BECK: New Democratic chairs will deliver
I’m optimistic about the future of Hoosier Democrats, particularly at the state level and in Marion County. Why, you ask?
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BONIFIELD: A greenhorn governor flubs his launch
As the first governor since the Civil War to win election with less than 50 percent of the vote, Mike Pence has a political capital problem. And it’s starting to show.
VANE: Evans bravely went with his principles
Unquestionably, the biggest political news of this young year was the decision by City-County Councilor Jose Evans to join the Republican Party.
HOWEY: Republicans scald selves with critique
It was lunchtime reading unlike any other Craig Dunn had seen.
MAHERN: Be my waiter but not my neighbor
City-county councilors have a nasty tradition of agreeing with one another to blackball developments within their individual districts.
MARCUS: Lopsided population shift raises alarms
No one pays attention to a sentence buried in the middle of a recent news story out of Indiana University.
WAGNER: The rise of a new Hoosier swing voter
Quick, describe a Hoosier swing voter. White, married, middle-class male from southern Indiana, somewhere between 35 and 55 years old, right?
MAHERN: This is not the Ballard who originally ran for public office
The prudence of a third term for Mayor Greg Ballard requires the question: Which Greg Ballard?
BRAINARD: Longevity in office would help Ballard finish projects
Why would the mayor of Carmel be weighing in on who runs for mayor of Indianapolis? It is because we are sincere when we talk about regionalism and how we work best when we work together.
Nonvoters are real Hoosier citizens, too
Do the politicians care what nonvoters think? House Speaker Brian Bosma recently took issue with the WISH-TV/Ball State Hoosier Survey because, he said, it wasn’t a voter poll. When challenged, he said that he cares what everybody thinks, but the message he delivered was that the opinions of voters matter more than those of adults […]
SOWELL: All the wrong priorities with budgets
A nation’s choice between spending on military defense and spending on civilian goods has often been posed as “guns versus butter.” But understanding the choices of many nations’ political leaders might be helped by examining the contrast between their runaway spending on pensions while skimping on military defense.
BOEHM: This conflict could have been avoided
After each decennial census, the law requires redrawing the City-County Council districts. A decade ago, after a Democratic mayor vetoed a redistricting ordinance adopted by the Republican majority following the 2000 census, the Indiana Supreme Court rejected the partisan maps proposed by the two parties and adopted a neutral map that established the districts through the 2011 election.
LANOSGA: Small losses erode a bedrock principle
Will Rogers once said, “Congress is in session; hold onto your wallets.” Now, with the General Assembly in session, and with Rogers’ spirit of affectionate cynicism, I offer a corollary: “Hold onto your open government.
GARRISON: When the issue is not the issue
No more than an hour had passed on that awful day at Sandy Hook Elementary School before the usual suspects began their mantra: The whole thing was because of the gun.
BOHANON: What to do with the homeless campers?
A word I like to introduce my students to is “intractable.” This is a fancy, 75-cent college word that means can’t be solved, can only be dealt with—as in, the problems of homelessness are intractable.
WESTERHAUS-RENFROW: Youth violence is state health issue
Everyone knows you are not supposed to discuss taboo subjects such as religion and politics in the workplace.
MASSON: The economy is not a morality play
Americans in general and Hoosiers in particular like to see the economy as a morality play. If you are rich, it is because you are hard-working and clever. If you are poor, it is because you are lazy and stupid.
SIMPSON: ‘Our hopes and dreams are bound together’
Daily, I see politicians arguing, reciting their talking points, without facts. I hear political pundits repeating those talking points, urging on the political rhetoric.
KRULL: We’re all responsible for our government
It’s hard to tell when the notion began to sink in that too many Americans have forgotten the point of the American Revolution.
DAVIS: So far, so good at the Legislature
I had a happy Valentine’s Day visiting with members of the General Assembly.