Tully on Daniels & DST

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.”

Matthew Tully captures Governor Daniels DST problems in his article entitled Even now, Daniels is in the dark on time zones.

Watching the latest time controversy unfold this week, I dug out my notes from last year’s campaign. I hit the jackpot with a speech Daniels gave in Lake County. In it, he talked about bringing our sometimes-splintered state together.

“We can start with small things,” he said. “For Pete’s sake, let’s get all of our state on the same time.”

Daylight-saving time is a “small thing?” Hmm. And I guess Hurricane Dennis was a “little storm.”

. . .

Daniels created this monster. He clearly understands the need to modernize and simplify Indiana’s time system. But he has shrugged off the human side of the storm like a CEO making a bottom-line decision, arguing it must become easier for Indiana firms to deal with clients in places like New York or Europe.

That argument makes great sense. But most people have more basic concerns, like: “What time will the sun go down on July Fourth?” Or “Will I be driving to work in the dark in April?”

. . .

This issue has already cost him dearly. And the most bitter division is actually not over daylight-saving time, but over the next question: Central or Eastern time.

Daniels has backed away from his stance that most of Indiana should be on Central time. By not taking a stand now, he can peg the final outcome — which will probably be Eastern Daylight Time in most of the state — on the federal government.

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Gov. Daniels is also in the news for Complaints about ethical violations involving use of “RV-1” — the RV donated to the state — at a political fundraising event. The Democrats have requested an ethics probe. I can’t manage to work up any faux outrage this morning (oddly giving me a brief vision of a drill instructor shouting, “boy! if you can’t work up faux outrage you got no business being a blogger!”) But, I most certainly digress.

Looks like the link above is to today’s story. A prior story written by Mary Beth Schneider is entitled Ethics Complaint Aimed at Governor’s RV has a quote from Deputy Inspector General Jeff Gill

Deputy Inspector General Jeff Gill — speaking before the Democratic Party asked for the investigation — was asked in general whether a state office or vehicle could be used for political fundraising. While stressing he was not giving an official opinion, Gill said no.

“Unless it’s permitted by a general written agency policy, it looks to me like it would be prohibited,” Gill said.

Taking Down Words has some advice to the Governor involving ethics, stones, and glass houses. A commenter there is disappointed that Deputy Inspector Gill’s statement does not appear in this morning’s version of the story.