The Indiana Barrister has a post wondering why the House Democrats are making such a big deal out of the fact that the company being sold the rights to the Toll Road for the next 75 years is a foreign company. Personally I agree that the foreignness of the company is beside the point when we are debating whether the sale is good policy. I think the policy question is whether it is a good idea for the State to relinquish control of its transportation infrastructure to a private entity that has the interests of its shareholders as a priority rather than the interests of the citizens of Indiana for a long period of time in exchange for a short term infusion of cash.
However, I suspect that as a political matter, it is a big deal because during his campaign against Governor Kernan, Candidate Daniels made such a big deal about making sure that government contracts went to Indiana companies. I’m sure the Governor has explanations for this contract and all of the other contracts that have gone to outside companies. But, to explain himself, he will have to get into details and shades of grey; and often times it is hard to get the voting public to pay attention to such details long enough for them to sink in. In addition, I think Hoosiers in general are vaguely suspicious of outsiders.
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