I have always maintained that in politics if you stick around long enough, you will eventually see everything.   Already, my Democratic friends are lamenting that money from the lease of the Indiana Toll Road is about to expire.   And because there are still 69 years left on the lease they say that this clearly demonstrates the lease was shortsighted and bad public policy.

My how things gets curiouser and curiouser.  Please note while the Democrats opposed the Toll Road lease, they had no problem trying to divert the money from state road projects into education, Medicaid and whatever else they could get their hands on.  Ironically, they even supported efforts to block the deal from going through back in 2006 via a lawsuit.  Luckily no one had the more than billion dollars on hand to post the bond that would have been necessary to stop the deal.

I bring this up, because a couple things have been forgotten in all this.  First, the money from the lease of the toll road was never intended to be a long-term fix to Indiana’s transportation issues.  It was to help shore up a backlog of road projects.  In fact, taking a quick look at the Indiana Department of  Transportation’s website here’s what’s been done so far…

• 50 roadway projects complete and open to traffic
• More than 4,500 miles of road completed or repaired.
• 615 bridges rehabbed or replaced
• $6.5 billion invested in construction through FY 2011

And here’s what’s on schedule to be completed by 2015

• 87 roadways will be completed or substantially under construction
• 65 new or reconstructed interchanges
• 413 miles of new roadway will be constructed
• 6,350 mile of highway resurfaced-49 percent of the state’s inventory
• 1,070 bridges will be rehabilitated or replaced-19 percent of the state’s inventory
• More than $11 billion invested in Major New and Preservation

None of this would have happened without Major Moves.  I take that back.  It would have happened had the state kept the toll road under its control and used fees to pay for those projects.  It  just would have taken 50 years to generate the money needed to address one year of Indiana’s transportation needs.   And that doesn’t include the dollars needed for necessary maintenance on the road itself.

So before complaining about the money running out from the Toll Road deal, critics should ponder just how much road work was made possible by Major Moves.  Perhaps they can think about that on their next drive on U.S. 31, the Hoosier Heartland, Fort to Port, I-69 or I-465 or I-65 or I-70.

Ask not for whom the road tolls, it tolls for thee.

I decided to title this blog post after a phrase my grandmother used to use when dealing with silly people who would do nothing but waste her, and other people’s, valuable time.    Hopefully Mayor Greg Ballard will take my grandmother’s advice when dealing with some so-called “civil rights” leaders here in Indianapolis who want a say in who the next Public Safety Director should be.

They have penned a letter to the Mayor asking to be included in any community discussion and decision on who will replace Dr. Frank Straub when he steps down later this summer.  A full copy of the letter is available on the Indy Star’s Deep Fried Politics Blog.

I won’t reprint it because I won’t waste valuable server space on this one. But if you look at a list of the groups who signed the letter, these aren’t “civil rights” leaders this is the dark wing of the Marion County Democratic Party.   This list also includes some of the  same people who called the Mayor a racist in the last campaign and brought Al Sharpton here to breathe other people’s valuable air.

They haven’t  done one thing to improve the economic environment in Indianapolis.  They fought school choice and vouchers which would have helped get black children out of failing schools.  They marched for Trayvon Martin, but are nowhere to be found when a young black male is a murder victim.   In fact, as I really think about some of the people included in these organizations, my grandfather would likely call them some of the most “lazy, shiftless and useless colored people”  that ever shucked and jived on the face of the planet. Yeah, I said it.

So Mr. Mayor, pay them no mind.  You already working with a real group of Black leaders in this town that produce jobs, want to improve education, and actually show up when a Black youth has been murdered.  Keep doing what you’re doing.   Dealing with these groups will just make you think of that that United Negro College Fund slogan, “a mind is a terrible thing to waste.”

All political signs point to Indiana Republican Gubernatorial candidate Mike Pence picking State Representative Sue Ellspermann  as his running mate for Lt. Governor.

Ellsperman meets a number of criteria that would help Pence.  She is from southern Indiana, representing Warrick, Spencer, Perry and Dubois counties.

She is a small businesswoman, considered to a be moderate-conservative Republican, and she would bring balance to the ticket.  Most importantly, Pence will first announce his pick Monday morning in Evansville.

I am also told that the position was offered to current Lt. Governor Becky Skillman, but she declined.  We also hearing that John Gregg is looking at Ft. Wayne Mayor Tom Henry as a choice for Lt. Governor.  Also under consideration is Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski.

Libertarian Rupert Boneham has chosen former LP Executive Director Brad Klopfenstein as his running mate.

One of the big questions about Right to Work is would it actually produce any jobs?  It sure looks like it.

According to the  Indiana Chamber of Commerce, since RTW was passed 45 companies have told the state that RTW will factor into their decision-making process in choosing where to relocate.

Out of those 39, 45 are in the pipeline stage and account for more than 4,500 projected new jobs and nearly $900 million in investment.  And just for good measure, 10 companies have have accepted the state’s offer to relocate here, accounting for more than700 new projected jobs and $166 million in new investment.

So who are these new companies?  It’s common knowledge in the industry that most companies won’t go public about relocating over RTW for fear of being hit with an unfair labor practice at the National Labor Relations Board.  However, four did decide to say that RTW played a factor in their decision.

The companies are…

• Steel Dynamics, Inc. (Pittsboro)
• Android Industries (Ft. Wayne)
• Busche (Albion)
• SealCorpUSA (Evansville)

And there’s more coming.

An e-mail correspondence between Indianapolis Public School Superintendent Dr. Eugene White and Board Samantha Adair-White shows her more than two weeks ago asking for an investigation into the bullying of expelled gay student Darnell “Dynasty” Young and White emphatically telling her no.

In the e-mail, dated April 30, Samantha White requested the investigation following not only the bullying incident at Tech involving Young, but another incident at Northwest where a student was beaten.

White gave the following response…

Really!! An investigation….. really!!  Your request is denied.  The Board may make such a request and I will respond, but an individual Board Member’s request does not rise to the level of investigation in this matter.  The fight of a group of girls at Northwest or at any school is not unusual in schools.  Bullying is a nation-wide problem in schools, I am sure students had the same problems during your high school days in Detroit, and we have not had a disproportional number of such concerns.  In addition, on Friday of last week I met with all secondary school principals, vice principals, assistant principals, deans, academic deans, campus monitors, and others responsible for discipline in our secondary schools to clearly communicate expectations and responsibilities for the last weeks of the school year.  We won’t tolerate misbehavior on the part of students nor failure to act on the part of administrators.  There is no need for an investigation at this time, but if one becomes necessary we will get it done.  Thank you for your concern in this matter.

The school board voted Tuesday night, 4-2, to hire an outside agency to determine whether Young’s civil rights were violated.

Okay, we’re having a debate about same-sex marriage in this country, again.  Will someone please tell me how a same-sex couple (comprised of consenting adults)  joining together to commit for their rest of their lives and be productive citizens is a bad thing?  Because frankly,  I don’t see it.

The older I get the more I truly appreciate my own mother.  Anyone who can put up with me for four decades deserves a medal.    Actually they deserve a lot more than that.    I’m still trying to convince the current Mrs. Shabazz that she should join the “Mom Club” however her response is usually, “one of you is more than enough!”

Union efforts to get even with Indiana Republicans over this past session’s Right to Work legislation fell flat this primary season fell mostly flat as not one “Lunch Pail Republican” won a primary.

The “Lunch Pail Republicans” labeled themselves as members of the GOP who opposed Right to Work legislation and promised to run opponents against lawmakers who voted for the bill.

As it turns out, the threat was empty as every Lunch Pail lost.   The Lunch Pails only managed to get a combined 27% of the vote in the seven Indiana House Districts where they ran a candidate.  Here are the results.  The Lunch Pail Republican candidate is in italics.

House District 5

• Dale DeVon  – 3366
• Cory Stith – 1207

House District 16

• Doug Gutwein  – 4769
• Diana Boersma –  3731

House District 22

• Rebecca Kubacki – 5240
• John Hare – 3060

House District 48

• Tim Neese – 4106
• Jerry Brewton – 2528
• Randall Weinley – 206

House District 64

• Thomas Washburn – 2803
• James Amick – 1553

House District 82

• David Ober – 3550
• Denise Lemmon – 3284
• Mike Caywood – 534
• Wesley Ortell – 238

House District 91

• Robert Behning – 3676
• Mike Scott – 2151

Even statehouse candidates supported by the Indiana State Teachers Association also lost.

Although some may find it hard to believe, Richard Lugar’s main opponent this primary season wasn’t Richard Mourdock, the Tea Party, Club for Growth or FreedomWorks, it was time.

This is not to say all those factors didn’t matter.  Throw in  millions of dollars in an air campaign, a feisty opponent with a lot of energy and a Republican party that has become much more ideologically conservative than in years prior and they all are the right ingredients for defeat.   It also didn’t help Lugar had spent two weeks dealing with a residency matter that should never have been an issue in the first place.  However, the final addition to the mixture, was time.

Richard Lugar had served, in my opinion honorably, for more than three decades.  However, for the Republican voter, that was too long.

The Howey-DePauw poll showed that most of the Republicans who were opposing Lugar weren’t necessarily big Mourdock supporters, but they had simply felt that Lugar had been there too long and it was time for a change.   When breaking down Mourdock’s support, 23% said they were supporting him because they thought Lugar had been in office too long, 16% thought it was time for change, 10% said it was time for new blood and 6% thought Lugar should retire.  Only 18% of Mourdock’s supporters cited ideology.

Even in anecdotal conversation with my gardener this morning I asked who he was voting for.  He told me that he thought Lugar was a good man, but he had just been there too long and it was time for a change.

Looking at the map of the electorate, a lot of Republicans felt that way.  Mourdock won in the rural areas and donut counties and he stayed competitive in Indianapolis.  Mourdock won every donut county except Boone.    I had several GOP precinct committeemen call me over the course of the evening and the totals they were giving me showed a very close race in the city.   When I heard, Lugar on the Amos Brown radio program Tuesday afternoon appealing to African-American voters to pull a Republican ballot I knew this was not going to end well.  And it didn’t.

The good news for Lugar is that he can go back to the Senate and spend his final days being an advocate for Indiana.  And he won’t be hurting for money, I can easily see him on a number of think tanks and speaking engagements.

Mourdock will have some challenges.  The polls show him and Democratic challenger Joe Donnelly running a competitive race.  And Mourdock will also have to do some outreach to The Indiana Republican establishment and business class.  I have already heard from Republicans who say they would not support Mourdock if Lugar loss.  So while Mourdock may have gotten 60% of the Republican primary vote, he cannot win without a good chunk of that 40% that went for Lugar.   However, those are issues to elaborate on for another day.

For now Lugar leaves national politics, the way he began, with a loss.  To paraphrase the Rolling Stones, time was not on his side.