An Associated Press article reports that Indiana Commission on Hispanic/Latino Affairs will propose an arrangement whereby undocumented immigrants in Indiana would receive a special driver’s license if they pass an exam and buy auto insurance. I’m all for undocumented immigrants being put in a position where they can purchase auto insurance. I’ve sued a fair number of illegals who have gotten into auto accidents. By and large, they do better than the average uninsured motorist in trying to pay for the damage. This leads me to believe that they are uninsured more because of problems with getting the insurance than with an unwillingness to pay for insurance.

I know a lot of people will have problems with the perception that this condones illegal immigration. Maybe it does, but the fact of the matter is that immigration is an issue for the federal government, and the states don’t have a lot of policy making authority in that area. I believe the state’s best course of action is to mitigate, as best it can, any negative effects associated with the presence of illegal immigrants. So, making it easier for illegal immigrants to be insured when they drive makes a lot of sense to me. As a practical matter, I’m not sure it makes a lot of sense for the immigrant though — doesn’t this effectively put a big sign on their backs saying, “I’M HERE ILLEGALLY, COME AND GET ME!!!”?

(As an aside, I’m not sure what the best federal policy is to address illegal immigration. On the one hand, admittance to the country needs to be regulated, and breaking the law is not something I’m in favor of. On the other hand, most of the folks I’ve suspected to be here illegally seem like hard working folks devoted to the idea of a strong, tight-knit family. They seem like they’d love nothing more than to be given the opportunity to be active, upstanding citizens. I can’t necessarily say the same of a lot of our natural born citizens. There is an outstanding possibility, however, that my experience is not representative of the situation as a whole.)

Two days, two of my committee chairs are out of the legislature. I posted yesterday on the death of Rep. Jim Bottorff. Today, I see in the Evansville Courier Press that Senator Larry Lutz (D-Evansville) will retire. When I was working for the legislature, Senator Lutz was a Representative and he chaired the House Public Safety Committee, another committee on which I had the privilege to serve as staff counsel. In his inimitable style, Senator Lutz described his reasons for retiring this way:

“A wise man once told me that there’s three ways to leave the Legislature and two of them aren’t very good,” Lutz said Tuesday. “It’s time to retire. It’s time for a younger person to take over.”

The Indy Star has an article entitled Indiana teachers’ pay lags, reporting that Indiana’s teacher pay is 17th in the nation with an average salary of $47,808 which increased 1.7% from last year while the cost of living increased 3.1%. And before you get too excited by that $47k — which doesn’t sound like an awful salary — keep in mind that that includes teachers who have been there for 30 years. It’s not uncommon for starting teacher salaries to be somewhere in the $25 – $30k region.

It’s anectdotal, but I know of one teacher who had a couple of kids and a wife staying at home taking care of the kids who had to rely on government assistance in the form of the WIC program. So, it’s like Superintendent Reed said:

“If a young person is a science teacher and they can choose making $25,000 in Indiana or making $30,000 working somewhere else . . . they may decide to go somewhere else.”

Or, more likely, they might decide to opt out of teaching science altogether, going to work for the private sector or, horror of horrors, choosing to become school administrators who, I understand, actually get paid pretty well.

The Indy Star has an article entitled School sex article questioned. The article didn’t surprise me. Some students put together an article for their high school paper about the dangers of oral sex. Mainstream newspapers like to run the “controversy” story so they can titillate their audiences without getting in trouble.

No, what surprised me was the passing mention:

Columbus resident Kenn Gividen, who ran unsuccessfully for school board and was the 2004 Libertarian candidate for governor, said the student newspaper was not the proper place for such a frank sexual discussion.

“I’m sure this is something kids are talking about. Kids talked about a lot of dirty things when I was in school,” he said. “But it’s something completely separate for the school to endorse it, which is obviously what they did by publishing it.”

Some libertarian. Against free speech because the speech is “dirty?” Next thing you know, Gividen will be weighing in against “Miss Ann,” the dominatrix being hounded by prudes and Democrats in Indianapolis.

(Looks like Liberal Indiana is way ahead of me on the commentary.)

Oh, my. This is just awful. Representative Jim Bottorff (D-Jeffersonville) has died, the Indianapolis Star is reporting. He was 61, and the Star is reporting that he died of cancer in a Louisville Hospital.

It was my privilege to serve, in 1997 and 1998, as counsel for the House Commerce Committee which was chaired by Representative Bottorff. I recall one of the receptionists at the Legislative Services Agency who had been there for many, many years and knew whereof she spoke concerning legislators, describing Rep. Bottorff as a “mensch”.

The Star article states:

State Rep. James L. Bottorff, a Democrat from Jeffersonville, died today at a Louisville hospital after a battle with cancer.
Bottorff, 61, was elected to the Indiana House of Representatives in 1990 and has served on the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee; the Natural Resources Committee and the Utilities and Energy Committee.

House Minority Leader B. Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, praised Bottorff.

“We have lost a man who defined the role of public servant, a man who devoted much of his life to the idea that answering the needs of others was a noble callling,” Bauer said.

Bottorff was a real estate appraiser who had previously served as both Clark County treasurer and Clark County assessor. He is survived by his wife, Carlene, and two sons, Christopher and Robert.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

This is just, very, very sad. Rest in peace Representative Bottorff.

Update Lesley Stedman Weidenbener’s article for the Louisville Courier Journal is here. Her article says he had been battling colon and liver cancer for about 7 months.

WTHR is carrying the AP story here. That story mentions that “a caucus of Democratic precinct committeemen will be held to select Bottorff’s replacement to represent the district.”

Representative Heim has his recollection of Rep. Bottorff here. Rep. Heim describes Rep. Bottorff as a quiet, gentle man who was helpful even to a freshman legislator in the opposing, minority, party and also describes him as a master negotiator. (Though I do recall a time when Rep. Bottorff wasn’t afraid to use partisan force as opposed to negotiation. Things had been fairly bipartisan up until the last day of committee hearings. All of the Republicans (who were in the minority at the time) were there. Only Representative Bottorff was there for the Democrats. But, Rep. Bottorff had a fist full of proxies from the other members and hammered some contentious bills through committee on strictly party line votes. Tempers flared, but to Rep. Bottorff’s credit, there wasn’t anything personal or malicious in the proceedings. Just a recognition that compromise wasn’t achievable and the Democrats had the numbers to pass the bills. So, he did the will of his party.)

Rep. Dvorak has a blog entry here.

Taking Down Words has a blog entry here.

Benjamin Lanka, writing for the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette has a story entitled Allen seeks alliance to rival rural majority in legislature. Basically, Allen County is seeking to enter into a lobbying coalition with other large counties so that concerns peculiar to those counties can be heard by the legislature through a unified voice.

The [Allen County] commissioners sent a letter dated Oct. 28 to Hendricks, Monroe, Delaware, St. Joseph, Vanderburgh, Johnson, Hamilton, Elkhart, Tippecanoe and Marion county commissioners asking them to form a coalition.

Lake (pop. 490,000), Porter (154,000), and LaPorte (109,000) Counties are conspicuously absent from this coalition for some reason. The article notes that the Association of Indiana Counties may not be a good organization to advance large county issues because its membership is dominated by smaller counties.