For release at noon Tuesday April 6 and thereafter (631 words) “This latest tragedy, at a heavily fortified army base, ought to convince more Americans to reject the argument that the solution to gun violence is to arm more people with more guns in more places.” — Paul Helmke, former mayor of Fort Wayne now president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence Maybe Steven Covey, the business guru, was talking about Indiana when…

For release Tuesday noon March 30 and thereafter (655 words) The 2010 legislature came and went without reforming the redistricting process, but lawmakers aren’t off the hook. If electoral maps to be drawn in 2011 are to have any credibility with voters, legislators will have to follow a more transparent and honest process than has been used before.            As required every 10 years after the census, the next General Assembly will draw state legislative and…

For release noon Tuesday March 23 (651 words) by Tad DeHaven A stint as an Indiana budget official gave me a first-hand view of how policymakers use taxpayer money to serve their political self-interests. So when an Indianapolis news channel discovered that the state’s economic development agency was taking undeserved credit for job creation, I was probably the least surprised person in the state. If there is one issue that resonates with voters today it…

For release Tuesday noon March 16 and thereafter (700 words)Three years ago, neighborhood residents cheered when the state Alcohol and Tobacco Commission denied a request by an Indianapolis Circle K to sell beer and wine along with traditional fare: gas, pop and food items.  Greg Silver served as attorney for the Nora Community Council, which opposed the alcohol permit. “We had everyone from the neighborhood against it,” he recalls. The united effort, Silver says, persuaded officials…

For release Tuesday noon March 9 and thereafter (702 words)The proven job- and wealth-creating policies were dismissed early this session as “non-starters,” to use a bit of legislative lingo. There was never any chance of reforming the Collective Bargaining Act, for instance, or introducing a right-to-work law or opting out of wage controls. Instead, we were asked to trust in tax credits for start-up companies, mandated percentages of officially designated “citizens” at work sites and…

For release noon Tuesday March 2 and thereafter (680 words)It is the public policy of Indiana “to regulate and limit the manufacture, sale, possession and use of alcohol and alcoholic beverages.” The words sound old-fashioned but there’s more than Prohibition-era thinking behind them. We limit access to alcohol to protect children and to reduce side effects such as drunk driving, alcoholism and domestic violence, to name a few.            So why is booze almost as easy…

For the use of the membership only (572 words)Pictures of Haiti’s earthquake devastation reminded me of a National Geographic aerial photograph along Haiti’s border with the Dominican Republic (the two nations share a Caribbean island). The photograph shows a heavily forested Dominican Republic but a barren Haiti, which once had been heavily forested.*         I bet some are thinking, “Oh no, here comes another academic, probably a tenured geology professor, telling us that tree-cutting causes…

For release Wednesday Feb. 17 and thereafter (678 words) With Evan Bayh’s stunning decision not to seek reelection, Dan Coats has become the “incumbent” in the Senate race. And that’s why Republicans should avoid him like the plague. 2010 is looking to be the year of the non-incumbent. A February report by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found widespread dissatisfaction with Congress and noted that anti-incumbent sentiment was “as extensive…

For release noon Tuesday Feb. 9 and thereafter (754 words) Each time Indiana promises future payments to a state employee, it creates a liability for taxpayers. If total monies in state pension funds, accumulated each year by employer and employee contributions, are insufficient to meet promised benefits, state constitutions generally provide explicit guarantees that public pension commitments will be paid in full. Also, state employees could make it difficult for politicians if promised benefits are…

For release noon Tuesday Feb. 2 and thereafter (690 words)A legislative proposal to hold back third graders who can’t read well is too little and way too late. If we want to avoid reading woes with our third graders, we have to address the root of the problem: Our kindergartners, first graders and second graders aren’t being taught right. If you thought the phonics-whole language debate was settled 10 years ago with the National Reading…