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Terry Burns over at the Indianapolis Times is blogging this morning that Linda Pence is withdrawing her name from consideration for U.S. Attorney. 

Pence tells the Times that the move came after very careful consideration, however there may be another side to this story.

I reported back in April that Pence’s bid for U.S. Attorney was in trouble because of an attempted coup to oust Dan Parker by Marion County Democratic Chairman Ed Treacy which failed miserably.

The story, which has apparently been circulating for weeks, is that Pence won’t be getting appointed to U.S. Attorney for the Southern District.  The way the story goes, Pence has tied to Ed Tracey who reportedly backed Voorhies’efforts to oust Dan Parker as State Chairman.  Voorhies backed out of the race when there was virtually no support for his candidacy.

And as you all know in politics, to the victor goes the spoils.  Senator Evan Bayh apparently didn’t like the Parker challenge so any opportunity for Pence to be U.S. Attorney went out the window.

Today is Veteran’s Day. My Dad and brother are both Veterans.  My father was in the Army, my brother the Air Force.  Like millions of men and women they both proudly served their country.  And it’s because of them we can argue about things like smoking bans, property taxes and the role of government.   Happy Veteran’s Day.

As Americans mourn the loss of  more than dozen people murdered by alleged shooter Nidal Malik Hasan thoughtful people are asking thoughtful questions and the crazies are coming out of the woodwork.

Hasan apparently left signs all over the place that something just wasn’t quite right; A PowerPoint presentation on suicide bombers, attempts to contact Al-Qaeda, his voicing of objections to Muslims serving in the military, etc.  Hasan exhibited all the signs of someone who should have been  monitored and brought in for questioning because he engaged in a certain type of behavior.  And reasonable people will want to know how he slipped through the cracks.

What’s frustrating however is that the incident at Ft. Hood has opened the door for the crazies and religious bigots to come out of the woodwork and question not only the loyalties of Muslims serving in the military (which is my brother and up until 1996 was my Dad).    As a radio talk show host I get the calls and e-mails calling for everything from deportation to internment camps.

Of course the one thing advocates of the positions don’t think about, along with all the other things they don’t think about, is the only way to make sure American Muslims don’t attack anyone is to put everyone in camps.  You can’t just tell who’s a Muslim by looking at him.  And you can’t go by names alone, because it would be just like a terrorist to be named Al, Peggy, Bud or Kelly to avoid detection.

And you couldn’t just go after people who attend services at a mosque.  All the terrorists would do is stop going or for that matter they would attend the most evangelical, holy rolling, tongue speaking church they could find.  So I guess they would have to be rounded up also.

Yes, I know all this is ridiculous.  But then again when reasonable suspicion turns into irrational fear, what do you expect?

*My apologies to Robert Herrick.

Anyone who’s been following this blog has probably figured out my personal politics tend to fall into the somewhat right-of-center category.   I tend to be fiscally conservative but socially progressive.  I don’t mind if  my gay friends get married, as long as they don’t ask me or my Uncle Sam to pay for it.  I believe in public education, but I don’t mind if it’s delivered by private organizations.   You get the picture.

This is a philosophy I’ve held on for quite sometime because as my lovely mother likes to say, no one has a monopoly on good ideas or stupidity.  As I look out into the political landscape I can’t understand the need for ideological purity when it comes to politics;   whether it’s conservatives who go after the RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) or liberals who attack blue dog Democrats for being DINOs (Democrats in Name Only).

Why is a Republican who is pro-choice not really a Republican?  Even though I  would argue such issues go to the heart of individual freedom and choice.   Why is a Democrat who for government reform not really a Democrat?  Although I argue making sure poor people get the services they need by making sure the government is efficient is a bedrock Democratic principle.

I have never been one for dogma and purity tests.  In any competitive political system each party starts with a base of about 40 percent, leaving the remaining 20 percent up for grabs.  And that’s not counting open-minded Ds and Rs who are willing to split their tickets.  Just ask Barack Obama and Mitch Daniels.

Anyone who’s not with you 30 percent of the time, is usually with you the other 70 percent.   So isolating them with calls of ideological purity never really solves anything.  And by the way, it’s never really smart to be in front of a charging RINO.

My wife and I are about to enjoy a quiet Sunday morning together so here are a few things to ponder…

Statehouse Stuff

• House Speaker Pat Bauer says he may look at government reform involving township trustees when lawmakers come back in January.   With the problems regarding FSSA and delivery of services, Bauer says there needs to be an appropriate back up system in place to deliver services to the poor.  Bauer says that might involve some reform of the township trustee structure.
• Bauer also tells me he won’t block a vote on property tax caps, however he wants to make sure there are more reforms and safeguards for the taxpayers.   One area the Speaker is looking at is assessments.  He says caps won’t do taxpayers any good if there aren’t some limits on how much assessments can increase.  Stay tuned.
• Interesting note, although Indiana lost $46 million in revenue, there was one bright spot.   Gambling revenue was up five percent.  I guess now we know what people do when they have no job.
• An in case you were wondering, lawmakers are back November 17 for Organization Day.

Smoking Ban

• If you’re a fan of the smoking ban, good luck in getting it  on the agenda Monday.  From what I hear there aren’t enough votes to get it on the agenda.  And even if it were, there aren’t enough to pass it so it may die on the vine.    There is some question as to if a measure is tabled at the Council level whether it would die if not brought back by the next meeting.  From my understanding of Council rules I know motions that fail to pass the full body can come back, I’m not sure about ones that are tabled by the full body.  I’ll do some checking on this one.
• Speaking of Smoke Free Indy.   In their push for a smoking ban, they may be crossing the line by engaging in what looks like political activity instead of advocacy.  Smoke Free Indy is funded by the Academy of Family Physicians, which gets money from the Marion County Health Department.  Smoke Free Indy isn’t a not-for-profit or registered lobbying group.  However it has used its Facebook page to attack Mayor Greg Ballard and it’s blog page to go after the Libertarian Party.   Smoke Free Indy will say it’s just engaging in advocacy, but you know what they say, where’s smoke…

Final Word on Wishard

• Despite the fact the Wishard referendum passed with more than 80-percent voter approval, opponents are now starting to allege fraud.  They say there is no way the referendum could have won by unanimous vote in precincts so they are speculating some kind of sinister ballot box stuffing.  They’ve even taken their theory to Star hoping to get media attention.    If they keep this up they’ll get attention, just probably not the kind they want, but the kind they’re used to getting.

It’s not the $60 million shortfall it could have been, but October revenue collections in the state of Indiana fell $46 million short causing Governor Mitch Daniels to call for more budget cuts, wage freezes and dipping into surplus state dedicated funds.

Daniels say revenue collections have been off by more than $300 million since the start of the fiscal year.  The Governor announced the state will take several steps to close the shortfall which include…

• State agencies will reduce spending by at least 10 percent from the as-passed budget. The governor had already ordered a 5 percent spending reduction in July.
• The lieutenant governor, auditor, treasurer, secretary of state, and superintendent of public instruction have committed to 10 percent spending reductions in their own office budgets.
• Reimbursements to some Medicaid providers will be reduced. 
• State employees will not receive a pay increase in 2010, the same action as 2009. The last time there were back-to-back years with no pay raises was in 2002 and 2003.
• Governor Daniels will not accept his full pay in 2010, the same action he took for 2009 when his salary was due to increase from $95,000 to $107,882.
• State agencies will offer voluntary unpaid leave for the remainder of the current fiscal year.
• State agency capital projects will be deferred. This includes new buildings or structures, infrastructure and system upgrades, and site improvements.
• Some dedicated funds will be transferred to the general fund. Amounts will vary and will not disrupt the long-term viability of the program supported by the dedicated funds.

The Governor also said while public safety and education are the top priorities, schools should be prepared to deal with the reality of possibly getting less money than originally budgeted. 

One area where state revenue was up was in gaming, however Daniels says he has no desire to expand gambling in the state, but has no real issue with moving existing licenses from one part of Indiana to another if warranted.

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels is going to announce the latest revenue collections for October tomorrow and the picture “ain’t pretty.”  

I’m told not to be surprised if collections fell short by $60 million for the month.  That’s on top of $250 million for the last quarter, bringing the state to a total shortfall of $310 million.

The question now is how will administration officials deal with the shortfall?   They have held the line on spending, now they may have to look at serious cuts in government services and personnel.   Stay tuned.

My friends at the Indy Star this morning are writing about this week’s local school referendums and conclude the mixed results don’t offer a clear trend.

Franklin and Perry Townships’ referendums failed while Beech Grove’s passed.  I too was somewhat puzzled at the results until I spent some time visiting with residents from the Southern portion of Marion County.

There were a couple factors at play in Franklin Township.  First, residents had already felt they’d been burned on property taxes, as Franklin Township is mostly residential property and has never had the commercial base to absorb the property tax burden.    Second, the school district’s marketing campaign backfired.  Although state law allowed Franklin Township to use school resources to push for the referendum, all it did was infuriate the residents even more so.

Beech Grove’s referendum passed, in part, because Beech Grove schools have a high percentage of renters.  And although renters pay property taxes through their rent, they don’t get a direct bill.  Thus it was the renters that put Beech Grove over the top.

As far as Perry goes, I would not be surprised if that one is subject to a possible recount.  The referendum failed by 174 votes, 3851-4025, that’s about two percent.  But since the votes were hand counted, there may be enough discrepancies in the tally for officials to give it another go round.

It will be interesting to see what happens next week in Hamilton Southeastern Schools.  Fundamentally it will boil down to how much goodwill the school district has built in the community.  I’ll be watching.

I was going to start this post taking a shot at a local blogger who spent an ungodly amount of Internet space railing against the Wishard referendum but who will now likely be its first patient at the new Hospital since his head exploded when voters overwhemingly approved the measure last night.  However my lovely wife said that would not be nice, so I won’t.

Wishard won because its proponents were organized opponents weren’t.   Opponents can blame the media, the money and the rain.  But at the end of the day, organization tends to win elections more than anything else.  In 2007 we saw organized tax protesters start a revolution that changed the course of  Indianapolis.  In 2008 we saw organized campaigns put Indiana in the win column for Barack Obama and re-elect Mitch Daniels at a time when Democrats were winning across the country.

Wishard supporters identified their base, worked with local leaders, engaged the community, took to the airwaves and got people out to the polls.  Opponents blogged about it,  did a few interviews and held one news conference.

When you are organized, have a clear coherent message and engage the public and have a message rooted in optimism, you’re more likely to score points than if you are an angry, bitter and disorganized.