MAHERN: Has Legislature lost its ‘do the right thing’ members?
Forgive my nostalgia. I had a fairly serious health scare a little over a month ago and find myself quite involuntarily looking back.
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VAUGHN: Admitting problem is first step to ethics reform
While I was disappointed the House Ethics Committee didn’t even slap Rep. Eric Turner’s wrist for his behavior surrounding the failed nursing home moratorium, I was surprised and pleased the committee report admitted that our Legislature’s ethics rules and statutes are too lax.
SHEPARD: Voting centers might not be a great idea, after all
Voter turnout in Indiana’s recent primary election was the lowest in 20 years, 35 percent below average. It’s time for a serious conversation about whether the growing use of voting centers is bad for turnout.
STYRING: Considering a weapon of last resort against the feds
Chances are you’d never heard of something called the “Mount Vernon Assembly” before reading this column.
GREGG: GOP plays Chicken Little politics with Constitution
Recently, House Speaker Brian Bosma and Senate President Pro Tem David Long announced their support for having Indiana join the ranks of states calling for a constitutional convention.
VOSS: Core supporters count more than ever with new media
The media has fragmented from relatively few outlets to a plethora of voices, particularly on the Internet. How will increasingly customized appeals to voters exacerbate the ability of elected officials to compromise on legislation? Have you ever read an article online that was shared by a friend or relative, completely agreed with it, then reshared […]
MATTHEWS: Lawmakers increasingly edge into ideological corners
The media has fragmented from relatively few outlets to a plethora of voices, particularly on the Internet. How will increasingly customized appeals to voters exacerbate the ability of elected officials to compromise on legislation? Can’t we all just get along? Unlikely. Gridlock and political dysfunction in Congress is at an all-time high. It hasn’t always […]
FRIEDMAN: The world wants Americans to act like Yankees again
I’ve visited Kiev and Hanoi recently, and it’s been extremely revealing. Ukraine is struggling with how to deal with a declining Russia that is looking for dignity in all the wrong places—like in Crimea—and Vietnam is struggling with how to deal with a rising China that is looking for oil in all the wrong places—like in Vietnam’s territorial waters.
COLLINS: Women making waves this election cycle, left to right
This election season is going to be all about women. OK, not entirely. Men will be involved on many significant levels, like running the network of oligarchs who take advantage of our weakened campaign finance laws to manipulate the American democratic process in pursuit of their own selfish ends.
ODLE: Money, people better directed at preventing crime
Donald Sterling has caught the attention of America and reminds that the struggle to combat inequality and discrimination is ongoing and that the idea that we are living in a post-racial America is truly inaccurate. Every now and then, the negative perceptions we harbor about those different from us become public and we declare how unacceptable it is in our modern society.
MADISON: Lamenting the young politicos missing in action
There have been times young Hoosiers flooded into the political arena. Indiana’s first territorial governor, William Henry Harrison, was in his late 20s when he assumed office. Jonathan Jennings just turned 30 when he became the first state governor.
PARR: Poli sci class was glimpse of liberal IU culture
As the end of the school year quickly approaches, it seems prudent to let you, the Hoosier taxpayer, know exactly what your hard-earned dollars are going to support.
GARRISON: Fierce hatred of the T.E.A. Party is a conundrum
T.E.A Party: Taxed Enough Already. How hard is that? I was privileged to speak at the first rally of these fine folks April 15, 2009, when about 3,000 Hoosiers gathered on the south lawn of the Statehouse in a 40-degree drizzling rain. No burning underwear, no stolen bicycles, no tussles with the police and not a single potty-mouth slogan or sign. Just folks who could make it to the event because it was held late enough in the day that they were finished with the day’s work. Yes, work, as in “having a job.”
BOHANON: Tax burdens are significantly worse outside Indiana
Two years into the Pence administration, claims and counterclaims abound about its tax policy. Critics claim the policies shower unwarranted benefits on those who need it least at the expense of the middle class, while supporters claim the policies promote economic growth and prosperity.
ANDREWS: Circuits fry in outbreak of local government warfare
I am an accidental tourist in the land of government finance. The natives are friendly enough to me, but they seem to like one another less and less.
TAFT: Another chance to enlist neighborhoods to fight crime
Indianapolis is grappling with one of its most violent years, leading citizens to ask hard questions about why such crime is growing and what we can do about it. While this crime spike has generated loud calls for a much larger police force, the city’s lean budget cannot be our only solution.
LANOSGA: Citizens need better access to government Big Data
Gov. Mike Pence recently signed an executive order creating a data-sharing project called the Governor’s Management and Performance Hub. The idea is to have a centralized clearinghouse for public data that top policymakers can use to systematically analyze problems—child fatalities and infant mortality, for instance—and the state’s handling of them.
SHELLA: Pence still keeping options wide open for 2016
Take a second, please, to think back to the evening of May 2. It was just a couple of weeks ago, a Saturday, and, just possibly, a day worth remembering.
SOUDER: Pence presidential bid more plausible than most think
In the interest of disclosure, I encouraged Mike Pence to run for president in early 2010, for the 2012 nomination. House Majority Leader Dick Armey frequently told us that every senator woke up in the morning, looked in the mirror, and saw a potential president. The curse has spread to governors as well as far beyond. Give a good speech and you are suddenly the great new hope.
SPALDING: Glad Indiana doesn’t ban lies in the political arena
Like you, I am eager to pull up a seat to watch candidates throw caution aside in their political ads. It’s like dissecting a mystery where you piece together parts of what the candidate says, what their opponents say about them, and what you end up believing.