This weekend marked six months of being a very happily married man so I gave local and state politics a break and spent time with my lovely wife.  It was time well spent and I highly recommend some of you getting off the blogs and getting  out of the house and doing something.

With that said, I still kept an eye on local goings on.  Here’s what I’m watching this week.

• Indiana lawmakers will be back Wednesday figuring out unemployment insurance, education funding and maybe local government reform.  Democrats say talks broke down because State Senator Brandt Hershman went to a Lincoln Day Dinner as part of his 4th District Congressional run.  Now some Republicans are dropping the line that House Speaker Pat Bauer wanted to attend an out-of-state conference this weekend and that’s why he adjourned the House until later this week.  No offense to all parties involved, and you know I like most of you, but the sooner you all leave, the better.
• I’ll also be watching the Lincoln Plowman resignation on Monday.  There are a couple dynamics at play here.   By stepping down, as opposed to being fired, Plowman will keep his retirement since he has 20 years as an IMPD officer.  Plowman is also resigning from the Council, I’m checking through my list of possible replacements, one person who quickly comes to mind is Tim Ping who briefly ran for State Representative to replace Mike Murphy who is running for Congress.
• Now that Bart McAtee has beat back a challenge to his status as a candidate for Sheriff for the Republican primary, I’ll be interested to see what the follow up is.  I watched the hearing and Friday and read the briefs of both parties and if I read McAtee’s reply and watched the Election Board properly, McAtee’s attorney admitted that between the time he filed for an exploratory committee for Sheriff and formally announced for Sheriff his job was paid in part by federal funds.  That could provide an opening to file a complaint later that he was in violation of the Hatch Act.  Stay tuned for that one.
• I’m also hearing that the anti-smoking people are going to try to give it another go around and bring back a smoking ban to Indy since they lost at the legislature.  I really don’t think they’ll have more success this time around than the last, although economic development and tourism seems to be the trial balloon of the day.  In fact I think, they’ll have less success since the newest member of the Council Angel Rivera, opposes an outright total ban.

That’s all for now.  I have a few hours left before it’s time to get back to real work, so I’m going to go hang out with my lovely wife who was gracious enough to let me have a few minutes and scribble down this post.

The Marion County Election Board today turned back a challenge that would have removed Republican Bart McAtee from the ballot in the May primary.

At issue was whether McAtee’s candidacy was in violation of the Little Hatch Act which prohibits state and local government employees from running for public office if their jobs are partially funded with federal dollars.

As an officer, McAtee was paid overtime over the years with federal dollars, but by the time he officially filed his candidacy in 2010, he had changed to a new position which did not receive federal money.    However, McAtee had formed an exploratory committee for Sheriff in 2007, which did raise money while he was covered by the Hatch Act.

The Election Board held that while there may have been past violations that the law addresses only current and future violations and that whether McAtee should be held accountable for  past violations was not within their jurisdiction and should be left up to the voters.

McAtee is challenging Dennis Fishburn who is the GOP’s slated candidate.

The primary is May 4.

I was planning to write about the Indiana General Assembly this morning, however in quintessential lawmaker fashion those people can’t get their act together so they recessed last night won’t be back until Wednesday.   In the meanwhile, there’s nothing like a little blogging about voter ID.

I was going to spend some time talking about the questions asked by the Indiana Supreme Court Justices, how both sides responded,  and proffer a theory on how the Court would rule.   But then it dawned on me, it really doesn’t matter what the Court does,  voter ID will still be the law of the land.

Here’s why.  If the Court upholds Voter ID, say by a 3-2, it’s still the law.  If the Court remands the case back to the trial Court, Voter ID is still the law of the land.   And if the Court decides to overturn the Voter ID law, Indiana lawmakers will just pass it again next year.

Confused?  You shouldn’t be.  When the Voter ID lawsuit was originally filed a couple years ago, the belief was that the Courts would overturn the law and since Democrats controlled the House of Representatives, it wouldn’t see the light of day and that would be the end of the discussion.

Fast forward to 2010 where Republicans have a pretty good chance of taking the House back, 55-45 by my last count, and guess what?  Voter ID will pass and to make life even more interesting, it will be a tighter version to meet whatever Constitutional shortfall the Supremes rule exist.S

So at the end of the day, Voter ID will be the law of the land, it’s just a matter of how it happens.

I’m at the statehouse and this is what I’m hearing or seeing so far…

• Lawmakers are still wrangling over education and unemployment.  I hear Democrats are willing to take a two-year delay in the tax increase if Republicans will give in on more flexibility for schools to move money around in their budgets.
• The House passed a bill allowing employees to bring their guns to work in their vehicles.  Watch for litigation to fly with this one.
• Although everyone is hailing the ethics bill passed, I haven’t spoken to one person either inside or outside the House and Senate chambers who thinks it will make a difference.   Also the provision that would ban lawmakers from becoming lobbyists unless they sit out a year doesn’t go into effect until Jan 1, 2012.  That gives anyone who loses in the 2010 election plenty of time to find another job.
• I’m still hearing lawmakers may not adjourn until tomorrow.

That is all.

Here are some of the interviews following Supreme Court hearing on Indiana Voter ID.

todd rokita

league of women voters

I’ll have an analysis either later today or in the morning, but from my read, they seemed skeptical that there were no individual plaintiffs in the case who were victims of fraud as well no reported cases of fraud captured by voter ID.

I will say this, after following this issue for the last five years two things still stick with me.  First, I don’t see what the big deal is about having an ID and showing it before you vote.  Second, there have been six election cycles since voter ID was passed.  If you don’t have one by now, maybe voting isn’t a priority for you?

The Indiana Supreme Court will hear oral arguments this morning over whether Voter ID violates the state constitution.

The main issues are whether the law adds an additional qualification to voting other than age, residency and citizenship and whether the provision that only requires a voter show ID in person and not when they cast an absentee ballot are contrary to the Constitution.

The law was passed in 2005 and has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, however this challenge was brought on state grounds.

The League of Women Voters brought the suit.  Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita is defendant.

Rokita says the law doesn’t add a qualification to voting, it is merely needed to ensure integrity at the polls.

I’ll be at the hearing this morning.   You can follow me directly on Twitter or watch for my comments on the left side of the screen.   I’ll have a full analysis shortly after arguments are presented.

There’s some interesting polling data coming out of the Republican primary for Indiana’s 4th Congressional District.

A survey of 300 likely voters shows Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita the front runner in the race with 40% of the vote.  State Senator Mike Young is second with 10%.  Brandt Hershman polls in at 8% and Greenwood Mayor Charlie Henderson is at 3%.

The poll, conducted by Public Opinion Strategies for the Rokita campaign, was taken February 22-23 and has a margin of error of about 5.6%.

Rokita’s name ID in the district averages about 70%.  And his favorable ratings are about 50% and his unfavorable is about 6%.   Hershman, Young and Henderson all have less than 30% name ID and their favorable ratings are below 14%.

Rokita also leads among independent voters at 30% while the combined total for the other candidates is about 20%.   He also polls about 57% with those voters who identified themselves as tea party members.

Of course the caution is 40% of the voters are still undecided at this point and anything can happen.   But in a race that has more than 10 candidates and is about two months away, I’d rather be in front than not registering at all.

As much as I love politics, I find the internal processes even  more fascinating.  Two examples of that were Monday night’s caucus election of Angel Rivera to take the place of Kent Smith on the City-County Council and the Tuesday afternoon Marion County Election Board hearing over candidate challenges.

Rivera won the caucus after two rounds of voting.  He got 122 votes on the first round and 168 on the second.  At the election board there were 14 challenges to precinct committeemen  picked by Indy Mayoral candidate Brian Williams, 12 were upheld, leaving Williams with 195 people running on his team. 

I’ve heard complaints from some Democrats and Republicans regarding both matters.  Some Republicans were saying the caucus was rigged.  Some Democrats were saying Williams is circumventing the system and making enemies.   Actually what both men did was take the current rules system of both parties and make it work for them.

As soon as Smith announced he was leaving the Council Rivera started making calls to every delegate who had a vote.  Months ago Williams and his team started quietly getting candidates to run for precinct committeemen and studying the rules to get them on ballot.  

There had been chatter that some candidates for the at-large GOP seat saying they couldn’t get lists or that the establishment had the fix in for Rivera.  While party leaders, Rs, Ds and Ls have their preferences there’s nothing written down that says a candidate is entitled to anything.  Political parties are not democracies nor open government.    It behooves them to keep their processes as transparent as possible, but it’s not mandatory and there are consequences if you stray too far off the reservation.

However, I always tell people, if you don’t like like the system, pull a Brian Williams.  Get enough of your people  together, get organized run at the precinct committeemen level, hopefully win and expand your power base and then make the change you want.   It’s hard, it’s tough, it’s a long shot.  It’s politics.

I hate to be the bad guy, but it’s time start rounding up some of the city’s homeless people and politely, respectfully and humanely put them away into an institution.  Hey, someone’s gotta say it.

And I don’t say this lightly.  I say this because up until this week nearly three dozen people built a District Ninesque town under the Davidson street overpass just south of Washington Street.   It took numerous complaints to finally get them out of there, but the bigger issue though is homelessness.

Let’s be honest, the research has shown that a good chunk of the homeless are individuals with mental or addiction issues.  And while this was before my time, many people tell me the homeless problem got out of control when former Governor Evan Bayh closed Central State Hospital.    Maybe it’s time to recreate Central State.

Before you call me an uncaring, inhumane elitist, think about this.  What’s a more cruel position,  allow someone to live under a bridge where he or she is a danger to themselves and others or put them in a place where they can get the treatment and attention they need?

There is nothing cruel about putting people who can’t take care of themselves in a place where they be looked after.    It’s more cruel to turn them out on the street which is only going to cause grief and problems for them and society as a whole.

And ponder this, a roof over your head, three square meals a day and a straitjacket is better than living on the street in 20 degree weather.

Some blog posts come easy and quick.  Some take days of research to put together.  When I thought about what to say about Lettie Oliver, it was easy, it just took a while.

Anyone who is familiar with Marion County politics or how things work over at the Statehouse knew Lettie.   She passed away Monday at 8 a.m. after a sudden illness.  She was a strong advocate labor and the little guy.   She was the associate director AFSCME and the head of the Central Indiana Labor Council.   She was a proud Democrat and while not shy about it, she never pushed herself or ideas on anyone.

I met Lettie a few years ago covering the Indiana General Assembly.  She lobbied for labor and we didn’t agree on much of anything.  We argued over unions, free trade, outsourcing,  privatization and  school choice,  but she was always willing to come on the show and stand up for her beliefs.  Afterwards, we’d share a laugh.  One time we joked  she was going to come to my place and unionize my undocumented guest workers.  It was a good relationship.  Lettie was not the stereotypical lobbyist as painted by some of my brothers and sisters in the media.  She fought her battles because she believed in it. The pay was extra.

There were two incidents though that really made me appreciate Lettie.  One was at a memorial service for workers who died on the job. After giving her speech she quietly went behind the stage and dried her eyes.   The second was when I told her I was getting married.  Not only did she invite my then fiance and me for dinner as a wedding present, but she threatened to smack me upside the head if I screwed things up.  It was like talking to my own mother because I don’t think she was kidding.

Lettie was a kind woman, strong advocate and worthy adversary.  She was proof that people of differing political ideologies don’t have to be difficult to get along with.  I’ll miss her scowl and her smile.    Her spot at Statehouse in the hallway won’t be the same.

Rest in peace, Lettie.   And somehow I know if I screw something up down here, you’ll figure out some way to reach down and smack me.