage of the Christian right mobilizing and voting for him.
So, some desperation from Hostettler is to be expected. But, stretching for a 33 year old Democratic sex scandal is a bit of a reach. At this point, the scandal itself, let along the people involved, are well beyond the age of majority. According to the story in the Evansville Courier Press, Hostettler castigated Foley, the disgraced Representative who abruptly resigned on his own initiative after ABC News confronted him with lurid communications between Foley and Congressional pages. That was the easy part. Then Hostettler, rather than going on to castigate Republican leadership that sat on the information for months or years, instead brought up a sex scandal from 1973 when Democrat Gerry Studd had sex with a 17 year old Congressional page. Wow. What’s next? Teapot Dome?
IN-02: Chris Chocola being treated unfairly
Matt Tully has a blog entry suggesting that it is politically smart of the Democrats to take Chris Chocola to task for not taking any action to try and stop Governor Daniels’ Toll Road privatization, but, it’s not fair of them to do so.
Essentially, Democrats are blasting Chocola for not being a phony. Essentially, they are criticizing him for not sending Daniels a wink-wink message cautioning against leasing the stretch of road. Essentially, Democrats are criticizing a congressman for not sticking his fingers in a debate he had no role in.
This was a Statehouse issue. Do Hoosiers really want members of Congress interfering with state issues?
. . .
[W]hen it comes to the toll road lease, what does that have to do with Congress?
As I pointed out in the comment section, Chocola was perfectly willing to write a letter to the United States Department of Transportation expressing his opinion that Elkhart County and St. Joseph County share the same time zone. Since, at that point, it was procedurally impossible for Elkhart County to be moved to Central Time, this was functionally a request that the USDOT deny St. Joseph County’s petition to be moved into the Central Time Zone.
This was an executive branch agency review of a county petition. What does that have to do with Congress? It’s fair of constituents to expect Chocola to show at least that much interest in the Toll Road privatization and to criticize him for failing to do so.
Chocola agrees with Frist on Taliban
I think Chris Chocola is playing with fire if the AP is accurately reporting his agreement with Senator Bill Frist on how to deal with the Taliban in Afghanistan. The relevant part of the story is this:
Chocola said he agrees with U.S. Sen. Bill Frist the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan “can’t be won with guns and bullets.”
Education and economics will be the key, he said, recalling a group of boys happily running toward U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan when he visited there. The United States has to make sure those boys grow up to see Americans as their friends who built them schools and helped their parents’ businesses, he said.
But Donnelly said the Taliban in Afghanistan shielded Osama bin Laden.
“We have to go after him hard. We need to find him and we need to kill him,” he said.
Here is what Frist said about the Taliban:
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Monday during a visit to Afghanistan that the war can never be won militarily and urged that the Taliban and their allies be brought into the government.
That’s a controversial sentiment for Chocola to endorse. I can certainly buy into the idea of co-opting allies of the Taliban. But asking Mullah Omar and the boys to come play ball with us after they harbored bin-Laden prior to 9/11 is a bit much. I’ve got a soft spot in my heart for realpolitik and a practical approach to foreign affairs. But, that soft spot doesn’t extent to the Taliban. We have a debt to settle, and we’re not done yet. Perhaps if we hadn’t diverted all those resources to George W’s Iraqi adventure, we would have progressed in Afghanistan to a point where it was acceptable to let bygones be bygones.
9/26/06 Commission on Courts
The September 26, 2006 minutes of the General Assembly’s Commission on Courts is available. The Commission voted to endorse providing for additional magistrates in Floyd and Franklin Counties. In Indiana’s legal system, a magistrate performs most of the same duties as a judge, but the magistrate is not elected and serves under the authority of the judge(s) in the county. They tend to help with case loads that are too heavy for the current judicial capacity in situations where the case loads might not justify an additional court in the county or where the resources for an additional court simply are not available.
Franklin County is apparently experiencing population increases as people relocate from Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Oxford, Ohio.
Jackson County is, once again, seeking the creation of a second Superior Court. Apparently last year, the legislation was moving forward, but there was not sufficient will in Jackson County to fund the court. That has been rectified according to Bill Bailey, President of the Seymour Chamber of Commerce. Putnam County is seeking to add an additional court by 2009.
I am not entirely familiar with the situation in Jefferson, Dearborn, Ohio, and Switzerland Counties, but if I recall correctly they are structured differently in terms of their judicial circuits. Typically, in Indiana, the boundaries of the judical circuit coincide with the county boundaries. Not so in the above referenced counties. Instead, there is a Switzerland/Jefferson Circuit, a Switzerland/Ohio Circuit, and a Dearborn/Ohio Circuit. Switzerland County is attempting to create its own judicial circuit and there is at least some concern as to what this might do to the other counties that currently share circuits with Switzerland County. The Commission on Courts decided that the matter still needs further analysis and did not make an endorsement one way or the other.
Stampede Blue
For the Colts fans out there, check out Stampede Blue – a Colts blog that seems quite worthwhile. (h/t X-tra Rant).
IN-02, IN-09: Zogby Poll
Zogby has released poll results for several races across the country. Among these are IN-02 and IN-09:
IN-02:
Republican Rep. Chris Chocola, one of the party’s three endangered incumbents in normally Republican Indiana, aired an ad claiming Bush was not tough enough on immigration. “We just disagree,” he said. He faces a challenge from Democratic businessman Joe Donnelly.
Democrat 48.5%
Republican 39%
Not sure: 11%IN-09:
In a rematch of a close 2004 race, Republican Rep. Mike Sodrel and Democratic former congressman Baron Hill have battled over hot-button social issues like abortion and gay marriage. Their southern Indiana district leans Republican.
Democrat 46%
Republican 38%
Not sure: 14%
The polls were taken the week of Sept. 25 to Oct. 2 in 15 of the most competitive House districts across the country, including three days the sex scandal involving Florida Rep. Mark Foley’s explicit Internet messages to teenage male congressional pages. It bears mentioning that those three days were Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, so I would guess that the poll doesn’t reflect the full brunt of the Foley scandal. The finger pointing over who knew what and when, and the conservative calls for Speaker Hastert’s resignation didn’t really get cooking until the beginning of the week.
Not included in the polling were several Republican-held districts where Democrats are favored, including that of Foley, who has resigned from the House, former Rep. Tom DeLay’s Texas district, Indiana Rep. John Hostettler’s district and the Pennsylvania seat of Rep. Don Sherwood, who suffered his own sex scandal last year.
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