It’s amazing what happens when all your political friends (Republicans, Democrats and Libertarians) all get in one room full of alcohol, food and good will. You get good gossip. Let the games begin…

City Budget Blues

Mayor Bart Peterson and Governor Mitch Daniels are currently negotiating how of the city will get back in alcohol excise taxes. The city says its owed $13 million in back taxes. The state is offering nearly $7 million.

Speaking of money, state officials say the responsibility for finding $10 million in operating expenses for the new Lucas oil stadium is the city’s responsibility. They say the agreement clearly spells out those duties. Stay tuned.

Carmel Performing Arts Center

I found out tonight the Carmel Performing Arts Center is over-budget. It’s over budget to the tune of $35 million. Originally the Center was to cost $85 million, now it’s $115 million.

Good News and Bad News for Kennedy

You would think that a WISH-TV News poll showing Democratic Candidate Melina Kennedy in a statistical tie with Republican incumbent Carl Brizzi would be good news. However, some key Democratic operatives say it’s not a good measure of the race, although everyone admits it will be close.

Also the IPD Fraternal Order of Police is putting out a statement saying Kennedy has been attending officer roll calls and the officers have been forced to listen to her campaign statements on government time. This can’t be good.

Raising the Bar for Government

My good friend Matt Tully, Indy Star Columnist, will have a great piece Wednesday on the Carson Center bar controversy. He names even more politically connected individuals. This can’t be good either.

A quick word of thanks to the Indiana Lawyer for mentioning Indiana Barrister in its “Land of ‘blawgs'” feature.

Without question, health care will be a major issue in the 2008 presidential election. Most polls rank it among the most important in the eyes of voters, including this Harris Poll (pdf) which suggests that it will influence 40% of voters. And though health care would be a major issue in its own right, Michael Moore’s forthcoming “documentary” on the subject, titled “Sicko,” will only raise its profile with voters. As Roger Friedman of Fox News wrote, “From the little we saw last night, it is clearly going to be a huge, huge hit…another cultural phenomenon.”

With so much attention being paid to the topic it’s important for poliy wonks like Indiana Barrister readers to be well-read on it. Ezra Klein, one of the leading lights of the leftist blogosphere, recently penned a post on the problems with consumer-driven health care, focusing in particular on the lack of knowledge and information that most patients have in evaluating health care:

Over in the Wall Street Journal, more empirical scorn is being heaped on consumer-drected health care, this time in the form of a study showing that consumers have absolutely no idea what good health care is. Researchers from the Rand Corp., UCLA, and Department of Veteran’s Affairs had 236 elderly patients in two major managed care plans rate the quality of their health care. Satisfaction was high, with the average rating a super 8.9.

Then the researchers sat down to rate the care these same patients received. They compared care received to care that should have been received, checking on fundamental metrics like whether a patient received aspirine within an hour of being diagnosed with acute myocardial infraction. Scores plummeted. Despite the high level of patient-satisfaction, the researchers gave the care a failing grade of 5.5. More interesting, the patients who rated their care as a 10 were just as likely to be getting low-quality care as those who reported a 5.

The problem? Patients are not qualified to evaluate good care. They’re qualified to evaluate whether the doctor was nice to them, whether he explained things clearly, whether the wait time was short and the experience pleasant. They do not know how well their care matched up to accepted standards of care, and they do not know whether the treatments they were given were comprehensive, well-targeted, or adeptly conducted.

The thrust of Klein’s argument, of course, is that we’re too stupid to handle our health care on our own. That philosophy is nothing new from the left. It is, after all, the basis of Social Security – you’re too stupid to plan for your own retirement.

The philosophy isn’t wholly without merit. I don’t know what procedures are necessary for a given symptom, and I’m not always well versed on costs. But there are rough analogies to work from. Cars are incredibly complex machines that I know very little about, yet the government doesn’t step in to make sure I’ve received good care. Similarly we rely on a privately hired inspector before purchasing a house. The obvious difference, of course, is that a shoddy car repair doesn’t always end your life; poor health care can.

Ultimately consumer-driven advocates must come up with an acceptible answer to Kelin’s argument, and it can’t involve involve complex economic theory. Otherwise Europe and Canada’s socialized health care system will come to the US to roost.

On September 11, 2001 I was on my way from Springfield, IL to Bloomington, IL to buy a new car. There is a Mitsubishi plant there and I liked the model. On the way there on I-55 I had the radio on. I was listening to the local news when it was reported a plane had hit one of the Twin Towers. Like many of you I thought it was a small plane and did not think more of it. That was until the next 767 hit. My 60-mile drive became a very surreal experience. I didn’t know exactly what to think until I got to the dealership. They had on Fox News. I can still hear the newscast and see the pictures of the flames and rubble in my mind’s eye. Oddly enough I did complete my transaction and later drove to the home of my best friend. I sat and watched ABC News for an hour. That was where I saw the second plane hit the tower. I got in my car and drove back to Springfield. Being the state Capitol you would expect it to be busy, but it became ghost town. The government was closed and most of the city was shut down. I spent the rest of the day watching footage.

It took a while for me to fully grasp what had happened. My grandfather had Pearl Harbor. I had 9/11. For the next couple weeks I couldn’t look in the sky at an airplane without thinking if that was the next one to be hijacked and turned into a weapon. 9/11 stuck with me for very long time. It even impacted my annual travel plans. I usually go to Seattle every other year for about 2-3 weeks. This year I wasn’t planning to go until a friend from law school told me, and it sounded corny at the time, “if you don’t go, the bad guys win.” Truer words were never spoken. I had to admit I was nervous but then I thought what idiot would try to hijack a plane with dozens of able-bodied American men and women who were willing to take action, particularly one who wouldn’t mind getting his picture on the cover of Time or Newsweek and becoming a hero. I actually had a good time.

I will admit having a name like “Abdul” in a post 9/11 world is something not a lot of people have to deal with. And for a while, I know some folks I met over the phone were relieved when they realized I was Black; although I do get the occasional reminder, even five years later. My second day at WXNT I got an e-mail from someone saying “they didn’t want to listen to no terrorist talk radio.” I wrote him back telling him he used a double negative which meant he did want to listen to terrorist talk radio. I couldn’t resist.

But the one thing 9/11 has taught me is to not let the bad guys win by changing what’s great about America, the free flow of debate and ideas. I have never subscribed to the theory that you can’t support the troops without the supporting the war. Or engaging in dissent only emboldens the enemy. America was founded on free speech, dissent and robust debate. The debate must be responsible and it must in context. But they day we censor ourselves because of what other people might hear is the day the bad guys win because they will have forever changed America, and not for the better.

Good News for Independents

There’s good news and bad news for political independents. The good news is the Cook Political Report shows that “independents” (36%) are polling higher than Republicans (29%) and Democrats (30%) and the number of people identifying themselves as “independent, and do not lean toward either party” is up to 18% from 10% in February. Tha”s a pretty significant change. The bad news though is that it also means that nearly 36 % of the population is also not being represented in our government.

City Budget

“Hizzoner” Mayor Bart Peterson announced a couple measures to fill a $10 million budget gap in the city’s budget. The Mayor is spending down some of the city’s fund balances and using money from the commercial vehicle excise tax and pension fund overpayment to pay for public safety. Three million will go towards this year’s budget while $7 million is for next year. The Mayor said he will announce more long-term measures to deal with the city’s financial problems later this year. I give the Mayor high marks for solving the current financial problem without a tax increase or more borrowing. However, I learned a long time ago in politics, that when you’re talking about how broke you are, keep the city employees out of the room unless you absolutely need them. I noticed about two dozen in the back at the news conference. It would have helped if they weren’t there. Just a future note for FYI.

Prayer Suit

House Speaker Brian Bosma gave us an update on the Prayer Lawsuit. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago will hear the case on Thursday. The Speaker also talked about a fund where the public could donate if they wanted to help pay for the suit. If you want a good study of the case law on legislative prayer, I recommend going to www.firstamendmentcenter.org. It’s a good website with a lot of information. A quick glance of some of the current case law from around the country, doesn’t look too good for Indiana. But with a court, you never can tell.

Brizzi Ads

Look for ads from Marion County Prosecutor Republican Carl Brizzi to begin Wednesday. A second set of Melina Kennedy ads, the Democratic challenger, should also be running.

A story in Friday’s Indianapolis Star reveals the IPS taxpayers could face a 37 percent increase in their property tax bills. The money is going toward school construction and other costs. The District has had to do some cost cutting, which includes the layoffs of teachers. As we complain about underperforming students and out of control budgets, I honestly think it’s time to rethink not only the way we operate schools but who runs them. We need to put the Mayor in charge of the schools. Think about it for a second.

What is a school board? It’s a group of people who got elected in May who nobody knows. A school board can raise your taxes and there’s no real accountability. It can under-perform when it comes to educating your children, and there’s no real accountability. How do you get accountability? Put one person in charge, the Mayor.

Now I’m not talking about Bart Peterson, per se. But I do think having the Mayor’s office in charge of schools means there is one person to point to when assigning credit or blame. It’s been done in other places: New York, Boston, Washington D.C., Chicago and Cleveland. Los Angeles, the nation’s second largest school district, the mayors there are looking at taking power from local school boards and shaking things up. The results have been mixed, but at the very least there is accountability.

I would rather have one person in charge and running an organization that educates my kids and spends my money than a bunch of nameless officials. We spend a lot of time talking about reforming schools. True change starts at the top. And it’s time to give the Mayor’s office control of the school district.

Stadium View
Republican County Councilor Ike Randolph is calling on the city to give up its luxury suites at the RCA Dome, Lucas Oil Stadium, Conseco and Victory Field House. In a news release issued Thursday afternoon Randolph said the private sector should pay for such accommodations, not the public sector. He also says with the operations costs for Lucas Oil Stadium slated to run nearly $10 million annually over budget, the city should not pay for luxury seating. At best Randolph says the city should sublease the suites. He is also filing a freedom of information request with Mayor Bart Peterson’s office to find out how much the city has spent on the suites at the Dome, Conseco and Victory Field since 2000.

Mayor’s Budget Blues
Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson says he will unveil his plan to full a nearly $10 million budget shortfall on Tuesday. The city needs the money to pay for public safety. The Mayor says in addition to a short-term funding solution, Indianapolis also needs a long-term one. He says his choices won’t be popular, but they are necessary. The Mayor’s options include increasing property taxes to pay for court expansion and raising the County Economic Development Income Tax. The city could not raise the CEDIT until March. A quarter percent increase would yield about $30 million.

Brizzi Gets Labor
Right before Labor Day Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi is announcing some labor endorsements. Teamsters Local 135, International Union of Operating Engineers 103, and AFSCME Locals 725, 1437, 3131 and 3766. Republicans normally don’t get union endorsements so this is newsworthy to that extent.

The Calm before the Storm

My sources tell me we could be sitting on two more homicides after a relatively quiet mid-August in Indianapolis. One person was nearly beaten to death and is not expected to make it. There has also been another shooting. Looks like things are getting back to normal.

Carl and Melina’s Continuing Domestic Dispute

The two candidates for Marion County Prosecutor continue their own domestic dispute over domestic violence. Democrat Melina Kennedy says Republican Carl Brizzi has dropped the ball on domestic violence prosecutions because she argues the conviction rate went from 37% in 2002 to 9% in 2005. I did some random checking on the stats both sides are using and noticed there are a lot cases where the domestic violence charge was dropped but a more serious charge (say criminal confinement or felony assault) was upheld. One person on the list I knew personally who was charged with domestic violence had the charges dismissed because hi wife lied. So it will be interesting to see how this all breaks down.

Lights, Camera, Community Service!

In partial response to the shenanigans at the second Indiana Black Expo weekend, city officials moving forward with a plan to install cameras in the downtown area, as well as the rest of the city. The primary purpose is to protect the city from terrorism. The money is coming from a department of Homeland Security grant. However, incidents like the ones shown on youtube.com (just type in Indiana Black Expo if you haven’t seen it) have motivated officials to move a little quicker. The nice part about all this is that if a young person is caught, arrested and convicted of a crime they can get community service. It may not sound like much, but think of this. A lot of these kids could use some hard work cleaning the city, cutting grass and helping board up abandoned buildings. Just to name a few. I’m ready for my close up Mr. Deville.

The BMV in 30 minutes or less

Indiana House Republicans are taking a page out of the Dominos Pizza handbook when it comes to the BMV. The GOP and their House candidates are proposing fee waivers if a customer has to wait more than 30 minutes before being served. In addition, they want to expand places where Hoosiers can get service such as the AAA Motor Club, auto dealerships, banks and insurance agencies. They also want to expand the number of days and times the BMV is open. The GOP says it wants to make the BMV more efficient and user friendly. In a bit of irony though, they had the news conference at the BMV on Virginia Ave in Indianapolis which ironically has two separate entrances, one for standard licenses and another for license renewal.

The two candidates for Marion County Prosecutor are dueling over domestic violence. Democrat Melina Kennedy accused Republican Carl Brizzi of dropping the ball on domestic violence cases, citing a drop in the conviction rate since Brizzi first took office. Kennedy argued the number of convictions dropped from 37 percent in 2002 to 9 percent in 2005. Brizzi argued the statistics are misleading. Saying prosecutors file numerous charges against defendants which end up dropped for more serious charges. Brizzi accused Kennedy of not understanding how the prosecutor’s office works because she’s never tried a case. Kennedy told me her campaign used cases filed, not charges filed to prove their point. In addition, Brizzi argued a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision has made it more difficult to win domestic violence cases because it limits the types of evidence that can be introduced. Kennedy acknowledged the Supreme Court case made winning domestic violence cases more difficult, but she said it is not impossible.

Here are a few items from around the area you might find interesting…

Greg Walker, the Republican who beat Senate Pro Tempore Bob Garton in the May primary , is having a hard time finding friends. Sources say no one in that neck of the woods is crazy about his candidacy and that could give his opponent, Democrat Terry Coriden a good shot at winning the seat in Senate District 41. And as one key Republican put it to me, “that wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.” Stay tuned.

Don’t expect to see a lot of Marion County Democrats this fall. Sources say party chairman Ed Tracey has told his party members to keep a low profile as he works on bringing out the vote. The strategy makes sense as the County trends more Democratic. And with the County’s recent crime and budget problems, and the way the Council was acting this summer, I’d stay low too if I were a D, and focus on voter turnout. Don’t lose sight of this one.

There’s a possible major scandal brewing in the City of Lawrence Police Department. When it breaks, it’s not going to be pretty. Pay attention.