IS IT TRUE MARCH 3, 2015

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IS IT TRUE yesterday that we broke the local internet? ….the traffic to this website ranked as one of our busiest days of all time ?….the publisher was forced to expand his real estate in cyber space? ….if you were unable to read and comment yesterday, we apologize and invite you to try again today?

IS IT TRUE the Indiana Senate is poised to vote on repeal of our Common Construction Wage statute? ….State Representatives Holli Sullivan and Wendy McNamara cast their votes for repeal when the measure cleared the Indiana House? ….the history of state prevailing wage laws stem from the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931? ….the legislation mandates that local prevailing wages be paid for federally assisted public works construction projects?….there was a movement for state prevailing wage laws thereafter with 33 states taking such action, and Indiana passing prevailing wage legislation in 1935?….the Indiana Prevailing Wage Act, now known as the Common Construction Wage Act, was passed to establish wage rates paid to construction workers on public works projects in the state, with the wage rates determined by a board in the county where the project is located?….the boards are made up of five representatives from the local community: an industry representative appointed by the awarding agency, a labor representative appointed by the Indiana AFL-CIO, a contractor appointed by the Associated Builders and Contractors, a taxpayer appointed by the awarding agency and a taxpayer appointed by the County legislative body?….projects costing less than $350,000 and federally funded or partially federally funded are exempted?….private entities that receive tax credits or other economic development assistance from the state or local governments are also exempted?

IS IT TRUE the genesis of the Common Construction Wage law was to combat out-of-state contractors from the South who were entering the market and undercutting the bids of local contractors?….Indiana and local governments have laws which basically require that they accept the lowest bid?….public construction accounts for approximately one fourth of the construction market throughout the nation?….the requirement to take the lowest bid by public bodies creates downward pressure on wages, benefits and working conditions, along with the seasonal and temporary nature of construction projects?….construction workers are always working themselves out a job and are vulnerable to accepting reduced wages while they wait for another project?….at the same time, the skills necessary to build our buildings, roads and bridges require years of training and experience?….there is an inherent rub between the short-term relationship of public entities and contractors and creating incentive for contractors to invest in their workers?

IS IT TRUE the Common Construction Wage Act prevents government from using its substantial purchasing power to reduce wages and benefits in a community and is an example of one of this country’s oldest public policies to regulate labor markets?….by taking labor costs out of the equation of competitive bidding, contractors are left to compete based on productivity, quality, material costs, technology, management practices, logistics and profit margins?….stable wages are good for a community, as they incentivize the best and the brightest to enter the construction industry and they force businesses in the industry to train their workers to maximize productivity?….it is a myth that the law promotes only the interests of unionized construction workers?….studies done at both the federal and state level demonstrate that the prevailing wage is often set by non-union rates and union contractors are not typically higher bidders on projects than non-union contractors?….this myth in Indiana most likely stems from the high rate of unionization within the constructions trades in the state, which was 33% in 2013?….ultimately, there is no evidence that prevailing wage laws increase construction costs, and therefore repeal would not save money for taxpayers?….the real myth in this debate is that lower wages have no impact on productivity, quality, worker experience and worker skill?

IS IT TRUE that the potential to harm Indiana businesses and families is great if the Common Construction Wage Act is repealed?….over 90% of public projects in Indiana are completed by in-state contractors?….undermining a local labor market negatively impacts the ability of contractors and workers to support their family, and in turn the community?….repeal of the law would annually drain nearly $250 million dollars from other industries throughout the state, such as retail trade, health care and professional services?…..the existing law boosts the Indiana economy by about $700 million dollars a year by increasing consumer demand throughout the state?….the status quo also increases tax revenue to all levels of government with $21 million dollars in local and state tax revenue and $66 million in federal tax revenue from higher wages and increased spending?

IS IT TRUE that the current split in the Indiana Senate is 17 to 17 with 16 undecided or unknown?….it’s good for the soul to pick up the phone today and make 16 calls or send 16 emails?….the names of the Senators needing to hear from you and what you learned today are Pete Miller (3172329414 s9@in.gov); Chip Perfect (3172329541 s27@in.gov); Jeff Raatz (3172329488 s2@in.gov); Jim Smith (3172349426 s44@in.gov); Brent Steele (3172329814 s40@in.gov); Joe Zakas (3172329490 s11@in.gov); Ron Alting (3172329517 s22@in.gov); Phillip Boots (3172349054 s23@in.gov); Mike Delph (3172329541 s29@in.gov); C. Susan Glick (3172329493 s46@in.gov); Ron Grooms (3172349425 s18@in.gov); Randy Head (3172329488 s7@in.gov); Luke Kenley (3172329453 s14@in.gov); Dennis Kruse (3172330930 s25@in.gov); and Jean Leising (3172349054 s16@in.gov) ….I made my calls yesterday, and each call took less than one minute?  …our Mayor has quietly sent a letter to Indianapolis expressing his political opinion on this issue?….we hope that the Mayor’s letter will be made public?

IS IT TRUE I’ll be back tomorrow with some scathing commentary about something going on in our part of the world, but for today we should pull together for Indiana?….our readers from Indiana should make the calls or send the emails, because this change will impact everyone, and we should take a stand against such an act that lacks credibility?….we thank you for your support and look forward to bringing you the news in a way that not only brings you into the discussion but makes you feel compelled to participate?

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

94 COMMENTS

  1. What an interesting IIT today.

    The City County Observer Editor is advocating on behalf of labor and the ethics of providing a prevailing wage.

    Is the CCO going to disclose the identity of the Editor who penned this today?

    • Shem
      I am puzzled by your animosities toward a publication that you frequent. Do you show up at family functions and
      ask … “Is someone going to disclose who made these baked beans?”
      If you are uncomfortable with the editing here … no-one is compelling you to suffer the text …
      I enjoy friendly and spirited debate but …
      You are a cockle bur under a saddle. …

      • BUBBA….What animosity? I didn’t dispute the Editor’s position. In fact, I didn’t criticize at all. Right?

        • I think we’re all just confused by the new and improved Shem. You came out of the box with some serious hate and rage for certain people. The last couple of posts are not indicative of your general persona here.

          • R,

            What kind of comment is this? That only some of us are allowed to comment? We are all equal right? None of us are more equal than others, right?

            It’s a two way street fellas. I owe no defense for taking a position. Sometimes those positions come across as hardball, for no other reason the other person is playing hardball. You throw stones, expect you might get stones thrown back from other people reading your comment. That happens here. It’s the nature of the free form.

            R, you may be referencing some activity w/in the last two weeks. Several posters here started advocating taking advantage of people who are not a public figure, people whose identity are not a matter of public record. Those posters here instead wished to seize those people’s right to privacy and their right to remain a private figure. They were playing ball with granite…a new definition of hardball. — They got called out for it. They wanted to play hardball and expected everyone else to play softball. It doesn’t work that way.

            As far as Editor taking up advocacy for fair wage laws, my comment stands. I have not seen that kind of advocacy from the CCO Editor before. It’s a sincere statement.

  2. Davis -Bacon was established by Republicans. Prevailing wage laws have always been a partnership between those who own businesses and their workers, both union and non union. It recognizes the skills necessary for safety and quality projects. Everyone benefits. I’m an accountant, and if it is repealed, I am immediately impacted when people have less money to spend. I am impacted down the road from the impact of more people living with economic insecurity. I am hopefully never impacted by shoddy construction but that is a possibility.

    • I am not an accountant, but how do I credit one column without a debit in another? The higher wages could be a value, but we should not ignore that they are costing someone, and it’s not anyone sitting on a construction board.

      • Exactly. It is an impediment to free markets, and that includes the labor market. What happens when labor groups ask government to protect their particular cheese? Can they all be protected? Sounds more like the USSR.

  3. Republicans won’t rest until every American peasant is paid like a chinese 5 year old.

  4. I have worked a lot of construction projects but never as a union member. It was nice to be on a prevailing wage job – usually a 30 to 40 percent increase over my normal pay. I have to question the argument about the quality of workers. The non union employers that I worked for would load the job up with unseasoned workers that could be classified as apprentices and paid a much lower wage. Even though there are rules for this they are seldom followed. Maintaining safety and quality was very stressful for the few of us that knew what we were doing. I have also worked along side union contractors on the same jobs and although I am not a union fan I will admit that in my experience there workforce consisted or real journeymen and a few apprentices rather than the other way around.

    Common Wage Law, Teacher Unions, Farm program payments, etc — all types of welfare for the poor people who need protected.

  5. This is a delusional opinion on Davis Bacon laws. What they really do is force governments to pay too much for public projects so there is plenty of cash left over to support union bosses and make political contributions. It is a big money laundering scheme.

    The prevailing wage for painters in Evansville is about $35 per hour. The real value of painting in Evansville is more like $15 per hour. Whee does the other $20 go? I say union bosses and politicians capture most of it. Who pays for it? Every taxpayer in town pays for it. This is institutionalized cronyism.

    • When the whole country was out of work and people were traveling all over in search of jobs, this was the feds attempt to protect local jobs from itinerant workers who would accept a job for less. There should have been a sunset provision in the bill that was tied to the economy’s rebound. Instead, the labor democrats in congress have kept it alive as a political tool to garner votes. It has served them well.

    • Adam – nicely put
      The way you broke this down makes me see it more clearly. Thanks. …

    • Spot on. Not a fan of unions but I did work in a union shop for a short period of time and had union dues stole from me each pay period. Above all else, the thing I remember most about union workers is how easily they said, not my yob. That’s exactly the term they used, not my yob. In a union shop performance and production is not a consideration. The worse worker and the best worker get paid the same, this is why Whirlpool is in Mexico and ex workers are on food stamps, this is why companies are leaving this country. Union quality and Mexican quality are the same but the cost is different. Ask the unions why the Ford Fiesta is built in Mexico? Unions you woke up to late.

      • I heard you mention this before. Where and when was this? What union did you belong to?
        What was your assigned job? If someone told you told you to clean out the shitters, did you
        jump right on it? How about if it had snow, did you jump right out in that cold and shoveled
        while all the others were cozy inside the warmth doing their assigned job?

        • Every time I stepped out of line I was reported. I would have shoveled snow if requested. No way would I clean up a toilet after a bunch of, I’m in the union elitist trashed it, as they do everything they touch.

          • With out answering my all of my questions, your original post
            is no more then just a fable!

  6. “ultimately, there is no evidence that prevailing wage laws increase construction costs, and therefore repeal would not save money for taxpayers?” Then apparently the market is setting the cost and PW is unnecessary. What makes less sense to me is the lowest bid prevails. Lowest price is seldom the best value.

    And I about as much faith in these construction boards as I do the utilities regulator commission. With set wages a contractor I guaranteed his profits on wages and is free to beat the profit out of vendors and sub contractors. So in the end every other business and wage earner pays a tribute.

    Informative IIT, but it would be interesting to know who represents our local boards.

  7. Web site is slower today. It’s NOT fixed. My first thought yesterday when I could not connect as that the site was having a DoS attack and was crashed. What type of traffic are you getting and where is it from is what you should be asking yourself.

    • There was not a traffic-related issue yesterday. We’ve all seen this site loaded with view after view and comment after comment with no issue. They simply had a technical issue and are trying to convince us that it was caused by their site being overwhelmingly popular on a day with no big stories. If that’s all it took to crash this site, it would have happened two weeks ago during the discussion about the Inland Marina fire.

      • I do not think that the marina fire was that huge. I would think that reading the CCO in the days immediately after Joe Wallace left would cause a large viewership that could crash the sight. Just a thought.

    • moveon
      The site does seem to be functioning at a low level and is sometimes crashed. My first thought was
      “is the site being hacked?” …

      • I thought the same thing Bubba. And then suddenly Philip Davis shows up again. I noticed him on the John Graybill Face book page spewing his vile there.

        The CCO web site is working better right now. So what ever it was is seems to be fixed for me now. I hope it doesn’t crash anymore.

  8. Gail give her response to the Mayor’s State of the City Address and suddenly the CCO web site is under the weather? I find that curious.

  9. Gail gives her response to the Mayor’s State of the City Address and suddenly the CCO web site is under the weather? I find that curious.

  10. I don’t believe that cutting the total wages that are paid out to construction workers on these jobs will cut what we pay for them one penny. It will give bigger profits to the owners of the companies and then they can hand more to the politicians.

  11. Prevailing wage for construction work? Who cares According to dems they are just temporary jobs and do not matter.

  13. Does it matter when the hotel was never bid? A hand picked “developer and another pick to split the booty”. Both from out of town, what the hell, it’s only 20 million this time.

    • Of course it matters! It makes a mockery of the competitive bid system that is supposed to control projects where public funds are involved.

      This is not the first time that Industrial Contractors/SKANSKA has been involved in this behavior. Remember the Evansville_Vanderburgh School Corporation headquarters building no bid job.

      http://www.in.gov/judiciary/opinions/pdf/05011401rdr.pdf

      Conclusion
      We affirm the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Defendants on Taxpayer’s antitrust claim. By summarily affirming the Court of Appeals holding on the public bidding violation, we reverse the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Defendants on that issue. We remand with instructions for entry of summary judgment in favor of Taxpayers, as well as a declaration that the transactions effected by School Corporation violated Indiana’s Public Work Statute.

      Dickson, C.J., and David, Massa and Rush, JJ., concur.

      • Every taxpayer in Vanderburgh county owes these 7 business firms a debt of gratitude for taking action, at their own expense, while the local Prosecutor was sitting on his hands.

        • I’m still upset with that deal. The EVSC got their new HQ and nothing was done to punish those involved with breaking the law.

          • I thought it sucked also, but the harsh reality of the matter is that even had there been a monetary award made in favor of the plaintiffs, the funds would have come from the taxpayers.

            What should have happened was, at the very least, there should have been a public rebuke of the school superintendent at that time. Instead we have:

            http://dropbox.curry.com/ShowNotesArchive/2014/04/NA-609-2014-04-17/Assets/Common%20Core/PLTW-Inc%20Form%20990.pdf

            I would call that landing on your feet.

          • I sure would like to find out what this incident cost local taxpayers in the form of attorney fees paid to Ziemer, Stayman, Weitzel & Shoulders, LLP.

            Just more of the sucking out of the life blood of the community. Think of the good that money could have done familys in need.

          • They should have thrown someone in Jail for that fiasco. What’s to stop it from happening again?

          • No penalty is why these crimes are so prevalent. The attorneys (prosecutors and judges) are all followers of the legal system handed down from the founding firm of – DEWEY, CHEETUM, and HOWE.

  14. RTW and eliminating prevailing wages? Just two more steps in the march toward Reagan’s oligarchy.

    • Ghost, did you write today’s IIT? Looks like some Occupy Wall Street operative hacked into the CCO IIT.

      • I think it was written by EKB. I think we are really going to miss Joe. Today’s article was a left wing advocacy piece. I’m all for limiting the power of the unions in government. I find any reduction in their funding good news, unions are near the top of donors for liberal politicians. Basically what is happening is the state republicans are using legal means to cut funding for democrats, which I wholehearted approve. RTW work is actually an equal rights law, it allows conservatives who work in a union shop to withhold their money from supporting liberal politicians who they consider constitutional enemies. Civil Rights is only an issue when it supports liberal funding sources and unions are a liberal funding source. Both the fraud center and the water meter fiasco happened because of union support. If Gail becomes mayor the union bosses will threaten the CC and we’ll get a 100 million dollar hotel. If this law passes and the union wage is put up to competitive bid we may really get a 100 million dollar hotel for 100 million dollars.

          • That’s ok with me. C-o-C means business.

            And the C-o-C has become highly enlightened these days and abandoned the crazy Christian right.

            That’s ok with me too.

          • Riv
            How does that work with CofC, not paying dues/membership but
            expected everything free from them? I have no luck mooching
            without payment up front from them first!

        • I think it was redacted from the AFL-CIO. With the “call your congressman” list at the end, this IIT is more propaganda than insightful journalism. And with the “Giddy for Gail” and now “Crazy for Common Wage” editorials, it is beginning to appear that the CCO is driving on the left hand side of the road rather than being a watchdog. If that’s the case, the CP would have more value because I can’t line the bottom of the bird’s cage with my Nook.

        • So the super rich are the only people who should have political influence? You truly are a fool pov. I hope you gladly accept the pay cut that’s coming for you, union or non union.

          • Not really, Fitz. Also they’re being made poorer every day. The super wealthy point to a few decently paid union bosses whose salaries are dwarfed by company management. Union leadership salaries are also voted on unlike wealthy greedy management.

  15. News about the boat fire. I saw on a boating blog where there may be reason to believe that the power lines and circuits coming from the Marina to the Boat may be partly responsible for the fire. I’m still not sure where the Kerosene Heater comes into this story.

    I’m wondering if the people trying to salvage the boats know what they are doing when one of the boats was cut into pieces in order to bring it up to the surface. Maybe it was necessary. But the boat of most interest is the house boat where the fire was suppose to have started.

    Would cutting power to Dock B have helped prevent the fire from spreading?

    I’m reading the the circuit breakers that tripped may have not been the House boats but instead the Marina’s circuit breakers. So where did the fire start? John Blair’s post fire photo’s are important IMHO as one of them shows the end of Dock B.

    • The salvage company is using air bags to increase the buoyancy of the sunken boats and bring them up to the surface. I was hoping that they would do this. I’ve seen this done a few times and it’s one of the best ways to bring up sunken boats. Displacing the water works too if the boat is intact. However these boats are damaged severely by fire before they sank and that compromised their structural stability.

      John Blair has a few more photos of the Marina on his FB page.

      The EFD Investigator was on TV today talking about the investigation and admitted that he didn’t know the name of the Salvage Company from out of town. He did mention Summit Environmental though. But I wonder why the salvage team is waiting to bring up the Marver Boat LAST? Perhaps because the USEPA wants to get the Serenity out of the water first as it carried more fuel than the other boats and they want to clean that up first. I would think that the fire investigation would want the Marver boat brought up first so that they can inspect it for the cause and origin of the fire on that boat. They better get moving on this as the River is going to be flooding with all the rain and melting snow up North of us.

  16. For those who favor this SB 1019, what is your guess of “paid taxes money” saved per every million dollar
    expense of a construction job? Then for the majority who lives in the city, with the city taking in $40 million a year in property taxes, what is the actual effect to your property tax?

    It is funny that it is ok for the government to give corporate welfare to entice business to float from one
    place to another, often giving $20-200 thousands per job with no guarantee.

    It is also funny that these Indiana contractors are members of the very same lobbyist that is pushing this SB 1019 bill. This largest lobbyist group at all levels of government do not give a “flying fig” about the wage earner.

    • Historically speaking, it seems like such a short time span between HRH George III and HRH Barack I. Has the experiment in government of the people, by the people, and for the people really ended?

  18. Is it true that today’s is it true must have been approved by union boss Jack McNeely?

  19. BREAKING NEWS:

    Springleaf (American General, Credi Thrift) is moving its HQ out of Evansville (to CT).

    Word is that they don’t expect to be able to afford their Water/Sewer bill going forward, so they’re going to Connecticut.

    • Sky high Vectren bills; the stench from CSO; local government corruption: add it all up, and the Loan Sharks are out-of-here.

      Will Winnecke get up and make a press announcement on this topic ? Or promise to solve the problem (Whirlpool) like J. Weinzapfel did ?

      • Didn’t Weinzapfel give those bottom feeders something like $30 Million in tax breaks and cash for that new headquarters?

  20. Back on Feb 12 Mayor Winnecke made this statement about the Downtown Convention Hotel:
    (buried in a bus service story)

    Downtown hotel: Evansville’s proposed convention hotel project has had to slim down its ambitions, but by the end of this month there should be an answer to the question, “Can we build this for the money we have?”
    http://www.courierpress.com/gleaner/news/bus-service-between-henderson-evansville-being-
    discussed_62590212

    Maybe I missed it but do we have an answer to the question … or do we have another mis-statement? …

  21. Quit calling it a convention hotel. That project failed. They now have a new project – “Convention Motel”

  22. I agree with POV.

    It seems today’s IIT was written by Laura Blackburn (ELKAYBEE).

    It was the first thought I had when I first read it earlier this morning.

    And Elkaybee is not commenting anymore.

  23. This is an excellent article setting forth the Community Organizer-in_Chief’s beliefs on the roots of radical (can’t say islamic) terrorists that all just happen by coincidence to be Muslim:

    “That President Obama won’t call it Islamic terrorism; that he believes we shouldn’t be on a “high horse” because America and Christians have done bad things; that Muslims are victims of “bigotry and prejudice”; that his State Department says it’s the lack of jobs, not religion, that fuels ISIS, should come as no surprise.

    After all, he said the same thing about 9/11.

    In 2004, Obama released an update of his 1995 memoir, “Dreams from My Father,” with a little-noticed new preface about the attacks.

    That President Obama won’t call it Islamic terrorism; that he believes we shouldn’t be on a “high horse” because America and Christians have done bad things; that Muslims are victims of “bigotry and prejudice”; that his State Department says it’s the lack of jobs, not religion, that fuels ISIS, should come as no surprise.

    After all, he said the same thing about 9/11.

    In 2004, Obama released an update of his 1995 memoir, “Dreams from My Father,” with a little-noticed new preface about the attacks.

    “On September 11, 2001,” Obama wrote, “…history returned with a vengeance; in fact, as Faulkner reminds us, the past is never dead and buried — it isn’t even past.”

    “This collective history, this past, directly touches my own,” he added. “Not merely because, as a consequence of 9/11, my name is an irresistible target of mocking websites from overzealous Republican operatives. But also because the underlying struggle between worlds of plenty and worlds of want…is the struggle set forth, on a miniature scale, in this book,” which at its core is an indictment against Western imperialism, racism and colonialism.

    Obama goes on to say he identifies with the “desperation and disorder of the powerless,” and how they can “easily slip into violence and despair.”

    http://nypost.com/2015/02/28/when-obama-refused-to-blame-islam-for-terrorism/

    • Some intelligent commentary right there from a smart man who wants to understand the root of the problem not just kill everybody and think it won’t happen again or get worse. Basically, he isn’t a knuckle dragging Neanderthal moron like you.

    • I went ahead and clicked the link, reluctantly. Obama is spot on. The fighting over there isn’t about religion, though fox news and that liar terrorist Netanyahu does a good job making you think it is. It’s the same as any unrest worldwide. It’s haves vs have nots. We have protests here but they are obviously a lot more tame since our have nots can at least eat (usually.) If starvation hit it wouldn’t be long until there was an American group equivalent to ISIS. The French were fond of beheadings too. So far our last straw “let them eat cake” moment hasn’t happened and I sincerely hope it does not happen. If Scott Walker wins the white house we may very well see it.

      • Ghost, please check for a carbon monoxide leak in your parents basement. It may well explain this nonsensical post.

    • Joe. A rational, thinking, person observing Obama as president, and with knowledge of Obama’s past, could easily come to the conclusion that when it comes to us (U.S.) and them (our enemies); he’s on “their” side.

    • Here is a real leader against the radical Islamic barbarism (not Obama):

      “King Abdullah II is not like U.S. President Barack Obama, who is afraid to fight Islamic terrorism and afraid of an Iran that aspires to be nuclear, even as it threatens all of us, including the U.S.

      What does President Obama, leader of the greatest power on earth, think Iran is building intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) for? Iran does not need them to strike Israel, or ISIS or the Sunni countries of the Middle East. It can already do that without ICBMs. Yet His Majesty King Abdullah ibn Hussein, king of one of the smallest countries in the world, is ready to fight heroically to protect his people.

      ISIS sleeper cells are in place throughout Jordan. It is now clear to Jordanian security officials that because of religious and ideological ties, the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan is now ISIS’s fifth column.

      Unlike other Arab leaders, who are afraid to act openly against the Islamist terrorist organizations, and some of whom finance them, Jordan’s King Abdullah II, a descendant of Muhammad (S.A.A.W.), has shown genuine leadership and courage, both in the air and on land, to halt the spread of ISIS toward other Arab states. He is also worthy of being in the small pantheon of Middle East heroes who give Arabs and Muslims real hope for change.”

      http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5297/king-abdullah-jordan-hero

      • Why are we the world police? Why do we send billions to Israel, one of the wealthiest nations in the world? Why do we fight their wars for them? Will the Republicans soon rename our country the United States of Israel?

        • Only if they ask. The two most bellicose nations on Earth under one banner, who could ask for more?

          Israel bought our congress long ago. They stay current on their payments. Netanyahu was speaking yesterday to enhance his chances of reelection and to try to shame the United States into war with Iran, a facet of their foriegn strategy that never goes away. It simmers out of sight sometimes but is never far under the surface.

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