Bridgegate: The Failed Management of Transportation
by Thomas Heller New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s “Bridgegate” at the Fort Lee entrance lanes to the George Washington Bridge serves notice of the dysfunction in the administration of our surface-transportation system. The political gamesmanship revealed by emails between Christie appointees is astounding and shameful. Before categorizing it as just another made-for-television political scandal, however, Read the full article…
Bohanon: Must Politics Be Nasty? (Part I)
by Cecil Bohanon, Ph.D. As we are exiting the season of “peace on earth — good will toward men” and entering yet another legislative and political season, it seems appropriate to examine why contemporary political discourse has become so divisive and shrill. Of course, when has political discussion been unifying and open-minded? Fair enough, but Read the full article…
Kick-Starting the Month
The ‘Unintended Consequences’ of Careless Public Policy (For the use of the membership only.) “The irony is that Gov. Mitch Daniels’ 2008 property-tax reform is in part responsible for what the Chamber is calling a skewed tax burden.” — Scott Smith in the Dec. 23 Kokomo Tribune IT DIDN’T make any of the New Year’s Read the full article…
This Council Veteran Is Skeptical of Tax-Cut Grief
Ryan Cummins, an Indiana businessman and former chairman of the Terre Haute Common Council’s appropriation committee, offers a rejoinder to the distressed reaction of local officials who are protesting the elimination of business personal property taxes. by Ryan Cummins Business Personal Property Tax (BPPT) represents more than 70 percent of all abatement supported, signed and Read the full article…
Indiana at 200 (15): The Battle of Tippecanoe
by Andrea Neal In the drizzling pre-dawn rain of Nov. 7, 1811, on high ground near modern-day Lafayette, Gen. William Henry Harrison squashed Tecumseh’s dream of an Indian confederacy that could resist the white man’s westward advances. The Battle of Tippecanoe was a defining moment in U.S.-Native American relations. “It was on this spot the Read the full article…
Half Past the Month: ‘We’ll Miss Sheriffs When They’re Gone’
Sheriffs, please understand, are different from the tawdry mix of ambition and vanity that makes up local officialdom. Sheriffs are precursors of our constitutional republic and its attendant democracy. They arose in first-century Anglo-Saxon England or even with the Norse. They were the natural, chosen leaders of their communities (shires), their title dating back to Read the full article…
