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Commentary: Running for office, running from responsibility

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 By John Krull
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS – The members of Congress are back in their districts and states this month, running hard for re-election.

Half a world away, there’s a problem those members are concerned about. A jihadist group labeled the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – sometimes also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria – has been killing hostages from Western Europe and the United States in gruesome fashion.

The ISIL killers behead their victims and video-record the atrocities as a sick way of trying to score propaganda points. They have named as their next victim a young Hoosier, Abdul-Rahman Kassig, who seems to be an exceedingly decent young man. Born Peter Kassig, he converted to Islam and, after a tour of duty in the Army, he went to Syria on a humanitarian mission because he wanted to help people.

We know the members of Congress are concerned about the fate of Kassig and others who might be beheaded because our elected representatives say so.

Loudly and often.

They denounce ISIL as a collection of inhuman brutes. And they implore President Barack Obama to make the ISIL killers go away.

What the members of Congress don’t do is anything but talk about these brutalities. They could have taken a vote to declare war on ISIL – or even just to use force – but they chose not to.

Their reasons for doing so were cynical.

Democrats and progressives know their supporters don’t like wars in general, so they’re happy to let a lame-duck president who won’t ever have to face the voters again take the heat for any bombing raids to combat ISIL. By not taking action in regard to ISIL, Democrats avoid the dilemma of choosing between undercutting a president from their own party and alienating their own voters just days before the polls open.

Republicans and conservatives don’t want to do anything because they know they have President Obama in a box. If he doesn’t respond forcefully to ISIL, they can accuse him of being weak. If he does, they can say he’s dragged the country into another war.

Much of this is just about preserving the illusion that sustains both political parties – that there can be decisions without costs.

I’ve been covering politics for more than 30 years. There’s not much about the posturing that is part of campaigning that surprises me. The journalist who is offended easily doesn’t last long in the business.

But there’s something about this ISIL-avoidance political strategy that bothers me.

Some of it may be that the high school young Kassig attended – North Central High School in Indianapolis – is not far from where I live. My daughter competed in swim meets there. My son played football games on the North Central field.

It’s not hard for me to imagine what Kassig’s parents must be going through right now.

Maybe it’s also because determining whether we go to war is supposed to be Congress’ job, not the president’s.

Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the U.S. Constitution says Congress has the power “To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water.”

The founders gave that authority to Congress, not the president, because the members of Congress – particularly those in the House of Representatives – are supposed to be the ones closest to the people.

The founders wanted to create a system of accountability, a system that our elected representatives now want to evade.

The founders wanted to force the public officials who have to make the difficult decision to go to war face the voters soon after the decision was made. And they wanted citizens to grapple with what may be the most important decision a nation has to make.

The founders wanted the people to hold Congress accountable as elected representatives and they wanted Congress to hold the rest of us accountable for meeting our duties as citizens.

Yes, the members of Congress are running for re-election now.

They’re also running away from responsibility.

And we are helping them do so.

John Krull is director of Franklin College’s Pulliam School of Journalism, host of “No Limits” WFYI 90.1 Indianapolis and publisher of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website published by Franklin College journalism students.

STATE REPRESENTATIVE CANDIDATE TONY GOBEN ATTACKS McNAMARA POLITICAL DONATIONS

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Dear Voters

During the Indiana legislative session, the amount of work to accomplish in such short time is staggering and the decisions made hold enormous influence over the entire State of Indiana. Yet, the men and women who make these decisions are paid a fairly modest salary. A freshman Representative in the Indiana legislature makes only $22,616 per year! So why should our Representative, Wendy McNamara, need to raise more than $500,000 in campaign funds from the Republican Party, Special Interest groups, and big business? That type of big money support coming into a State House District election is absurd. That’s more than 14 times the median household income in Vanderburgh County and beyond 11 times more than the median household income in Posey County. That’s enough money to pay tuition for 18 students to attend USI for four years! I don’t believe Wendy McNamara’s loyalties are with the working men and women of southwestern Indiana, but instead with her Party and the suits and ties of Indianapolis.

The Republican Party has bought Representative Wendy McNamara. Financial support from the Indiana Republican Party and its satellite committees add up to over $200,000 of her campaign funding. This makes it somewhat easier to understand why a lifelong educator, working for the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation as Director of Early College High School would be so quick to vote against support for public schools. Instead, she voted in favor of ex-State Superintendent, Tony Bennett’s, charter school legislation as well as expansion of the state voucher program. Both of these programs directly and negatively affect the very institution she is currently employed by.

Big money coming from the Party also explains why Wendy McNamara has yet to speak out against Governor Mike Pence’s request to all state universities to abstain from spending two percent of this year’s annual budgets. This, added to the two percent of total budget Pence asked state universities to keep from spending last year, equates to more than $50 million dollars for higher education blocked by the Governor and our Representative. Wendy McNamara is the EVSC’s lead individual responsible for planning and preparing our area high school students for higher education, yet as your Representative she has done nothing to denounce the Governor’s plan to cut into the already suffering budgets of the very institutions she prepares her students for.

According to Ballotpedia our Representative Wendy McNamara has received over $115,000 from Special Interest groups across the state in her campaign for Indiana House District 76. Most of this money comes from northern Indiana where she is from and these groups range from the Aiming Higher PAC to the Indiana Chamber of Commerce. With political and economic groups such as these donating large sums of financial backing to our Representative, she should be able to work with these groups to rally economic growth in our region. Instead, she has no track record of bringing any form of economic boost to southwest Indiana whether it be creating jobs or increasing wages for our work force. In fact, she voted against higher wages for our labor force, our teachers, and our public workers all while the median household income in her district falls well below the Indiana average and she has done nothing to better the economic well-being of the middle and lower class whom she represents. What Wendy McNamara has done with that money is turn her back on her those who elected her, those she works for, and all hard working men and women in her district.

Now is the time to make a substantive change in Indianapolis. Now is the time to have the residents of District 76 voices heard. Now is the time to bring common sense back to the Legislature. Now is the time for Hoosier values in the Capitol!

Sincerely,

Tony Goben District 76 State Representative Candidate

THIS LETTER WAS POSTED BY CITY COUNTY OBSERVER WITHOUT OPINON, BIAS OR EDITING.

Evidence doesn’t show existence of family housing complex at time of crime

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Jennifer Nelson for www.theindianalawyer.com

The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed a man’s Class A felony conviction for dealing cocaine within 1,000 feet of a family housing complex because the state didn’t prove the complex qualified as family housing under the law at the time of the offense.

Rodney A. Richard was charged with several offenses after selling cocaine to a confidential informant two times, including Class A felonies dealing cocaine within 1,000 feet of a park and within 1,000 feet of a family housing complex. He was convicted as charged and sentenced to a total of 52 years, with six years of his sentence suspended to probation.

He appealed in Rodney A. Richard v. State of Indiana, 46A05-1312-CR-628, claiming the state didn’t prove he sold cocaine within 1,000 feet of the park or housing complex.

The state presented sufficient evidence from a Michigan City Sanitary District employee that the park was owned by a political subdivision, as is required by statute, at the time the offense was committed.

But the evidence provided by the state regarding Garden Estates Housing Complex proved that it qualifies as a family housing complex under the statute at the time of Richard’s trial, but did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that was true at the time Richard committed the offense. The fact that a family housing complex existed at the time of the offense is an essential element of the charge, Judge Margret Robb noted.

The judges reversed the Class A felony dealing within 1,000 feet of a family housing complex conviction and ordered the court enter the conviction instead as a Class B felony and resentence him accordingly.

IS IT TRUE October 9, 2014

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IS IT TRUE that Evansville is about to endure yet another two day rainstorm that will most surely activate the combined sewer overflow alarm bells and send raw sewage into the streets and the Ohio River?…even with what seems like a record year for the willful destruction of our precious environment Mayor Winnecke and most of the City Council sit on the banks and avoid the most important and expensive project Evansville has ever known?…they can not wait this out and make it go away and even the dumbest among them know it?…it is as if they are trying to run the clock out on the EPA?…that may indeed be what they are trying to do in hopes that the next President of the United States will relax the regulations for dumping crap into the river?…you can bet your last dime if the EPA had a consent decree for a dog park or a bocce ball court hanging over them these play toy children would be all over it no matter the price?…since all of the princes and princesses do Evansville are worried about identity, one would think that the identity as one of the least compliant polluters in the country would not be at the top of their lists?…it is part of the brand though?…we may have to send the writers of Southpark a “We are Evansville” T-shirt for Mr. Hanky to wear in a future episode if our electeds don’t face the music and get this repair started without the fun and games distractions they cherish?

IS IT TRUE with the recent news of the slaying of the “official” unemployment dragon many Americans are asking “why haven’t we gotten a raise?”…in the past few years, corporate profits have climbed ever higher and Legions of unemployed people are now finding gainful employment?…if you’re anything like the average American worker, your pay has been flat, just barely keeping pace with inflation?…If you are in the very middle of America’s income distribution, in fact, your overall household income is lower today than it was when the recession officially ended more than five years ago and even lower that it was in 2008 when the wheels fell off the bus called the American economy?…job openings are plentiful in many skill areas with really good programming jobs at Google going up filled at $300,000 per year?…this conundrum of high demand with flat wages is just not consistent with a broad recovery?…the reality remains that despite the prosperity of certain high wage jobs there are still at least 15 Million able bodies still sitting on the sidelines that are not being counted among the “official” unemployed?…there are that many more who are working part time or at depressed wages for their primary skill?…it is not yet time to dance the happy dance over the economy unless you happen to have tech skills and live in a place like Silicon Valley where such skills are rewarded?

IS IT TRUEat the other end of the spectrum are minimum wage workers who President Obama and some others have started a movement to nearly double their pay?…while sticking up for the poor is admirable the President has this one backwards as the real efforts should be to double their value?…if one doubles their value it will be rewarded with more pay and usually exceeds any mandated minimum wage?…just this week a Jack in the Box in Palm Springs started piloting an interactive kiosk to eliminate cashiers?…the kiosk does not call in sick, needs no healthcare, and does not make mistakes as fast food workers often make?…another fast food CEO announced a kiosk program that will launch in 2,000 restaurants that will eventually eliminate nearly all of their cashiers?…these innovations in the kiosk world are brought to you courtesy of the threats to raise the minimum wage beyond the value of a cashier?…just the other day for the first time this year this writer went to a drive up window a Popeye’s and ordered the eight piece family dinner and requested all dark meat?…when I got home what I found was 6 pieces of white meat and 2 wings?…I am certain the people involved were making more than $10 an hour because there was a help wanted sign out for $12 an hour?…I am also sure that if there had been a kiosk with voice recognition instead of a microphone I would have gotten what I paid for?…the skills crisis in this country is what is depressing wages and the pride of workmanship problems on top of an entitlement mentality is why kiosks are poised to make the minimum wage irrelevant in the fast food industry?

Vanderburgh County Recent Booking Reports

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http://www.vanderburghsheriff.com/recent-booking-records.aspx

EPD Activity Report October 8, 2014

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EPD Activity Report

Enrollment for Pilot PreK to Begin in November

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The Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation is making preparations for enrollment to begin in November for the state’s new Prek pilot program, offered by the Family and Social Services Administration. The EVSC was one of five counties that were selected in June to pilot the new initiative set to begin in January 2015.
The EVSC will offer programming for four year olds and will join other public and private schools, as well as community based programs, licensed centers, registered ministries and licensed programs in homes in the area in this pilot which will bring up to $10 million statewide including state and matching funds from Vanderburgh County. All providers must meet Paths to QUALITY Level 3 or Level 4 standards or other national accreditation standards as identified by the Family and Social Services Administrations. Through the pilot, families will enroll their children through 4C of Southern Indiana, Inc., 600 SE 6th Street, and select one of the pilot sites in which to attend. In the EVSC, three new classrooms are planned, with an additional four to six by Fall 2015.
“Early childhood education lays the groundwork for success later in school by successfully preparing students to enter kindergarten on time and ready to learn,” said EVSC Director of Early Childhood Education Terry Green. “The EVSC is excited to have several locations to pilot this new program. We have offered high-quality PreK programming for several years now and are seeing the benefits.” Green said EVSC focuses on active learning – making learning fun for students, allowing them to explore and providing them new experiences with which to build knowledge.
Currently, the EVSC has fee and non-fee based PreK classrooms at Culver Family Learning Center, Daniel Wertz Elementary, Dexter Elementary, Scott Elementary, and Cedar Hall Community School,
FSSA is working to implement the major design phases of the program, which include devising plans for the longitudinal study for students, monitoring the design and implementation of a new kindergarten readiness assessment and the program accountability system, establishing guidelines and activation of fundraising activities, and making modifications to interagency IT and staffing infrastructure to support the pilot program.

Study group: Legalize, regulate fenced hunting preserves

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By Lesley Weidenbener
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS – Fenced deer hunting preserves would be legalized and regulated in Indiana if the General Assembly implements a recommendation approved Tuesday by a legislative study committee.

The group’s endorsement went beyond simply legalizing the handful of preserves that already exist.

Instead, the Agriculture and Natural Resources Study Committee voted 8-3 for a blanket recommendation that the state regulate preserves, a move that would legalize those already in operation and could allow new ones to open. The recommendation will be considered during the General Assembly’s next session, which begins in January.

Sen. Jean Leising, R-Oldenburg, said a visit to the Whitetail Bluff hunting preserve in Harrison County helped secure her support for the recommendation. She said she’d previously envisioned a preserve as a small fenced area with six or so deer standing around while a hunter picked out the one with the best antlers to shoot.

“It wasn’t like that at all,” she said. “We rode all over in Rangers for 1-1/2 hours and I saw a total of two deer in all that time. And we went up and down hills in tough terrain.”

Leising said she was “totally impressed” by the operation, which has about 60 deer spread over roughly 120 acres.

Whitetail Bluff is one of a handful of fenced preserves that give customers who pay a fee the opportunity to hunt for farm-raised deer.

If approved by the General Assembly, the panel’s recommendation would end a nine-year standoff between the preserves and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, which said in 2005 that no state law authorized the operations.

After the DNR moved to shut them down, the owner of Whitetail Bluff and other operations filed separate lawsuits, which led to conflicting court rulings. The Indiana Appeals Court is now considering the issue and the preserves have continued to operate under court order.

Meanwhile, lawmakers have considered bills to ban the operations and others to legalize them. Earlier this year, a bill that would have legalized and regulated the existing hunting operations passed the House and died in the Senate when only 25 of the chamber’s 50 senators voted yes. It takes 26 votes to pass a bill.

The fenced preserves are controversial among hunting groups, many of which consider them to be unethical. And on Tuesday, state Sen. Tim Skinner, D-Terre Haute, told the committee, “I can’t imagine anyone I know wanting to participate in this kind of a hunt.”

But supporters say the operations offer people who live in urban areas or those with disabilities opportunities to hunt they might not otherwise have.

DNR Director Cameron Clark told the study committee Tuesday that his agency does nothing to regulate the properties now because the court order doesn’t allow it. But he said conservation officers will occasionally go on the properties to see about a broken fence that can or has allowed a farm-raised deer to escape.

That can be problematic. State officials say those animals should not be allowed to mix with wild deer, in part to prevent the spread of diseases, including tuberculosis and chronic wasting disease. The latter is a neurological disorder that damages neurons, forming holes in the brain tissue of deer and eventually leading to death.

The study committee’s vote Tuesday came after a long discussion about the disease and how to prevent it.

CWD can only be confirmed post-mortem, as there are no current tests available to sample brain tissue from a live deer. The disease is suspected to be transferred through a deer’s saliva, urine and excrement and can survive for long periods of time in soil particles.

Indiana has not had a confirmed case of CWD, but has had deer transferred to farms from out of state where confirmed cases had been recorded. Several states in the Midwest, including Wisconsin and Missouri, have had deer test positive for CWD.

The study committee made no recommendations specifically about attacking the disease problems.

Lesley Weidenbener is executive editor of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.

Pence, utility leaders plan 1-day mission trip to Toronto

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Lesley Weidenbener
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS – Gov. Mike Pence and a delegation of business and utility leaders will leave Wednesday for a one-day jobs mission to Toronto, a trip aimed at strengthening the state’s economic ties to Canada.

“Canada is already the destination for billions of dollars’ worth of Hoosier-built products,” Pence said in a statement. “This trip will be dedicated to boosting bonds with existing partners in Toronto and supporting new relationships as we pursue every opportunity to win more Hoosier jobs.”

During the day-long trip, the governor will meet with business and government officials, including a venture capital firm considering investment opportunities in Hoosier companies. Pence will also meet with Ontario Prime Minister Kathleen Wynne, U.S. Consul General Jim Dickmeyer, Canadian Consul General Douglas George and officials at Skjodt-Barrett Foods.

Pence will host a business recruitment event at the season opener of the Toronto Maple Leafs for site selection consultants and companies considering investment in Indiana.

Indiana Secretary of Commerce Victor Smith and other staff from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation will join the trip. So will representatives of the state’s largest utility companies.

First lady Karen Pence will also participate with plans to meet with students and teachers at the Toronto Art Therapy Institute, the first art therapy training program in Canada. In addition, she will tour the Gardiner Museum and the Art Gallery of Ontario while in Toronto.

The costs of the governor’s and first lady’s trips are being paid by private donations.

More than 14,800 Hoosiers work for Canadian-owned companies and more than 193,500 jobs in Indiana are dependent on trade and investment with Canada. Indiana is home to more than 90 Canadian firms.

What Women Want

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 Nate Beeler / Columbus Dispatch

Boy, are the folks at the syndicated game show “Jeopardy” in trouble after introducing a new category: “What Do Women Want.”

In one prompt, Alex Trebek gave contestants these clues: “Some help around the house; would it kill you to get out the Bissell bagless canister one of these every once in a while?”

Answer: “What is a vacuum cleaner?”

In another, Trebek said: “Time to exercise perhaps in a class in this discipline named for founder Joseph, who initially called it contrology?”

Answer: “What are Pilates?”

In a third, he said: “A pair of jeans that fit well, like the 535s from this brand.”

Answer: “What are Levi’s?”

It didn’t take long for the grievance community to launch a full assault on the lousy sexists.

“What is equal pay? What is the right to make my own health decisions? What is treated like a human?” tweeted one woman.

“What is to be an equal member of society?” tweeted another woman.

“What is paid sick leave, equal pay, affordable child care, respect?” tweeted a third woman.

Sheesh.

One woman suggested that “Jeopardy” create a “What Do Men Want” category that is “equally belittling and superficial.”

I couldn’t agree more — though the reaction would a little different.

Trebek: “Arms and legs harvested from inhumanely-treated poultry, submersed in hot lard and served with fluids known to cause poor judgment.”

Answer: “What are hot wings and ice-cold beer?”

Trebek: “A private room in a house outfitted with large display monitors, fermented adult beverages and no women.

Answer: What is a man cave?”

Trebek: “The lyrics are: ‘It’s hard to kiss the lips at night that chew my butt off all day long.’”

Answer: “What is a great country song?”

Male tweeters and bloggers would respond with joy and hilarity if “Jeopardy” applied such stereotypes to them.

Unfortunately, we live in a time when we are expected to disregard one truth: that men and women are different. We are supposed to believe that there are zero emotional or mental differences among the sexes.

Why, just as many men as women worry about sweeping the rug and keeping the house spotless — even though humorist P.J. O’Rourke says typical males clean their place about once every girlfriend.

Just as many men as women like to wear stylish, color-matching sweatsuits in Pilates classes — and have a group latte afterward to discuss baby showers, relationships and the spring sale at Bed, Bath & Beyond.

Just as many men as women are asking their spouses these days if their Levi jeans are making their backsides look fat.

So it’s no wonder women are so offended by a silly game show.

AOL news sums up their indignation well: “Rather than focus on serious topics like equal rights or significant achievements of women, the new section was filled with stereotypes of housework, fitted jeans and Pilates.”

OK, fair enough. Here’s what is also fair: This heated overreaction is telling about where we are as a nation and a society.

We are becoming masters at responding with indignation to matters that are small as we lose the ability to distinguish small matters from those that are truly large.

Right now the Middle East is going up in flames, the Ebola virus is running amok in West Africa and looking to expand, ObamaCare is killing any hopes of economic vitality and we are nearing $20 trillion in debt — an amount we can never repay.

But too few are indignant about our very real challenges.

I’ll bet more people would find offense with these “Jeopardy” clues:

Trebek: “Absolutely nothing.”

Answer: “What are men really thinking?”

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