My friend Paul Musgrave offers an interesting post on a growing problem in Hoosier government.

A while ago, I noted that the Government Accounting Standards Board had proposed new rule changes that will leave many governments with billions more in liabilities than had previously been disclosed. Howey notes that Indiana State Auditor Connie Nass wants to do a study of how much Indiana’s guarantee of lifetime health care for its state legislators will cost. It could be as much as a billion dollars. (!)

What’s more interesting to me, however, is that if the cost just for Indiana’s legislators is that high (we’re talking about apparently several million dollars per legislator!), what does that mean for all the other state employees who are soon to be retired?

Doug Masson has more thoughts on it all and the new accounting rule.

Please pardon me while I use this space to plug two sets of two AFC Divisional playoff tickets for sell on eBay. Here’s the first set and here’s the second set. The two sets are next to each other and provide a great opportunity for a group of four.

Members of the Indiana House of Representatives opened the 2005 session today, but prayer was not part of the official procedure. A bi-partisan group of lawmakers gathered for an informal prayer before the opening gavel fell. Speaker Brian Bosma told the chamber the informal prayer meets with the spirit and letter of a federal ruling banning specific references to Christ or other deities. Bosma said because the prayer was done before session, by an informal group of lawmakers and in the back of the room, they kept with Judge David hamilton’s order. By the way, Christ was mentioned between 3-5 times for those of you counting. He said the informal prayers will continue throughout the session. The suit was filed by the Indiana Civil Liberties Union and is being appealed. Briefs should be done in about a month.

Attorney General Steve Carter continues to crack down on those violating the state’s do-not-call list, most recently filing suit against five Florida companies. Here’s portions of the press release from his office:

Five Florida businesses and at least three individuals are being sued for making and orchestrating hundreds of illegal sales calls to citizens registered on Indiana’s Do Not Call list announced Attorney General Steve Carter today. The unsolicited, pre-recorded telemarketing calls promoted vacation packages and were either from “Michelle” with Vacation Depot or USA Travel and “Jessica” with Premier Travel.

There are more than 670 complaints filed against “USA Travel”, “Vacation Depot”, “Premier Travel” and “Gold Coast Resorts”, all fictitious business names used by the defendants Gome Enterprise, Inc., Funco Resorts Inc., Total Marketing Group Inc., JNS Design Group, Inc., Zfone Voip, Inc., Anthony Digiacomo (Dee-jack-o-mo), Enrique Gomis, Mikael Schultz, and other unnamed defendants. The state alleges the defendants violated the state’s Do Not Call law and federal Telephone Consumer Protection law from July 2004 to the present.

This is the second lawsuit filed against a company for violating the state’s Do Not Call law. Last August, a Madison County Court ordered an Anderson man to pay $100,000 for violations of the law. The attorney general’s office filed this first lawsuit in May after Gabrial Gouvas failed to comply with the law, and refused to enter into a negotiated settlement for complaints the office received.

Note, this is pure speculation on my part! If I am wrong, I will take the blame. House Republican Speaker Brian Bosma told us in the media this afternoon to “wait until tomorrow” to see how they handle the prayer situation. Lawmakers are under a federal court order to not hold any sectarian prayers while in session. However, I think I know how they will manage to have prayer and not defy Judge David Hamilton’s injunction. If it were me, I would let members know we gather informally, make it clear we are not in session, have the prayer and later formally convene. The House rules clearly spell out when lawmakers are in session so as long as they adherence to a strict interpretation of the rules, I think they can pull it off. Once again, this is pure speculation on my part. If I’m right, I’m a genius. If I’m wrong, it was a decent guess and hopefully I’ll have better luck next time.

If Statehouse Republicans decide to make it tougher for the Indiana Stadium Building Authority to take land from the NK Hurst Bean Company they could get some help from across the aisle. Some lawmakers were furious the authority filed an eminent domain against NK Hurst, knowing that tougher laws were on the way. House Democratic Leader Pat Bauer says if they can legally make the tougher laws retroactive, his party will go for it. House Speaker Brian Bosma says the issue is still under review. Governor Mitch Daniels says he’s hopeful the two sides can work things out, but he doesn’t have a problem with toughening Indiana’s eminent domain laws.

Is there more to the eminent domain conflict involving N.K. Hurst than meets the eye? There could be. Sources tell me that at least one member of the Indiana Stadium Building Authority warned the group about filing suit against N.K. Hurst. I’m told Authority member John Mutz, the legislative appointment to the board, cautioned the members that filing suit would be seen as an end run around the legislature and lawmakers would be fit to be tied. And remember, this is an election year. The vote total whether to proceed with eminent domain is still unclear at this point. I plan to find out later today. It will also be interesting to get the insights from State Rep. Jeff Espich and State Sen. Luke Kenley. They sit on the Authority in an advisory capacity. Stay tuned…

The Courier & Press notes that a 3.6 magnitude earthquake struck southern Illinois yesterday and was felt in large portions of southern Indiana. This page offers more information from the U.S. Geological Survey. The epicenter was 46 miles from Evansville.

Citizen Magazine, a publication of Focus on the Family, is carrying a cover story about blogging titled “Pajama activists.” The article is a general one about blogging, and it also features me and In the Agora (ITA). Generally the piece is good but it’s worth noting that ITA is a nationally-focused blog, which isn’t entirely clear from the article. Most of my local and Indiana blogging is done here. Moreover, the law school reporting was actually done at IndyLaw Net, not here. Nevertheless the article is a good primer for those not yet familiar with blogging. Because the market for nationally-focused blogs is largely taken, local niche blogging remains the future in my opinion. That’s why I offered this quote:

“Mainstream media probably wouldn’t have cared even if they had known because it wasn’t that big a story. But that’s an example of a niche story. When you think of small niches, you realize there are all these small pockets that are being ignored, and blogging – which is so easy, so simple – can do it.”

News that Gov. Kathleen Blanco plans to spend thousands renovating the Louisiana State Capitol reminds me of an older post of mine discussing the architecture of such projects.

Courthouses and state capitols have both a practical and symbolic impact on all Americans and American communities. Traditionally they’re important meeting places – for celebrations, town meetings, religious services, etc. Before the last few decades, the courthouse was the largest and most prominent building in a town/county and was stationed on a square at the city’s center. Its most important role, of course, has been as a house of justice. Therefore the building, both because of its practical and symbolic purposes, demands an architectural design worthy of such a role.

The design of a state capitol and courthouse is a balancing act between local character and the architectural vocabulary of ancient Greece as a way to connect the principles and virtues of the world’s first democracy with our own American ideals. In many ways “the Greek temple became the model for American ‘temples of Justice’ and a visual metaphor for democracy,” as author Blair Kauffman put it. These Greek and Roman flavors were important to a young republic, yet so was diversity of styles as a way of distinguishing a county from its neighbors.

Sadly, most of these guiding forces have vanished from modern designs. As caseloads grew and government expanded, so too did building needs. Some cities, such as Indianapolis, were able to incorporate the older, traditional-style statehouse into a new collection of modern government buildings. But others, such as my own Evansville, abandoned the smaller, flavorful building in favor of a bigger, boring, drab complex. Is this move a reflection of our young republic’s changing view of its practical purpose, its symbolic role as Justice, or both? Or is it simply tight budgets and unimaginative public officials? I’m not sure, but I think it’s high time we bring the traditional state capitol and courthouse back into prominence.