Daniels Major Moves Project has been a hot topic in Indiana for the last 6 weeks. It's been rough on our poor governor Mitch Daniels, NOT! Hoosiers are anxiously awaiting the next governor race to replace Daniels with someone who knows how to run a state. We're looking for a good Dem to run against him!!!!!

http://www.nwitimes.com/articles/2006/02/2...1210008ff96.txt

Dems might take hike to oppose Toll Road lease

Foes mull walkout to thwart vote on deal

BY ROYAL M. HOPPER III
Times Correspondent

This story ran on nwitimes.com on Sunday, February 26, 2006 12:12 AM CST

MERRILLVILLE | It appears the lease of the Indiana Toll Road to an Australian-Spanish consortium is all but signed, but Senate Democrats are considering a legislative walkout as a last-ditch bid to thwart the deal, state Sen. Karen Tallian told a town hall meeting Saturday.

The plan to lease the 157-mile highway across northern Indiana for $3.8 billion to an Australian-Spanish consortium that would operate and maintain the road for 75 years is pending in the Senate after it narrowly won approval last month in the Indiana House. The proposal is expected to come up for a vote in June, but not if Senate Democrats can help it.

They might emulate outnumbered Texas Democrats who two years ago went to Oklahoma to deny the Legislature the quorum it needed to hold a vote on congressional redistricting that Democrats considered too gerrymandered.

Although outnumbered by Republicans 33 to 17 in the Senate, Tallian said Democrats are opposing the lease on three points -- the legality of the bid process, the basic benefits of the deal to taxpayers and how the money is going to be distributed.

The 30 percent originally promised to Northwest Indiana had been put in jeopardy through Republican-sponsored amendments, said Tallian, D-Ogden Dunes.

Originally promised $10 million a year, the Indiana Regional Development Authority might receive a single payment of $20 million under the bill's current incarnation. Districts farther south are getting more than their share of the money, she said.

Tallian said some experts have estimated the consortium would realize a more than 12 percent profit on the deal. Tallian said figures show the road has shown a $3 million profit in the past and with a reasonable toll increase could pull in between $70 million and $ 90 million. If the consortium can operate the Toll Road at a profit, why can't the state do it, too, she asked.

Democrats believe they have the tacit support of the majority of Hoosiers, pointing to polls that say 88 percent of northern Indiana residents are against the lease and nearly as large a number of residents in southern Indiana also are opposed. This is a fact that might become important around election time, Tallian said.

"This is thievery in my estimation," John Sickles, of Merrillville, said about the lease deal.

I am adding this opinion from the SB Trib because it shares a great deal of information on the sentiments of Hoosiers. We may be a red state during presidential elections but we aren't so red when it comes to governors.

http://southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...N/CAT=OPINION07

Daniels has deep pockets of popularity
OPINION
By JACK COLWELL
Tribune Columnist

In the South Bend area, Gov. Mitch Daniels is about as popular as a kielbasa thief on Dyngus Day. But the readers who inquire about Indiana's procedure for impeachment of a governor assume mistakenly that those "Ditch Mitch" bumper stickers are in demand throughout the state.

The governor isn't going to be impeached. Nor is it certain, as folks around here seem to believe, that voters would ditch Mitch if he dared to seek a second term.

The latest poll conducted Feb. 10-12 by SurveyUSA, which polls on popularity or lack thereof of governors in all 50 states, did indeed find Mitch in the ditch in northern Indiana, with only 30 percent approval.

But in the Indianapolis area, the pollsters found 52 percent approval for Daniels.

He isn't exactly a beloved figure in southern Indiana, 40 percent approval, or in the central part of the state outside of his Indianapolis base, 38 percent.

Statewide results for Indiana, with WXIN-TV, Fox 59 News, in Indianapolis, as a media sponsor, showed:

Approval, 39 percent; disapproval, 55 percent.

Not very good. Among the 50 governors, Daniels ranks 43rd.

Could be worse. Ohio Gov. Bob Taft, who has disgraced that proud Taft name in his state, has only 14 percent approval. The famous Arnold Schwarzenegger has dropped to just 32 percent approval in California.

With a base still strong, fundraising reportedly going well and his all-out effort to sell the leasing of the Toll Road, it is far too early to say the governor cannot win another term.

With all the bidding and contract letting for quick spending of the up-front money for the Toll Road lease, big contributions can be expected from the involved enterprises, providing plenty of money for TV spots to convince Hoosiers that prosperity is just around a soon-to-be-constructed, four-lane corner.

Impeachment? No possibility. There is no impeachable offense. The Indiana Constitution provides for removal for crime, incapacity or negligence. Pushing clocks to daylight time is not a crime, despite what some folks argue. The governor certainly isn't incapacitated. Nor has he shown negligence of his duties. If anything, his critics would like him to neglect rather than crusade for some of his initiatives.

Politically, since politics is known to be involved in most impeachment efforts, the Republican-controlled legislature is not about to throw a Republican governor out of the Statehouse.

The governor's own Major Moves Web information tells some of the story of why there is a popularity gap between Indianapolis and northern Indiana. On a map showing all 92 counties on the computer screen, it is possible to click on any county and see how much money is promised for road construction and other infrastructure work. Totals may be inflated. But that's another matter and not an impeachable offense.

Marion County (Indianapolis) is to get the most, more than a billion dollars. And it is noted that this does not include planned extension of I-69 from Indianapolis to Evansville.

So why shouldn't folks in Indy think the leasing of the Toll Road is a great idea? They never got any money from the Toll Road before. And most of them never or at least seldom come up north to drive on the Toll Road. Thus, they don't worry about the big "tax" hike for northern Indiana motorists who do frequently use the Toll Road. Doubled tolls and regular increases beyond that have the same effect on the payers as a tax hike.

In Indianapolis, there is no flap over any split of the area between time zones.

And, hey, the governor was instrumental in getting a new stadium for the Indianapolis Colts.

But why not more support for the governor in southern Indiana? The map also shows that Clark County, way down at the southern tip of the state, is in line for $100 million more than St. Joseph and Elkhart Counties combined. That's due mostly to Ohio River bridge projects. So why isn't the governor a hero down south?

Maybe he is in Clark County. But south as well as north there are areas with dissatisfaction with daylight time and time zones. Also, there is opposition to making the I-69 extension to Evansville a toll road as the governor plans. Additionally, there is opposition to the extension route.

The governor still has almost three years to increase his approval rating.

He can. Maybe he will, even if the approval isn't uniform throughout the state. He still could be as popular as a Southern Cal jersey at a Notre Dame pep rally in the South Bend area and have an Ohio River bridge named after him -- Our Bridge Mitch -- in the south.

The biggest issue in Indiana for 06 and 08 is the toll road. Democrats are coming on strong in this state and it will continue.

http://suncommercial.com/articles/2006/02/25/news/news01.txt

Major Moves causes debate

By GAYLE R. ROBBINS

associate news editor

Major Moves, Gov. Mitch Daniels' proposed highway construction plan, was again topic number one during Saturday's “Meet Your Legislators” program, with Reps. Troy Woodruff, R-Vincennes, and Dave Crooks, D-Washington, sparring over the issue of whether a foreign-based firm should manage a state-owned asset.

The legislation, House Bill 1008, is now in the state Senate, where it must be voted on next week.

Woodruff, who co-sponsored the original House bill, disputed the notion that having an Australian-Spanish consortium manage the Indiana Toll Road for 75 years was bad - mainly because, in return, the company would pay the state $3.85 billion up front.

That's enough, Woodruff said, to completely fund all the state's road-construction plans for the next 10 years, including the proposed extension of Interstate 69 between Indianapolis and Evansville.

Crooks found it difficult to believe there weren't enough “sharp minds” in Indiana who could find a way to fund the plan without involving a foreign company. He said there had to be a better way than Major Moves.

Woodruff said Democrats, during their long control of state government, hadn't been able to come up with a “better way” to pay for the needed road-building and bridge-repair projects, let alone pay to build I69. Now, he explained, a way had been found, and that while it could be considered unorthodox, in the future such public/private partnerships would become the norm.

Money raised through the state's gas tax wasn't enough to pay for the work which needed to be done, Woodruff said, adding that raising the tax rate was too unpopular.

Crooks said the bigger issue was foreign involvement, likening what the governor and Woodruff want to do to the Bush administration's controversial plan to have Dubai-owned DP World run certain U.S. ports.

He said while he supported building I69, and wanted to see it built as soon as possible, he preferred delaying the project if the only way to pay for it was using the money from the lease.

Woodruff, whose district includes southern Knox County, countered that the bill meant the interstate extension would be built sooner, and that southwestern Indiana needed the jobs I69 would bring.

In fact, Woodruff stated, Major Moves as a whole was really more of a “jobs bill” than it was a highway construction bill, and that the legislation would create almost 175,000 jobs in Indiana.

Kreg Battles, a Lincoln High School teacher and Democrat running against Woodruff in the fall, is concerned about provisions in the legislation which, he says, would tip the balance of power in state government in favor of the executive branch.

He said the bill would give the governor the authority to turn I69 into a toll road without first getting legislative approval.

Battles called for more extensive debate of the proposal, a position shared by County Councilman Steve Thais, a Democrat running against State Sen. John Waterman, R-Shelburn,

Thais said facts about the agreement are “dribbling out in bits and pieces” and that it's hard even for legislators to know what's included, let alone the public.

He, too, was concerned that the bill seemed to give the governor carte blanche on whether I69 would be a toll road once it were built.

Waterman, whose district includes northern Knox County, said the bill was taking so long to get through the Senate because there were so many questions which needed to be answered before a final vote could be taken.

Thursday is the deadline for voting on the bill in the Senate. If it passes with changes made from the House version it would go to a conference committee before being sent back to both chambers for final approval.

The General Assembly session is scheduled to end March 14.

Saturday's program was held in Studio B of Walter A. Davis Hall at Vincennes University. It was sponsored by VU, the Knox County Chamber of Commerce, Wabash Valley Human Services, and the Knox County League of Women Voters.

06 in Indiana is all about the toll road.

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazett...ws/13964476.htm

Actual value of road lease is a $200 million question
By Niki Kelly and Benjamin Lanka
The Journal Gazette

INDIANAPOLIS – The one constant in the raging debate over leasing the Indiana Toll Road has been the gobs of money the state would get: $3.85 billion

It is the number that has been splashed in headlines and dangled in front of Hoosiers since the bid was announced.

Gov. Mitch Daniels rounds up in his latest radio commercial in support of the lease, saying “4 billion’s a lot of dollars” and “we bring in $4 billion. We give up nothing.”

As it turns out though, not even the $3.85 billion is guaranteed.

Daniels’ press secretary Jane Jankowski confirmed last week that the bid is actually based on interest rates as of January and could slide down depending on those rates when the deal closes. It cannot increase.

She said, however, that the state successfully negotiated a floor to protect the bid so that it cannot go below $3.8 billion.

“There’s no mystery in it,” she said.

And yet we haven’t heard Daniels or his budget director or those supporting the bill talking about it.

Fifty million might not be much to them, but given that they already overestimate by rounding up in interviews and statements – that’s as much as a $200 million difference the public might not understand.

Here comes the sign

There has to be a first every election year, and Ken Fries – as far as Political Notebook can tell – wins the honor in 2006 for being the first candidate to sport yard signs by doing so more than two months before the election.

Although it is still only February, the Republican sheriff candidate has yard signs scattered throughout the county. This has made at least one of his primary opponents – Mike Foster – a bit upset.

“The public gets pretty upset when they see political ads out too early,” he said.

Foster said he will put signs up when it is more appropriate, at the end of March.

Pam Finlayson, Allen County elections director, said though many people believe there is some kind of time requirement for political signs, there is no law regulating when they can be posted.

Fries said he was concerned by having his signs up too early, but he said supporters demanded them.

“Some people told me, ‘This is my yard, and I want to show people who I support for sheriff,’ ” Fries said.

He said he wasn’t surprised that his opponents would be angry about his signs, because they might not have the support he does.

Besides, it’s unlikely people are going to complain about the small Fries yard signs if they are fine with the dozens of giant billboards featuring County Commissioner Marla Irving.

Candidate confusion

It turns out that Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Howe, has a general election opponent after all.

Attorney Dennis Rorick from Wolcottville filed his candidacy to challenge Stutzman in House District 52, but the secretary of state misplaced the paperwork in the shuffle and didn’t add his name to the Web site listing of candidates until last week.

As LaGrange County Democratic Party chairman, Rorick had hoped one or two candidates might file against Stutzman, but they didn’t at the last minute.

“And I decided Mr. Stutzman was not going to get a free pass on this Toll Road vote,” he said. “Somebody was going to hold his feet to the fire.”

The 58-year-old Rorick – who has run unsuccessfully for office on several occasions – is referring to Stutzman’s support of the Toll Road lease deal despite dissatisfaction expressed by many of his constituents.

Rorick said the district needs someone who will “put party politics aside and do what’s best for people up here in LaGrange and Noble counties.”

Democrats set debate

The Noble County Young Democrats took an active role in the upcoming congressional election by sponsoring a debate among Democratic candidates for the 3rd District, currently held by Rep. Mark Souder, a Republican.

The group, invited only two of the four Democratic candidates for the seat to participate, however: Fort Wayne City Councilman Tom Hayhurst and Presbyterian minister Kevin Boyd.

Thomas Schrader and Edward Smith were not invited.

Carmen Darland, of the Young Democrats, said she invited whom she was told to by Steven Haines, 3rd District chairman. Haines said he was not contacted by the other two candidates, who also didn’t speak with county party chairs. He said he believed the race really comes down to Hayhurst versus Boyd.

“As far as I’m concerned we’ve got two viable candidates, and I would like to limit it to them,” he said.

Schrader said he is ready to debate and doesn’t know why he wasn’t invited. Smith could not be reached for comment.

The debate will take place at 7 p.m. March 30 at the American Legion in Kendallville. Tickets are free, but seating is limited, and people are asked to call 260-635-2498 to reserve their seat.

Haines said a format for the debate has not yet been determined.