Something important is missing on planning desks of Indianapolis leaders as they contemplate mass transit, waterworks and other big-ticket projects. It is well past time for a strategy for a new criminal justice complex outside of downtown.
Arguably one of the most passionate and polarizing debates in the General Assembly this session is the allocation of the transportation budget. Gov. Mike Pence and many legislators agree that money should be spent on repairing deteriorating roads and constructing new highways.
Most days I wish the government would take less of my money and let me use it to save, invest, donate or just spend frivolously. I figure I earned this money, it’s mine and I deserve to keep it, right?
Promising to cut taxes is not political leadership. It’s cheap and easy.
In just more than eight years, Indiana has become a national role model for economic development as other states have enacted similar business-friendly policies, practiced fiscal discipline, and replicated the IEDC organizational structure. Our state’s emergence as an economic development leader is no accident, as the General Assembly partnered with us throughout this time to build this job-attracting machine.
Recently, Gov. Mike Pence announced his plan to launch a new “transparency portal” to allow open tracking of the Indiana Economic Development Corp.’s tax credits and the jobs created by those incentives. For some time, I have had my own concerns about how much return taxpayers are getting for their public investment in Indiana’s economy.
There is no question that liberals do an impressive job of expressing concern for blacks. But do the intentions expressed in their words match the actual consequences of their deeds?
One of the features of the Obama years is that we get to witness an enormous race between meritocracy and government. On the one side, meritocracy widens inequality. On the other side, there is President Barack Obama’s team of progressives, who are trying to mitigate inequality. The big question is: Which side is winning?
When it comes to President Barack Obama and Hoosiers, well, it’s complicated.
Several recent zoning battles have revealed an opposition to change in many Indy neighborhoods that could sabotage the changes that are necessary if Indianapolis is to compete with other metro areas and even its own suburbs in coming decades.
While I freely admit that my political memory and experience do not equal that of many of the folks on these pages, I am quite sure the following statement rings true: No governor in modern Indiana history is laboring under more expectations than Mike Pence.
Last November, I received an e-mail from Indiana University asking me for input on a branding campaign for prospective students. Intentionally or not, the survey focused on creative elements for the School of Journalism.
Social media is a relatively new, inexorable term for many business and government leaders. Social media, they are told, is a game-changer and the conventional wisdom suggests that if you do not have a presence on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn (and Google+, to be hipster-ironic), you are missing the boat.
Some call it flimflam or a thimblerig. It is probably most recognized as the old shell game. Regardless of its moniker, our city leaders are about to pull it on local taxpayers.
I didn’t want to write about guns. The subject is fraught with complications. If I thought the political commentary on Facebook was extreme during the election, it became downright ludicrous following the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
The element of controversy that clogs political debate, embitters theologians and fosters ethnic bitterness is surely as familiar to us as Cain and Abel. King Solomon in 950 B.C. acknowledged its damage—and its danger—when he pleaded with his subjects, “Come then, let us reason together” (though, like many “well-meaners,” he was better in advising than complying).
They say bipartisanship is dead in Washington, D.C. They say a Democrat won’t buy a Republican a beer and a Republican won’t share a glass of Chardonnay with a Democrat.
When I first met Mike Pence back in the mid-1990s, he was working as a radio and TV talk show host in Indianapolis. I was a guest on his public affairs program many times and came to know the future governor as an affable and evenhanded host who made room for all points of view while clearly stating his own.
Some time before April 15, the Legislature must decide whether to accept a deal from the federal government to expand Medicaid coverage. It’s shaping up as one of two or three major calls our lawmakers must make.
