The Indiana State Teacher’s Association will file suit tomorrow arguing Indiana’s system of funding education violates state law and the State Constitution. ISTA argues the state has put mandates on schools to perform, but has not provided the necessary funding. Indiana is not alone, according to some research I did this morning, 37 states have been sued over education funding, 21 have been successful and nine are pending.

Dan Clark of ISTA says the organization is not asking for a property tax increase to pay for funding, but an increase in the income tax on the wealthiest of Hoosiers to close the gap. Clark downplayed the idea of forcing school districts to consolidate as a way to provide more dollars for schools, saying it should be voluntary.

However, as my good friend RiShawn Biddle reports on his Expresso web blog, ISTA could end up with a result it wasn’t expecting. Under the current formula districts that loose students have their funding phased out over three years while those who gain students get the funding phased in over three years. So a district like Hamilton County that is growing is negatively impacted, while those who lose students like IPS, get to keep their dollars.

If the funding formula is changed and the money follows the student immediately, this could have a serious deleterious effect on the schools and districts that need the money the most.

Like I said, be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.

Voting Headaches

You heard it here first. Doris Anne Sandler told us this morning that while most of the testing went fine yesterday, there were problems with Washington and Decatur Township School Board ballots. She told us the machines could not read the ballots so now they will have to be hand counted. She expects thousands of ballots to be cast in the two races as they are the most contested school board races. Stay tuned.

Sex Offenders

An effort to put tougher penalties on sex offenders who come near schools or parks was postponed at Monday night’s city-county council meeting. Democrats failed to turn back a Republican effort to send a proposal back to committee that would fine sex offenders who come near parks or schools. Democrats said the measure was needed to protect children. Republicans argued the measure wasn’t tough enough and would be difficult to enforce.

This was a bad idea. Not because it cracked down on sex offenders, but it would be difficult to enforce. Who is going to spend all day writing tickets and looking for sex offenders in the park? And who is going to allow their child to be in a park unattended where a sex There are better ways to protect children from sex offenders.

Campaign Cash

The campaign finance reports are in. Democrat Melina Kennedy had more than $469,000 in cash on hand. Republican Carl Brizzi had more than $1.2 million.

Despite the fact I enjoy covering Indiana state and local government and the politics that permeates them both, every once in a while I like to leave and return to the home state of Illinois. I check on the house, play comedian, visit with old girlfriends, make new girlfriends and have the best alcoholic beverages a couple bucks can buy at a place called the Brewhaus in downtown Springfield. However, things still take place here that require my attention. Allow me to elaborate on a few items to keep track of…

Brizzi v. Kennedy

Although they won’t speak to me, I think I can make an educated guess that the Kennedy camp is taking advantage of the latest bad news to hit Republican opponent Carl Brizzi. In last Thursday’s Star it was reported that the Indiana Court of Appeals overturned an ex-FSSA caseworker’s conviction for obstructing justice in the death of a four-year old boy placed for adoption.

I read the opnion and the panel ruled the criminal charges were filed too late against Denise Moore of Indianapolis. Under Indiana law a prosecution for a Class D felony is forbidden unless it is commenced with five years of the offense. Moore’s attorney had raised the issue at the trial level but was overruled. The Appellate Court ruled that Moore’s acts occurred on November 11, 1998, more than five years before the charges were filed on February 19, 2004. The court also held Moore did not have the requisite intent to obstruct justice in the investigation. They did find her negligent, but that is not a crime under Indiana law. Brizzi’s office plans to appeal to the Supreme Court. My money is they will argue that Moore’s actions continued past the November 11 date and therefore were within the statute of limitations.

Obviously this is not good news for Brizzi’s office and the Kennedy folks probably had that in mind with a number of billboards apparently up around town. I came across two on west 16th street. They look like the Kennedy campaign sign, except it reads “Results Matter?” I was a little confused at the sign at first not knowing if it was pro-Kennedy or pro-Brizzi? I later pulled up closer and saw that it was paid for by the Kennedy campaign. The billboards make perfect sense as long as the public knows what’s being hinted at. People who read this posting do as you tend to be more informed than the average person. It remains to be seen if they will resonate with the public.

I called the GOP for their reaction (remember the Kennedy folks don’t speak to me) Marion County GOP Executive Director Mike Biberstine told me if results matter, then the public should know when Kennedy was the head of economic development the city’s unemployment rate increased. In those words reveals an interesting strategy that if under Kennedy’s economic leadership the unemployment rate increased, then it would also stand to reason that as unemployment increases, so does crime. You connect the dots.

Regardless, Kennedy will have a victory this week at the City-County building as the Council takes up the ordinance that would fine sex offenders. It is being sponsored by Mary Moriarty-Adams. Kennedy and Adams announced the proposal at a joint news conference a while back.

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One of Indiana’s top political pundits, Brian Howey, has re-tooled his website to create a much more user-friedly design. There is a scrolling ticker with daily headlines, political photos, breaking news, and, perhaps most notably, original commentary from your humble Indiana Barrister contributors. Both Abdul and myself contribute semi-regularly, as do a few other diverse writers. Be sure to check out the newly designed Howey Political Report.

On the day the Governor signs the lease of the Indiana Toll Road, the Citizens Action Coalition filed suit in St. Joseph County trying to block the deal. The group is holding a news conference Wednesday afternoon at the Statehouse, but as the Indianapolis Star reports the gist of their compliant is that the Indiana Constitution requires the proceeds from any state-owned asset must go toward paying down public debt.

This argument would work if the State were selling to Toll Road, but it isn’t, it’s leasing it. Governor Daniels has explicitly stated that he does not support any plan to sell one of the state’s most valuable assets. Throughout the terms of the lease, Indiana will always own the road. The Governor also opposes any attempt to redirect the funds to other areas of the state budget.

If you need further explanation, just look in the dictionary.

Webster Definitions:
Lease — a contract by which one conveys real estate, equipment, or facilities for a specified term and for a specified rent.
Sale — the act of selling; specifically : the transfer of ownership of and title to property from one person to another for a price

Major Moves is not unconstitutional because the Governor is not selling the toll-road, he’s leasing it, therefore; under Indiana Law he is not required to deposit the funds generated from the lease to pay off the general debt and that he may use the funds in which ever way he chooses.

There’s another argument the group could use to block Major Moves, but this one isn’t it.

That was the ratio yesterday of pro-immigration supporters to counter demonstrators at the downtown immigration rally. According to city officials, about 20,000 demonstrators showed up to march in support of illegal immigrants. The fact that so many people came out to march in downtown Indianapolis, as well as other places around the country, shows that it is time to change the dynamics of the illegal immigration debate.

Instead of this “bumper sticker” mentality of “round them up and send them back” (which sounds better in the original German by the way), it’s time to accept the reality of the situation on the ground. I offer this compromise…

1. Seal the border (the anti-immigration people are happy)
2. Create a permanent worker status class for the people already here
3. Make English the official language of the government of the United States so all domestic work is conducted in the same language.
4. Allow immigrants to receive government benefits if they pay for it.
5. Replace the income tax system with a national retail sales tax so all immigrants pay taxes.

I believe in obeying the law, but I’m also practical enough and smart enough to know that when the law doesn’t work, it needs to be changed. Let me know your thoughts.

When it comes to immigration reform, we have met the enemy and he is us. Confused, don’t be because you’re not alone. Since there are rallies scheduled for around the country today, including Indianapolis, I decided to look at some polling data to see exactly where the American people are on the illegal immigration issue. I got the information from www.pollingreport.com. The results were a little surprising, but at the same time very revealing.

Let me give you a snapshot. When asked whether illegal immigration was a serious, or somewhat serious problem, many Americans said “yes”.

Fox News — 90%
Time — 68%
Quinnipiac — 88%

However, when you ask if illegal immigrants are here to take jobs from Americans or do the work we won’t do, the dynamics change somewhat.

Fox News — 34-47%
Time — 35%-55%
AP — 29%-55%

One question that really got my attention was one asked by Fox news whether illegal immigration was more of a problem in your community? The answer was 50% “No”, 47% “Yes.” This question reminds me of the classic phrase “I hate Congress, but I love my Congressman.”

It’s poll numbers like these that explain why lawmakers don’t know what to do about immigration reform. They don’t know what to do because we don’t know what to do. As I said at the beginning, we have me the enemy and he is us.

I ran into Mike Edmundson last night. Mike is the Executive Director of the Indiana Democratic Party. I asked him about rumors that former Secretary of State Joe Hogsett is going to run for the job against Todd Rokita in the fall. Mike told me that Joe is not running for the job, but they are close to picking a candidate who will have strong bi-partisan appeal. I asked him if Deputy Mayor Steve Campbell was a possible candidate? Mike told me Steve would make a great candidate for higher office someday.

I stopped by Melina Kennedy’s fundraiser yesterday to see if the rumors were true that former Marion County Sheriff and Republican operative/power broker Jack Cottey. He was there. I asked why a long-time Republican would be at a Democratic event. Jack told me he’s been a long time east side resident and has a lot of Democratic friends. He said he was not there as a Republican, but a private citizen.

I asked him about criticism from some of his fellow GOPers, to which his response was that they should stop worrying about him and focus on winning elections. He said a lot of the criticism against him for attending is personal. Although Cottey appears to be throwing his support behind Kennedy, he told me he was not making a donation. He did get a round of applause when Melina introduced him to the crowd. I did call the Carl Brizzi campaign for reaction. Their response, “Jack is Jack.”

Speaking of the Kennedy campaign, I have not been their favorite person as of late. However I did have a productive conversation with one of her aides yesterday. The aide understood that I was not a GOP operative with an agenda, now all they need to do is get that into the heads of the rest of the campaign staff because the last thing you want to do is pick a fight with someone who has a broadcast tower. Maybe there will be peace in our time.

I’m told Republican Jack Cottey, former sheriff and power broker, will be in attendance tonight at a fund-raiser on the eastside for Democratic Candidate Melina Kennedy. I’m planning to make an appearance also, so I’ll let you know if it’s true. It will be interesting to see if Cottey is backing Kennedy in the Prosecutor’s race. His past escapades raise some interesting questions. This will be fun to watch. I’ll report back tomorrow.