For some time now, there has been a concerted effort—primarily by Republicans—to tackle tax reform. Essentially, the plan is to lower rates for all Americans and close loopholes, doing so in a revenue-neutral manner.
Like almost everyone familiar with the Marion County courts, I applaud Mayor Ballard’s proposal to address the long-recognized need for a judicial center. The proposal would leave the civil courts in the City-County Building but consolidate the criminal courts and their associated agencies in one complex.
In his recent State of the City address, Mayor Ballard expanded on a familiar theme of making Indianapolis a more livable city, one that can build on its unique amenities to attract middle- and upper-income residents back into Marion County and even the old city limits.
Every time I see an IndyGo story, I brace myself for the good, the bad and the oh-so ugly.
Neighborhood and local government leaders in Indianapolis increasingly face a dilemma: Let tax-foreclosed houses sit vacant or enable their acquisition by large, scattered-site rental investors.
This debate is not new. A famous president of Purdue University once said that whoever raised the abortion debate was the loser. Political debate over issues such as gay marriage, abortion, marijuana, prayer in schools, hiring rights of religious organizations, and posting of the Ten Commandments has long been a part of the American political process.
It’s hard to ignore the amount of energy we have put on a constitutional amendment to define marriage.
I have always thought legislators should be obliged to take the equivalent of the Hippocratic Oath: First, do no harm. Most of the major and minor evils of history have been a byproduct of overambitious political leaders intent on “doing something.”
An old friend was in the Statehouse the other day for the first time in a long time. He’s a guy who worked in the media, then in state government, and now in public relations. He knows his way around the building.
A casual glimpse of recent developments in Indiana politics might suggest Hoosiers are in the throes of an identity crisis. As a traditional dead-red state, Indiana produced few surprises. Republicans, for the most part, rule the roost, even with the occasional presence of Democratic governors or slight majority of Dems in the state’s House of Representatives.
“The editorial was typical of The Journal Gazette’s ultra-liberal, atheistic, secular, humanistic rhetoric,” a letter-writer complains. “You need to quit channeling Fox News,” writes another.
If one of the overt Democratic lines of attack against Republicans is that Republicans are conducting a war on women, one of the low-simmering, implicit lines of attack from Republicans is that Democrats are conducting a war on men, or at least traditional views of masculinity.
Some supporters of President Obama may be worried about how he and the Democrats are going to fare politically, as the problems of Obamacare continue to escalate.
Whether in the State of the Union address, recent commentaries about college tuition outpacing financial aid, or news about Purdue University’s possibly extending its tuition freeze, one thing is certain. The status quo is not acceptable when it comes to cost and access to a college education.
Recent debates in the General Assembly about inspecting apartments for safety and sanitation purposes has highlighted the need for more energetic collaboration between state government and the people who lead cities and towns.
A few weeks ago, I received an email from a conservative special-interest group. It opened with four paragraphs about a Statehouse issue along with a list of House members the group wanted its supporters to call and email. But that’s not what caught my eye.
Perhaps the most intriguing question in what is shaping up to be a remarkable political year is the following: Will Greg Ballard seek a third term as mayor in 2015?
There is a lot of talk these days about income inequality—the growing gap between the incomes of the rich and poor. Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, acknowledged in a recent speech to our Economic Club that the ”recovery” is working only for the rich: The poor are seeing no benefit from it, and income inequality is growing.
Sometimes it seems our political leaders know only four-letter words like jobs. They often precede this with another four letter word: good.
I wrote a piece recently that suggested truth is not eternal but transient. It moves, changes, flexes.
