Unless the USDOT is going to up date its docket some time this evening or over the holiday weekend, it looks like Gov. Daniels’ time prediction is inaccurate once again. Gov. Daniels had expected the time zone debate would be resolved by the end of the year. The end of the year is here, and there has been no decision by the U.S. Dept. of Transportation. James Wensits writing in the South Bend Tribune reports that USDOT spokesman, Bill Mosley, said that the decision is scheduled for “sometime in January.”

This prediction can go in the trash pile along with his prediction that the USDOT would have several state wide hearings based on his request alone and his prediction that the USDOT would probably just grant every petitioning county’s request. Gov. Daniels’ inaccuracy on this particular prediction is not of much consequence, but I thought I’d point out that pretty much every time he tries to guess what the USDOT might do, he’s been wrong.

I have a few nits to pick with the Wensits article:

The issue became even more muddled after Gov. Mitch Daniels elected to leave the decision as to what time zone to be in up to individual counties.

Gov. Daniels didn’t elect this route so much as aimlessly drift into it. And he didn’t do it alone. He had the help of every legislator who decided to vote in favor of the DST bill without addressing the inextricably related issue of time zones.

Most [counties] elected to stay on Eastern time, but several, including St. Joseph County, petitioned for a move to Central time.

It’s wrong to say any but a handful of counties “elected” to be on Eastern Time. Most didn’t do anything at all either out of inertia or uncertainty as to what neighboring counties might do, and Eastern was the default.

Finally, there is this disturbing bit of information from Mosley:

Mosley said the DOT will likely give “a considerable amount of weight and attention” to a request by Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels that St. Joseph County’s request to move to Central time be denied.

Keep that quote in mind. If St. Joseph’s petition gets denied, that will be evidence that a substantial reason for the denial was Gov. Daniels’ decision to violate IC 1-1-8.1-3 by writing a letter in opposition of the petition by the St. Joseph County Commissioners to switch to central time. As you’ll recall, IC 1-1-8.1-3 requires “The state supports the county executive of any county that seeks to change the time zone in which the county is located under the procedures established by federal law.” Rather than support the petition, as required by statute, Governor Daniels actively opposed the St. Joseph County Commissioners.

Senator Waterman’s Senate Bill 123 would reverse last session’s Daylight Saving Time activity — it provides that the portion of Indiana in the Eastern Time Zone is exempt from observation of Daylight Saving Time. It also repeals IC 1-1-8.1-3 which provides, “The state supports the county executive of any county that seeks to change the time zone in which the county is located under the procedures established by federal law.”

(Seeing as how Gov. Daniels just flat out ignored the requirements of IC 1-1-8.1-3, when he actively opposed the St. Joseph County executive’s petition to change its time zone, I don’t know why Sen. Waterman even bothers to repeal the provision.)

Senator Allen Paul (R-Richmond) has introduced SB 93 calling for a Daylight Saving Time referendum. As you may recall, Senator Paul was the critical vote in the Senate Rules committee that allowed SB 127 – the DST bill -, which had some procedural irregularities coming out of the House, to be considered by the Senate for the first time during the Conference Committee period of the session. His aye vote made for a 6 to 5 rules committee vote in favor of SB 127, but he ultimately voted against the bill on the floor of the Senate.

The April 27, 2005 edition of the Howey Political Report suggested that Senator Paul’s Daylight Saving Time stance is causing him some political problems in the form of a primary challenge this spring.

Sen. Paul tried to have it both ways. He was the crucial vote in a 6-5 showdown in the Senate Rules Committee that allowed daylight-saving time to escape to the Senate floor for a vote, finally passing 28-22 Wednesday evening. “My vote simply affords the governor the opportunity to publicly make his case to all senators, rather than a few,” Paul said. But he voted to vote against it Wednesday.

[Primary challenger, Richmond City Council President Bruce] Wissel has to be counting on Sen. Paul’s Janus act to confuse voters.

Wissel is a supporter of Daylight Saving Time. Such considerations could be playing a part in Senator Paul’s introduction of SB 93 which puts the following question on the November 2006 ballot:

“Should all of Indiana observe daylight saving time? The vote on this question is advisory only. The result of the vote on this question is not binding on the General Assembly, the Governor, or any other public official.”

I’m generally supportive of public input on the DST question, and I’m open to being persuaded otherwise, but this strikes me as too little, too late. It’s too late because if they were going to consider public opinion on the question, the time to do it would have been before adopting DST. It’s too little because there is no consideration of time zones in that question. The two issues are inextricably linked. Personally, if we’re going to be on Central Time, I want to go ahead and observe Daylight Saving Time. If we’re going to be on Eastern Time, I want it to be Standard Time year round. It’s also too little because, if they’re going to do it, they should probably go ahead and bind themselves to the result.

The Elkhart Truth is as starved for time zone news as I am, apparently. They offer up this bit of non-news to fill some space. The paper reports what we already knew: The USDOT said they’d make their decision in January. Governor Daniels wants them to hurry, hurry, and make their decision by the first of the year.

I guess the reaction of a couple of Elkhart County commissioners is of some interest:

“It was a waste of time,” said Elkhart County Commissioner Terry Rodino when asked what he learned from the time zone experience. It could have been handled better by the state legislators, he said.

“We handled it the best we could,” he said, “and we stand by our decision.”

Elkhart County Commissioner Mike Yoder found it hard to communicate that public opinion was not the king in the decision.

I definitely agree with Commissioner Rodino that decisions about an appropriate time line should have been made by the General Assembly. It should have been part of the Daylight Saving Time bill since, contrary to the assertions of Representative Torr, the two issues are inextricable. I think public opinion counts for more than Commissioner Yoder seems to think. Certainly it doesn’t appear as any sort of criteria in the USDOT guidelines or the time zone statutes passed by Congress. But, reading prior USDOT time zone decisions, public opinion definitely seems to be a consideration. Which, makes sense in that “convenience of commerce” boils down to “what works best for the public generally.”

The South Bend Tribune has a column by Jack Colwell on polling data that suggests Governor Daniels is a political liability for Republicans in the geographic area of Indiana’s Second Congressional District. Generally speaking, that area is the North-Central portion of Indiana, represented by Chris Chocola, and containing Carroll, Cass, Pulaski, Fulton, Starke, Marshall, LaPorte, and St. Joseph Counties. (See a map here. The link is to a blog that appears to be covering House races nationwide and associated to one degree or another by the folks from MyDD and DailyKos.

According to the column, when residents of that area were asked about their approval of Mitch Daniels, the percentages were as follows:

Here are the percentages:

Very Positive — 10
Somewhat Positive — 21
Somewhat negative — 19
Very Negative — 33
Not sure – 17

Obsessed as I am with the subject, I think it’s necessary to point out that the counties making up the 2nd Congressional District were on the front lines of the time zone/Daylight Saving Time issue. LaPorte County is on Central Time, borders St. Joseph County, and has been routinely snubbed by the Governor as he has asserted how important it is that St. Joe share a time zone with Elkhart County, utterly ignoring the welfare of LaPorte County. St. Joseph County petitioned for Central Time and was preliminarily approved by the US Dept. of Transportation. Governor Daniels went out of his way to oppose the petition, breaking the law by doing so. The rest of the counties in the 2nd, Carroll, Cass, Pulaski, Fulton, Starke, and Marshall petitioned for Central Time but had their petitions denied by the Dept. of Transportation, leaving the citizens of those counties disgruntled about the Governor’s push for Eastern Daylight Time after campaigning in favor of Central Daylight Time. And, just as an added bonus, area residents will have to switch their clocks from Eastern Daylight Time back to Eastern Standard Time just before election day, so the issue will undoubtedly be fresh in their mind.

The polling column also posits Governor Daniels push to privatize the Toll Road running through those counties as another source of unhappiness. With numbers that bad, Democrats in the area will certainly use the Governor as an albatross to hang around the necks of their Republican opponents.

Rep. Jerry Torr, the man who brought us this edition of the DST/Time Zone debacle, submitted a letter to the USDOT just under the wire. My main critique of his approach to the whole DST/Time Zone issue is his failure to address time zones when repealing the law that exempted us from Daylight Saving Time. What I call a “bug” of the legislation, he apparently regards as an “undocumented feature.”

I tried very hard to keep the time zone arguments separate from the debate over whether all Hoosiers should change their clocks twice a year . . . . In my view, The arguments in favor of observing DST were completely different from the arguments over which time zone is preferable for a particular area. Unfortunately, we were not able to keep the two debates separate, and the result was the compromise bill that passed in SB 127.

First of all, the “compromise bill” was not much of a compromise. It contained 3 sections. Section 1 called for the state to support any local officials that petitioned for a change of time zone. Section 2 repealed the state’s exemption from DST. And section 3 called for the Governor to submit any documents necessary to obtain state wide hearings on time zones. Governor Daniels failed to comply with section 3 when he submitted a horribly inadequate petition to the USDOT that failed to include any of the documentation necessary to obtain hearings. As a result, we got the county-by-county fiasco that ultimately split St. Joe and Elkhart counties, among other things. Then, Governor Daniels wilfully violated Section 1 by not supporting St. Joseph County’s petition. Not only did he not support the St. Joe county officials, he actively opposed them. That leaves us with Section 2 repealing the DST exemption, which is all the Governor and Rep. Torr really wanted. Some compromise.

Second, Daylight Saving Time and time zones were completely intertwined in Indiana. Because we didn’t observe Daylight Saving Time, we effectively spent 7 months per year synchronized with the Central Time Zone and 5 months per year synchronized with the Eastern Time Zone. All except for the renegade counties around Cincinnati and Louisville which simply ignored the law and went on Eastern Daylight Time illegally. (Which, itself raises a point in the debate — Gov. Daniels has been saying that we now have two times in Indiana whereas before we had 3. Legally we only had 2 in the past.) Anyway, because our policy on DST put us in Central for 7 months and Eastern for 5 months, a change to DST necessarily constitutes a change in time zones. Rep. Torr’s approach to the debate was to have the discussion ignore the time zone implications as much as possible. As the profound philosopher, Geddy Lee, once said, “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.” Rep. Torr’s unspoken choice, therefore, was Eastern Daylight Time.

The problem is not with Eastern Daylight Time itself, necessarily — though clearly I would argue for Central Time — the problem is with making the choice implicitly rather than explicitly. By hiding the ball with respect to Eastern Daylight Time, an impression of illegitimacy has been created. Had the legislation specified Daylight Saving Time and designated a preferred time line, then there wouldn’t be a great deal to argue about. As Rep. Torr suggests, if the time zone debate been conducted explicitly, it may have failed. True. But too bad. Honorable failure is more respectable than sneaky success. As it is, Rep. Torr’s legislation has created a roiling time zone mess. If the Republicans lose seats — and possibly the House of Representatives over this — the loss will be based in large part over their failure to be forthright about the time zone issue.

Matthew Tully has a DST/time zone column entitled The real story is what Daniels didn’t write. Mr. Tully takes Gov. Daniels letter to the USDOT and “reads between the lines.”

A sample:

Between the lines: Don’t look at me. Blame the locals!
Daniels: “I recommend that the (Department of Transportation) decline the petition of St. Joseph County to move from the Eastern to the Central Zone.”
Between the lines: Umm, why don’t you forget what I just wrote about “local preference?” And by the way, wasn’t that Kernan guy from St. Joe County? Actually, now that I think about it, he was still governor when I thought of this idea. Can’t I just blame him for it?

And, Mr. Tully astutely ties the time zone issue to the class basketball issue — really the only thing that is even more offensive to a “real” Hoosier.

Meanwhile, Mary Beth Schneider has an article entitled Daniels: DST debate is over. We don’t think so, several state lawmakers say

What’s impressive to me is the bipartisan nature of the time related proposals legislators plan to introduce:

At least two lawmakers — Reps. David Crooks, D-Washington, and Steve Heim, R-Culver — plan to file bills seeking a referendum on what time zone Indiana should be in, Central or Eastern. Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Lakeville, is filing a bill to repeal daylight-saving time, which the legislature adopted earlier this year.

And Sen. Vic Heinold, R-Kouts, filed a bill this week to simply require Daniels to ask the federal Department of Transportation to move Indiana to the Central time zone.

What’s amusing to me is that Daniels thinks it’s “time to move on.” I felt that way year after year when folks would try to alter the system we lived with well enough for more than 3 decades. So I figure “my” side gets until 2035 to try to force an acceptable time solution before it’s “time to move on.”

Representative Bauer sent his letter (PDF) to the United States Dept. of Transportation urging inclusion of St. Joseph County in the central time zone. It’s nice and succinct. I don’t have any direct experience with Rep. Bauer, but I’ve heard that his approach to the legislative process has a tendency to be roundabout. I’m glad to see him charge right at the target on this one.

His points:

Indiana’s own Department of Transportation groups St. Joseph County in the “LaPorte District” with Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties. All of the aforementioned counties currently observe central daylight saving time.

In addition to the counties mentioned above. Marshall, Fulton, Pulaski, and Starke counties voiced strong support for Saint Joseph County at the Department of Transportation hearing in South Bend.

The South Shore railroad (Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District) runs through Lake, Porter, LaPorte and St. Joseph counties. The 1918 Uniform Time Act, updated in 1966, allows South Shore (NICTD) to request a uniform time on their route. They have petitioned for uniform time-central time.

Elected officials from Lake, Porter, and LaPorte counties have all voiced their support for St. Joseph County’s move to central time. This coalition (including St. Joseph County) represents close to 116 of the total population of the state of Indiana.

There is a tremendous amount of economic potential for business growth between South Bend and Chicago if St. Joseph County moves to central time. The relationship with the South Shore Railroad and it’s link to both Chicago and South Bend, is vital.

I.C. 1-1-8.1-3 clearly states that “the state supports the county executive of any county that seeks to change the time zone in which the county is located under the procedures established by federal law.” As a State Representative of St. Joseph County I am carrying out the will of my constituents under the law. (Glad to see someone thinks that statute isn’t just so much wasted ink.)

Nancy Sulok has an excellent column in the South Bend Tribune, taking Gov. Daniels to task for the hash he has made of the time zone issue.

Gov. Mitch Daniels, who has spent almost half his life living in the elite East, created a mess with his lack of understanding of Indiana.

Indiana is not the East; it is the Midwest. If we want the sun to be overhead at noon, as nature intended, we need to be on Central time. That’s a fact, and it applies to the whole state, not just a few select counties.

It’s a basic concept of natural law that even Daniels, with his Princeton education, should understand.

All of that book-learning failed to teach the guv’ner good old Midwestern common sense. If it had, he would have known better than to mess with Indiana clocks.

Born in Pennsylvania, Daniels has acted more like a bumbling Keystone Kop than a down-home Hoosier.

He has taken stands on every side of the time issue. During the campaign for governor in 2004, he said he was in favor of Central time, because it would place Indiana within two hours of every other time zone in the country.

After winning the election, he said he was undecided between Central and Eastern, but the people of Indiana should decide. More recently, he indicated that St. Joseph County should not make a decision contrary to Elkhart County. In other words, we should go Eastern.

Is that how Republicans lead?

The rest of the column is worth a read as well. Interestingly, she mentions that Rep. Dave Crooks is the author of HB 1014. She must be on the inside track — the LSA website does not have anything available other than HB 1001. Apparently, it would place the following question on the November 2006 election ballot:

“Should Indiana petition the federal government to place all of Indiana in the Central time zone except Clark, Dearborn, Floyd, Harrison and Ohio counties?”

Personally, I think the exception language should be removed. With that referendum question, you’re still talking about a split time zone. The argument for one time zone in the state is much more compelling, in my opinion, if you actually only have one time zone in the state. Whoever gets the time line is going to be upset. But, in a state that is only 140 miles wide, the state line makes more sense than somewhere in the middle of the state. Besides, the folks in those counties have shown (like their governor) a certain indifference to the time zone law. They’ve been observing Daylight Saving Time illegally for the past 30 years.

I just wanted to post a link to Senator John Broden’s (D-South Bend) submission to the USDOT on time zones because he had a pretty good zinger against Gov. Daniels:

Lastly, I understand that Governor Daniels has weighed in that he supports placing St. Joseph County in the Eastern time zone. You may want to wait to file his letter until after the November 30 deadline because his position may change again as he has had no fewer than five “positions” on the time zone issue and those are just his public comments. Further, his position on this issue would appear to be contrary to the legislation passed by the General Assembly which called upon the State to support the County Executive of any County that seeks to change the time zone that they are in.

Also, while I’m at it, a link to the submission of Mark Catanzarite, Vice President of the St. Joseph County Council. Councilman Catanzarite notes that an Eastern Time Zone designation for St. Joseph County once Indiana begins observing Daylight Saving Time means later sunrises during the spring and fall. This, in turn, means greater danger for school children and school buses when the weather is snowy and/or foggy — weather conditions to which St. Joseph County is very susceptible. He then makes an interesting argument citing Executive Order 13045 which requires, among other things, an agency such as the USDOT to take into account the effect of a proposed regulation on the health and safety of children.

Furthermore, whereas a two hour delay still allows school days to take place, a weather condition requiring a three hour delay results in cancellation of the entire school day. So, an extra hour of morning darkness in the spring and fall, particularly in St. Joseph County where snow-related weather conditions are frequently an issue, could easily lead to a number of extra missed school days each year.