The State of Massachusetts is expanding health care coverage to the state’s 500,000 uninsured, in part by making insurance mandatory to all residents. Supporters hope this form of “universal health care” becomes a model for the rest of the country. The plan will offer free or heavily-subsidized coverage to the poor; those who can afford it but refuse to carry it will face fines of over $1,000 a year and increasing tax penalties until they comply. Those already insured will see a small drop in their premiums. No new taxes are called for, as much of the money is expected to come from the state and federal reimbursements. In addition, employers who don’t currently provide health insurance will have to pay nearly $300 per employee. If signed into law, the bill would require all residents to be insured beginning in July 2007.

I guess one way to make sure everyone has insurance is to mandate it. If that’s the logic then one way to fight hunger is mandate everyone eat. One way to fight violence is mandate everyone have a gun. One way to fight racism is to mandate everyone have a friend of a different race or ethnic group. You see where this is going. The problem with the mandate (apart from it being another government mandate) is that employers who don’t offer health insurance will see their costs increase. In order to cover the costs, employers will have to raise prices, cut their own profits, or fire someone to cover the increase. None of these are good options.

If the government truly wanted to bring down the costs of health care, it should ban employers from providing health insurance at all. The costs would drop because people would become a lot more frugal about what they spend their money on. In addition, take out the insurance factor you eliminate the need for administrative costs and for companies to make a profit. See costs start to drop. If someone is irresponsible and won’t pick up their own insurance and they get sick, well, you can’t save everybody.

I am not a big fan of mandates. Inherently they drive up the costs of business and disproportionately hit the smaller guys harder. Also if you think mandates work so well, may I remind you “thou shall not kill” has been on the books for a few thousand years.

We are entering the primary season here in Indiana. Voters will go to the polls on May 2 and choose a number of candidates in different races, some contested but many more not. Also a number of organizations, each with their own agenda, will encourage people to get out and vote. Not to date myself, but I grew up watching MTV and its ‘Rock the Vote’ drives. And even then I had to ask myself the question, why should we have to explain to people why it’s important to vote? And if we have to explain it to them, then maybe they shouldn’t be voting. Allow me to explain.

To me, voting is more of a responsibility than a right. As citizens we have a duty to choose men and women of good character and occasionally good cunning and send them to the Capital, city hall, township or school board office of our choice to represent our interests and make tough decisions. I personally want the best and brightest candidate for the job, but to get that I have to do my homework and research the candidates. By studying the candidate and the issues I can make an informed decision. However, some people are no industrious.

To me, there is no greater danger to a democracy than an uninformed electorate. They tend to ignore the issues and once they decide to pay attention, make bad choices, which usually people like me have to deal with the consequences. So my advice to those people this election season who do not study issues or candidates, is do everyone a favor and stay home. That’s right, don’t vote!!!

Hear me out on this one. We don’t want bad cops enforcing the law. We don’t want bad doctors performing surgery. We don’t want bad teachers educating our children. So why would we want a bad voter casting a ballot. Why should my informed and educated decision be negated by a mouth-breathing, slack-jawed, sloping forehead, knuckle-dragging troglodyte? Exactly! The scary thing is deep down many of you feel this way, you just won’t admit it.

You may be thinking everyone has the right to vote, and they do. But just because we have the right to do something, doesn’t mean we should. And when our actions will do more harm than good then I think we have a responsibility to sit this one out. This applies whether the voter is a wealthy, suburban straight-ticket voter or inner city welfare recipient who supports the status quo.

I don’t want drunk drivers on the road and uneducated and uninformed voters walking into a ballot booth. They both do more harm than good in the long run. And while we can pass laws to crack down on drunk drivers, unfortunately we can’t do the same for idiots and morons. So my advice this election season is if you’re informed, educated and up on the issues please go vote. If this was Chicago were I grew up, I’d say do it early and do it often. But since this is Indiana, I’ll say just do it.

I’ve recently come under attack in the blogosphere for the story I wrote earlier this on Melina Kennedy, the Democratic candidate for County Prosecutor, letting her law license lapse for nine months prior to getting ready to run for the office. I’ve been called almost every name in the book. That doesn’t bother me, because I’ve been called worse by women I’ve dated. However, I think it’s important to set a couple items straight. I’ve used some of the text in an earlier post to make this response. Hey, why tamper with genius?

My critics have accused me of fishing for a story. They’re right. It’s what reporters and pundits do. We look for information, do a little checking and if it’s worth reporting, we do. My only agenda is to inform the public and let them make up their own minds.

With respect to the Melina story, when I found out about the information I gave her campaign 24 hours to come up with a response. Instead they just said it didn’t matter and was immaterial. The experience issue is going to dog Melina in this campaign and their response doesn’t help. I don’t think the fact she was pregnant with twins would have totally quashed the question but it would have been better than saying it doesn’t matter. All the Kennedy folks had to say was that she pregnant with twins, and had so many responsibilities that keeping up with the CLE (Continuing Legal Education) requirements would have been too much for her, so she put her priorities in order. She knew she was going to renew her license eventually and that’s what she did. She would have been questioned about the timing, but it would have been a much better response. Maybe they should hire me to run campaign communications.

If Melina was going to let her license lapse, her campaign should have known and been ready to respond. When I called her campaign with the initial information I was asked what rumor mill did I get the information from, and I told them the Indiana Roll of Attorneys. I will go so far as to speculate that her own campaign staff was not aware of this information. That is frightening. For the campaign not to know that crucial information and not have an answer for it when it comes up is ridiculous.

I’m told Melina will make an appearance on another radio talk show today and likely tell why she let her license lapse for nine months. The host is friendly to the Kennedy camp so it’s not like she will get any tough questions. And knowing the host, any intelligent questions for that matter. If I were a strategist for the campaign, I’d do it too.

And I also find it interesting that is labeled as GOP dirty tricks. I argue this is one of those rare instances where the local GOP got it right. They’ve known about this for a while, but never said anything. They just waited for someone in the media to start asking questions. The way the local folks have dropped the ball lately, I was surprised they got this right. Usually when they make a firing squad, they’re in a circle.

If anyone should be upset, it should be Melina at her staff. A campaign with this much at stake can’t afford to make these kinds of stupid mistakes. By saying it doesn’t matter, they just gave the Brizzi folks a campaign commercial. What kind of political strategy is that? I think it’s one that shows these folks may want to do some reorganization now, before it’s too late.

The following is a guest submission from Mike Sylvester, Chairman of the Libertarian Party of Allen County.
How soon we forget their promises…
by Mike Sylvester

Many of our current City Councilmen (Especially the Republicans) ran on a platform that condemned annexation.

The proposed Carroll Road annexation received preliminary approval from The Fort Wayne City Council on March 21st. All five Republicans and all four Democrats voted for the resolution. Our Democratic Mayor supports this annexation as well. This proposed annexation will bring 4311 more residents into the grand City of Fort Wayne; whether they like it or not.

I attended the informational meetings The City of Fort Wayne held for the residents earlier this year. It was quickly apparent that a vast majority of the residents did not want to be annexed. The residents were proudly informed that every Mayor in the history of Fort Wayne has annexed at least one area. The residents were told and I quote “We are not annexing you to help your community; we are annexing you to help other areas of Fort Wayne.” The residents were further told and I quote “You should be proud to be annexed into Fort Wayne. There will be no benefit for you; however, your tax dollars will improve the entire community.”

The residents were told that Fort Wayne was aggressively pursuing the seizure of Aqua Indiana North’s assets with eminent domain and that this was a top priority. The residents were informed that 15% of the sewers operated by The City of Fort Wayne are located outside of the city limits. The residents were told that Dupont road will not be widened near the new Wal Mart for at least ten years. The residents were told to expect property tax increases of 35.3% if they reside in Perry Township and 38% of they reside in Washington Township.

I hope that these future Fort Wayne residents have a good memory and vote appropriately in 2007 for some new City Council representatives and for a new Mayor.

The Republicans and Democrats in Fort Wayne are very similar. They agree on every major issue and there is little, if any, disagreement about anything of importance. The only time they seem to disagree is during the elections when they are running for office and trying to show us how different they are. Our City Council and Mayor both support expanding Fort Wayne through annexation, believe that it is a good idea to seize private property with eminent domain when it suits them, and absolutely refuse to consolidate some services with Allen County to give the taxpayers a break on their property taxes.

I hope the voters send the “Republicrats” and the “Demopublicans” a message in the next several elections. It is time for a change in Fort Wayne. Please feel free to contact me at 338-0833 or by email at Mike.Sylvester@Verizon.net or join the discussion on the web at http://allencountylp.blogspot.com/.

To understand the head basketball coaching position at Indiana University, you have to understand that basketball is woven into the cultural fabric of Indiana. It ranks third behind God and family in importance to many of the state’s citizens, so it’s no easy task to lead a flagship team. Just ask Coach Norman Dale of the Hickory Huskers.

But it is possible, as Branch McCracken and Bob Knight have proven, and Kelvin Sampson – reported to be Indiana’s new leader – appears perfectly poised to fill the role. Sampson’s 1-3-1 motion offense, gritty defense and relentless recruiting will excite the Hoosier fan base. Hoosiers understand the game’s particulars like few others and whether a coach runs a motion offense, like Bob Knight, or a set offense, like Mike Davis and most of the NBA, matters to those who take the sport seriously.

For Coach Sampson, his style has paid dividends. He possesses the highest winning percentage in Oklahoma history (.721), 8 straight 20-win seasons, and has won more Big 12 games than any coach in the conference’s history. His team has played in post-season tournaments in each of his 11 seasons at OU. All of this, it must be remembered, was done at a school not considered a basketball power before his arrival. It’s no wonder that he has twice been named the national coach of the year.

But beyond wins and offensive schemes, Hoosiers are culturally connected to the sport and so the coach must be as well. Jason Whitlock writes about this in a splendid ESPN column that argues the IU coach must have “unbridled love all things Hoosier, even the hokey, old-school traditions.” For Coach Sampson, this doesn’t appear to be a problem. A Sooners Illustrated article quotes him as saying, “I truly love Oklahoma, but Indiana is a program that all coaches hope to coach at one day, and once they offered it was just one of those programs that I couldn’t turn down.”

But for a state so passionate you can expect some naysayers and they will undoubtedly point to a three-year investigation by the NCAA into recruiting violations at Oklahoma, including 550 illegal calls made by Sampson and his staff to potential recruits. Although the NCAA decision on its investigation isn’t expected until April, Oklahoma voluntarily put itself on a two year probation that limited scholarships and salary increases.

If this cloud of controversy weren’t enough for detractors, they might point to a subpar graduation rate. One year the official school graduation rate measured a frightening zero percent. But as Steve Wieberg writes in USA Today, the reporting methods are highly flawed for not taking transfers into account, or those who don’t graduate in six years.

Sampson does not come to IU squeeky clean, but no coach who’s been doing it for 20 years can. The bottom line is that Sampson is a proven winner whose style of play, consistent success, and love for Indiana will mesh well with the Hoosier faithful. Indiana basketball is back in a big way.

Believe it or not, the race I think I will enjoy watching the most this election season may also be the one I least enjoy, the Marion County Prosecutor’s race. As you know Republican incumbent Carl Brizzi will face Democratic challenger Melina Kennedy. Both are smart, capable attorneys as I have written before. And we pundits have labeled this as the one of the most important races in Indiana this year. There are very high stakes involved and no candidate can afford too much of a screw up. And while I don’t think what I am about to write will derail the Kennedy campaign, this certainly won’t help.

One of the big criticisms against Kennedy is her experience, or lack thereof, in trying cases. She has a lot of policy experience, but not a lot of flight time in the courtroom. And a check of the Indiana Roll of Attorneys only adds to that problem for the Democrat. Allow me to explain. An attorney can only practice in Indiana if they are considered to be on the “active” roll. An attorney on “inactive” status cannot practice law. An attorney remains on active status by paying their annual dues ($105), taking the proper amount of Continuing Legal Education classes (CLEs) and not doing anything unethical and getting disbarred. A notice goes out to attorneys in August that they have to pay their bar dues by October 1, or pay a late fee to be returned to active status.

The potential problem for Kennedy is that for nearly nine months, September 18, 2004 through June 6, 2005, Kennedy was on the inactive list. She left the Mayor’s office in September 2005, created an exploratory committee for prosecutor in October 2005 and officially field for prosecutor on February 1, 2006. Kennedy would not have been able to legally serve as prosecutor one year prior to forming her exploratory committee.

Usually when attorneys go on “inactive” status it is because they leave the state, the profession or have committed some misconduct. Sometimes, like me earlier this year, they forget to pay their registration fee. They send in a check and get back on the list. I sent mine after getting the letter in the mail and am in good standing in the State of Illinois. To the best of my knowledge, none of those circumstances apply to Kennedy, which makes the nine-month absence rather odd. Why would someone who is considering running for Prosecutor, who knows experience will be an issue, take a nearly nine-month absence from the active list? She was still in the Mayor’s office while inactive. While she could not practice law, she was still a key aide to Mayor Peterson in the area of economic development.

Kennedy did become a mother in January, but many women have children and maintain their law license and never go on the inactive rolls. This will likely be a major campaign issue. It goes to the issue of experience and it also poses some questions as to why would Kennedy go on the inactive list and renew four months before forming a committee to explore running for County Prosecutor? She had been rumored to be a candidate for months to challenge Brizzi. One could speculate that she was planning to leave the profession and take up motherhood, but was later convinced by the powers that be to run for prosecutor so she renewed her license. But that’s speculation.

I asked the Kennedy camp about this entire situation this afternoon. The response from campaign manager Andy Miller and spokesman Tim Moriarty was essentially, “It doesn’t matter.” They maintain that Kennedy’s work in the Mayor’s office fighting domestic violence and promoting economic development are experience enough. They also point to her work on the State Supreme Court and the fact she is in good standing now. They argue Kennedy’s experience speaks for itself and they don’t see how not being able to practice law for close to nine months is an issue.

While the Democrats don’t think it’s an issue, the Republicans will likely make it one. Marion County GOP Chairman Mike Murphy said “the nine-month lapse reveals Kennedy was not serious about being prosecutor or a lawyer.” This is just the beginning.

I doubt if this issue will kill her campaign, but it won’t go away and it definitely doesn’t help, unless you’re talking about her opponent. If I were the Melina Kennedy, I would use a better argument than “it doesn’t matter” because trust me, it will.

Those are the words of the Chairman of the Marion County Public Library. I spoke with Lou Mahern this morning about the problems the library has been facing lately. Mahern told me that the library has had its problems, but it is still one of the most efficient library systems in the country.

He said the library is working to be efficient with taxpayers’ money. He criticized a proposal by City-County Council member Ike Randolph to have the Library settle its litigation with binding arbitration. Mahern said there are at least 12-14 parties involved in the litigation and they aren’t sure who all the parties are. He was more open to the idea of privatization, acknowledging that the Library has privatized a number of services.

Mahern defended the raise for CEO Linda Mielke, saying she done a good job at keeping the library running in an efficient manner. At the end of the interview he issued a challenge for anyone to tell him “what has the library done wrong?” Somehow I think Mahern may not have much trouble getting that question answered.

Here we go again! The fight over public prayer in the legislature may be moving from the Statehouse to the City-County Building. City-County Councilmember Roselle Boyd warned the Council they may have to eliminate sectarian prayers at the opening of the session if the state loses its own prayer battle in federal court. Some council members oppose any change. Republican Scott Schneider says he’ll fight any effort to change prayer before the council sessions. A few months ago City-County Councilor Angela Mansfield sent an e-mail to her fellow councilors warning them the body could be looking at litigation if it did not end sectarian prayers. Lord help me, here we go again!

The Republican Leader of the Indianapolis City-County Council is planning to introduce a resolution Monday that will call for all governments in Marion County to come together and come up with a comprehensive five-year budget plan to address local needs and save taxpayers money. Phil Borst tells me that it’s time for everyone to put together a plan that addresses Marion County’s budget situation. The plan would tackle law enforcement, fire services and government administration. The plan would be drafted by June 1, 2006.

This sets up an interesting dynamic. Last Wednesday, the Council had a public hearing on whether to raise the county economic development income tax as away to offset losses from the phase out of the inventory tax and loss assessment from property tax relief provided by the state. Councilmember Jackie Nytes, a Democrat, told me that the city and county needs to look for ways to raise revenue. If this debate continues the way I think it will Democrats will phrase the tax argument as looking for responsible ways to fund government. Republicans will say that this about squeezing every dime out of government before going to the taxpayers.

Marion County townships are expected to lose anywhere from 9 to 14 percent in their assessed evaluations so the need for some revenue stream is going to be very pressing. The voters don’t like tax increases. Major bills are continuing to come due. The library system is a disaster. There is an election coming up. Police consolidation is trolling along and there will be a call from one city-county council member tomorrow to delay the merger and try to realize more short-term savings while the bigger issues can be worked out over time. Fire consolidation is still out there. If you thought things were bad before, in the immortal words of Al Jolson, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

I’ll be out chasing the President today. In the interim, here’s what I learned on the show this morning…

Major Moves

INDOT Commission Tom Sharp says the agency is up to the task of implementing Major Moves. Last year, an evaluation of state agencies showed INDOT needed the most improvement. He says since then, the agency has “re-engineered” itself, filled necessary positions and moved employees around for more efficiency.

Sharp also tells me the idea of moving I-69 west to connect with I-70 doesn’t look feasible. He says I-70 and 465 were not designed to deal with the increase in traffic that 69 would bring. He also says the area is prone to flooding and there are environmental concerns that must be addressed.

Indiana Voting

The Vice-Chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission says Indiana is actually ahead of the curve when it comes to voting. Ray Martinez says Indiana is in compliance with the Help America Vote Act that mandates the creation of statewide voter registration lists for federal elections. Election officials across the state have been testing the system in a mock election. Despite some technical glitches, Martinez says Indiana is doing much better than other states. It’s nice to be number one in something other obesity, foreclosures and adults without a college degree.

Bart Peterson

Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson says the police consolidation merger is going much smoother than expected, despite reported problems over uniforms and pension obligations. The Mayor says costs considerations will be the final determination over the Department’s new uniforms, however he admits that it would likely be cheaper to fit 400 Sheriff’s deputies into new uniforms than all the officers in the police department.

The Mayor also commented on the proposed increase in the County Economic development Income Tax. Proponents say the tax is needed to offset the loss in property tax revenue due to the increase in the Homestead Exemption as well as the phase out of the inventory tax. The Mayor says he would veto the measure if needed, but he doesn’t think it would pass the full council.