Here are a few items I didn’t get a chance to post about yesterday…

I did some math on how much it cost to run the Solders and Sailors Children’s Home in Knightstown.  At operational costs of $10 million per year for 114 children, that amounts to about $88,000 per child.  I’m for helping kids, but yikes!

Two groups opposing moving school board elections from May to November are the Indiana State Teachers Association and the Indiana School Boards Association.  One reason for their opposition was that  moving the elections to November means new school board members would have no input on the budget.  Although school budget years currently begin on January 1, state law is changing that to July 1.  Now please note, when lawmakers debated moving the fiscal calender from January to July these same groups complained that would not be enough time for new board members to have input on the budget because they just got elected in May.  These are the people who are educating your children.  

The Capital Improvement Board is meeting this afternoon to discuss how to fill a $20-$35 million operation shortfall for Lucas Oil Stadium.  I  spoke to a couple individuals very close to the board and they told me “all options are on the table.”

Here it is!

I told you people this was coming.  A Ball State University study shows more than $600 million in savings and efficiencies in government reform and consolidation.

The Center for Business and Economic Research found that streamlining government as outlined in K-S (my new shorthand for Kernan-Shepard) would not only improve fire, police, sewer and other services, but also reduce operative and administrative costs.

The study found that consolidation would cut annual costs for various services, including:

• Fire services costs would be reduced statewide by $74.3 million, a savings of $12.07 per person.
• Police protection expenses would be cut by $85.3 million, a savings of $13.85 a resident.
• Sewerage savings would be $111.5 million, or about $18.11 per person.
• Administrative expenses in counties with a population of more than 100,000 would be cut by $52.3 million, a savings of $8.48 per resident.
• Libraries would see a savings of $62.7 million, or about $10.16 per person.

The report also offers incentives for local governments to reform, but I say the best incentives are property tax caps.

Now correct me if I’m wrong, but who was complaining about reform and consolidation again?

Just checking.

Editor’s Note: You can read the actual report here.

When I came to Indianapolis in 2004, I was very interested in government reform.  And one thing I noticed was the only people who usually opposed government reform usually worked for the government.

Nearly five years later, not much has changed.

I sat in a State Senate Committee hearing this morning over several Kernan-Sherpard proposals, most focusing on elections, and the only people who appeared to have problems with the legislation were the folks on the government dole.

Now granted, one measure that called for the appointment of clerk-treasurers in some Indiana cities, as opposed to their election, actually made sense.  In some smaller Indiana cities the clerk-treasurer can serve as a balance against a mayor, so keeping the job elected isn’t a bad idea.

On the other hand how can you oppose prohibiting elected officials from being employees of the government entity they represent unless you’re one of them?

And how can you oppose moving the election of school board members to the general election, rather than the primary unless you’re the teachers union trying to sneak a bunch of people through an election cycle that many shy away from because they don’t want to declare a political party?

No one spoke out against voting centers and you already heard my opinion on moving municipal elections to even-numbered years.

Now I could be wrong in my assumption on government reform and who supports it and who opposes it, so I’ll just wait for the next three hearings on libraries, Marion County and township government to see if anything changes.

Some how I don’t think they will.

Anyone who reads this blog knows I am a big fan of the Kernan-Shepard Report.  There’s a hearing this morning on some of its provisions.   Indiana Government could use a major colon cleansing and a lot of layers should go away for more accountability and eventually more savings.  However, there is one part of the report where I have to differ; municipal elections.

Kernan-Shepard recommends moving municipal elections to the off-year cycle, in order to save money and increase voter participation.  Noble goals.  However, I honestly think with so many important local issues, local elections deserve special treatment and the public’s complete and undivided attention.

Here’s what I think would be the perfect compromise…

• Keep local elections in the odd-numbered year, but shorten them.  Instead of going from May to November,  go from May to June or July.  Who needs six months to run for a Council seat?
• Consolidate the primaries and let the top two vote-getters face a run off. I’m even willing to declare a winner in the primary if someone gets more than 65 percent of the vote.  Let’s be honest, there really isn’t a “Democratic” or “Republican” way to run a city, either you know how to do it or you don’t.
• Get rid of voting precincts and switch to vote centers.  You can do them by council district or township.  Have the voting center running for two weeks prior to election day.  Anyone who can’t find a couple minutes out of two weeks to go vote probably shouldn’t be voting to begin with.  Also it should be a lot easier to manage a dozen voting centers for a couple weeks as opposed to 500 precincts for 12 hours.
• Add school board elections to the off-year elections.  School boards, although I have no use for them, are still local government.
• And I would also eliminate straight-ticket voting, for obvious reasons.

Could gaming be the cure for  Indianapolis’ financial needs?

Maybe.

There are a couple dynamics taking place.  First, city officials have to plug a $30 million financial hole that will be here in 2010 when the final phase of the  property tax caps kick in.  Second, there are two areas that are just ripe for a casino; Union Station and the Motor Speedway.

Union Station already receives a $500,000 subsidy from the city of Indianapolis and is not breaking even financially.  And while city officials are cool to the idea of a bar/saloon in Union Station, a casino may be its only hope for survival in this downward economy.

Second, at a recent meeting of the City-County Council’s Metropolitan Development Committee plans were presented to develop portions of Speedway which included a possible future casino as part of the racing experience.  Councilors did not seem too excited about the casino idea, but the Committee did approve rezoning which could lead to a casino being established in Speedway.

I frankly have never understood why there isn’t a casino in the Capitol City. As a city that prides itself on tourism,  I’d much rather have those dollars pay for city services than increased taxes.   Maybe in these tough economic times it’s time to have that discussion again.

Place your bets.

There’s nothing like some good old fashioned  political gossip, rumor and blatant innuendo first thing on Sunday morning.  So enjoy your coffee and the following…

Kerry Forestall’s decision to pursue the U.S. Marshall’s post for the Southern District has made his fellow Democrats mad to no end.  Many of them feel since he was the front runner for Sheriff, a lot of other Democrats stepped aside and now there is no real credible candidate for Sheriff.  Forestall reportedly made the offer to come back and run for Sheriff if he didn’t get the Marshall appointment.

Meanwhile, the other big race in 2010 will be for prosecutor.  Expect former Democratic State Representative and Congressional candidate David Orentlicher to run for the job.

Rumors of Lucas Oil stadium running a $20 million dollar deficit may be grossly under-exaggerated.  My sources are telling me the number is anywhere from $34 million to possibly $48 million annually.

After keeping a low profile for most of 2008, former CCC President Monroe Gray may be getting ready to resurface.  Gray reportedly sent a letter to the Ballard administration regarding the city’s summer golf program for kids, First Tee.   The city wants to expand the program citywide as opposed to predominately minority and low-income areas.  Gray argued the program should only be for black kids and that he will start a public campaign against the city if they try to expand it.

Speaking of CCC members, I did notice that one Democrat showed up yesterday to the Mayor’s Community Luau which raised money for Gleaner’s Food pantry, the Salvation Army and the Boys and Girls Club, Maggie Lewis of District 7. If any others were there, I missed them.  The event raised more than $3500 in donations and five barrels of food this year as opposed to about $1500 and two barrels of food last year.

Marion County GOP Chairman Tom John may be running unopposed for his position as County Chairman,  Word is that former IU law professor Henry Karlson may not be getting into the race after all.  No word yet on exactly why.

Former Washington Township Board President Ray Baker  either really loves township government, or he just could not get a job in the private sector to save his life.  Baker was originally employed in the Washington Township Assessor’s office, but he lost that job when the Assessors were eliminated in last year’s referendum.  He is now employed by the Washington Township small claims court. I’m not sure what his job is, but small claims court jester would nicely fit after last year’s 69-percent pay raise vote.   He also had to give up his seat on the board though which remains vacant.  Joe Simpson is now the President.  Simpson was the one the media racist and said he was being treated like a “nigger.”   (For the record I’m Black so I write that word out, it’s in the rule book!) when confronted about the pay raise.

One subject I rarely blog or talk about on the air is abortion.  I find these discussions usually to be counter-productive and all it does is inflame both sides of the issue and resolves nothing.

However, with recent marking of the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, even though I argue the more relevant legal authority is Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvannia v. Casey, I have reflected more on the subject as of late.

My thoughts have always been would turning the abortion issue back over to the states really solve anything?  A couple years ago The Atlantic did an analysis of  state abortion laws and found that if the issue was turned back over to the states no woman would ever be more than a half-day drive, at best, from being from a state where the procedure was legal.

And for that matter would making abortion illegal altogether really make it go away?  We have tons of laws, making tons of things illegal, but our prison population continues to grow.

And speaking of prison, if abortion were made illegal, who goes to jail? The woman?  The doctor?  The doctor’s assistant?  The person who drove her to the clinic? Lots of questions.  I personally think the best way to deal with this issue is not through a change of law, but a change of heart.

By making sure women and men (I only know of one pregnancy that reportedly occurred without a man’s help) have access to birth control and information about preventive pregnancy measures, making adoption easier, foster care more workable and going after men who won’t pay child support, would probably go a long way to reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies and making the abortion less of an issue.

Just a thought.

If you are African-American and read this blog on a regular basis, we need to talk.  If you’re white and reading this, just hang out for a moment.

Like you, I’m still amazed at the events of this week and the swearing-in of Barack Obama as President.  As I watched I thought of my deceased grandfather whose right to vote wasn’t codified into law until half his life was over and my eight-year old niece whose first real memory of a President will be someone who looks like her.   With Obama’s election, I argue a great barrier has fallen and race is no longer a deal breaker for African-American empowerment.

Now with that said, with great empowerment comes great accountability.  So the fact that Thursday’s four bus stop robberies of Kipp Charter school students are the latest example of black-on-black crime is ridiculous to no end!  It is high time that black communities have said enough to predatory behavior.  And while the residents of the Kipp Charter neighborhood are outraged and are saying enough is enough, there are too many black neighborhoods across this country where residents tolerate too much predatory behavior and the local power structure would spend more time chastising the police officer who had to use more force than usual to subdue a criminal rather than the criminal who who preyed on the community.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news folks, but in this age of hope and opportunity, you’re going to have realize that some people are just no damn good and will have to be written off.  Exactly how we write them off, I’m not totally sure yet but I’ll come up with something.  But a 16-year old standing on the corner waiting for a school bus should not have to worry about being robbed at gun-point for $2 in lunch money.  

Ask any crime statistician and they will tell you that most of the crimes are committed by the same people. It’s time to take those same people and politely, or not so politely, put them away, for good.

Three weeks into a legislative session full of some of the most important issues facing Indiana and you would have thought Indiana lawmakers would spend the day taking up the budget, property tax caps or  the economy.

You would think.

Today lawmakers talked about Sugar Cream Pie and its Hoosier heritage.

And that’s all they did.

I’ll let you go from there.