Recent editorials published in Indiana newspapers
The (Bloomington) Herald-Times. November 10, 2016
Top of state GOP ticket shows surprising strength.
The talk of close top-of-the-ticket races in this bright red state didn't materialize during the Tuesday election. Republicans won big in Indiana, as they often do.
There are good explanations for all of the GOP victories, including the fact that President-elect Donald Trump had longer coattails than anyone thought he would.
We congratulate U.S. Rep. Todd Young on his victory over Democrat Evan Bayh in the race for U.S. Senate. Current 9th District Rep. Young, a Bloomington resident, had strong backing from national GOP groups as he launched a blistering attack on Bayh that turned out to be very effective.
Bayh's entrance into the race was less than elegant, as he and his party cast aside former congressman Baron Hill just before the deadline for changing candidates after the primary. Bayh entered the race against Young with a double digit lead in the polls based on his name recognition as a former governor and former senator.
Then came the pounding by attack ads, which painted Bayh as an insider who made millions after leaving the Senate and now wanted back in. They were an unflattering portrait of a career politician who cared more about himself than his constituents. Despite Bayh's previous popularity in the state, voters bought it.
The attacks Democrats made on Young were not nearly as effective. He made an honest mistake in claiming a homestead tax credit. Then he had the embarrassing occasion to bounce a check. Neither was good, obviously. But those weren't in the same league with the caricature drawn of Bayh - not to an electorate eager to pounce on anyone who seemed too tight to the political establishment and gave off even a whiff of impropriety.
Young's Marine Corps background helped, too, especially the the supporters of Trump - who, by the way, didn't serve in the military.
In the governor's race, late polls that showed Democrat John Gregg leading Eric Holcomb were way off target. Holcomb, who has never before been elected to office, took advantage of Trump's strong showing and his own appointment by former Gov. Mike Pence to lieutenant governor to beat Gregg by a larger margin than Pence did in 2012.
The Democrats need to accept that Gregg simply didn't excite Hoosiers. He's folksy, experienced, smart, savvy and would have made a good governor. But his low-key style didn't connect with the electorate in 2012 or in 2016.
Hopefully, Holcomb will govern more like former Gov. Mitch Daniels, with whom he has worked closely, than like Pence, who divided this state on social issues before hitching his future to Trump. It was a political gamble for Pence, who won big and will be the next vice president.
It's all too easy to explain Republican Trey Hollingsworth's victory over Democrat Shelli Yoder in the 9th congressional district, which includes Bloomington. First was the money, boatloads of it, significant amounts from his family fortune. Second was the gerrymandering. Yoder couldn't overcome the district lines that favor any Republican candidate, even one whose first ties to Indiana came less than 18 months ago when he moved in from South Carolina and immediately began running for Congress.
Hollingsworth is inexperienced, which seemed to play well with voters this year. His attacks on Yoder were as misleading as they were opportunistic, spinning innocent votes on routine Monroe County Council matters into a calculated plot to raise everyone's taxes. The Yoder portrayed in the attack ads was nothing like the Yoder who's competently and quietly served Monroe County.
We hope to see more Hoosier character and less Washington posturing from Hollingsworth. He may well have the skills to represent the 9th District well in Congress. We can only hope so.
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The (Fort Wayne) Journal Gazette. November 10, 2016
Higher pay, not lower standards, is best for jail staffers.
What do you do if you're having trouble hiring and retaining confinement officers? Close the jail? Not an option. Cut back on the hours? That won't work, either.
No, the Allen County Jail has to be staffed around the clock, 365 days a year.
Though the work is demanding and sometimes even dangerous - staffers are dealing, after all, with a community of accused or convicted criminals - it has to get done, and there's little room for error.
So it's understandable that Sheriff David Gladieux is looking for ways to increase the applicant pool for confinement officer positions.
As The Journal Gazette's Jamie Duffy reported Sunday, with the jail 13 positions below optimum staffing, the sheriff's department has decided to lower the standards for applicants.
Applicants were required to be at least 21 and to have at least a high school diploma. Now potential officers as young as 18 will be considered if they have at least a GED.
Gladieux told Duffy his department will be evaluating the maturity of younger candidates. "It's going to take a special 18-year-old to get hired," he said, noting that he started as a jailer at age 19.
No doubt there are 18-year-olds who could handle such a stressful and demanding job. Society considers an 18-year-old an adult in many ways.
But that doesn't mean that everyone in that age group is ready to handle a job in which the welfare and safety of co-workers and prisoners could be jeopardized by a bad decision.
A person at that age may never have held a job before and may be lacking the life experience to effectively interact with inmates.
Lowering the minimum requirements for employment puts an onus on those who interview potential confinement officers to screen out those who are not ready and recognize those who are.
Jail employees receive a competitive package of benefits, including health insurance, vacations, a 401(k) savings plan, opportunities for advancement and high job security.
But though they face many of the same kinds of risks and challenges as a police officer, confinement officers' annual pay of about $35,000 is about $10,000 a year less. And patrol officers have to be at least 21.
We hope that Gladieux finds the kind of employees he needs. But in the long run, making salaries more competitive might bring in a more appropriate pool of applicants than lowering the department's requirements. Of course, making that happen would be the responsibility of the Allen County Council, not the sheriff. There will be some new faces at the council table in January. Perhaps one of them could spur the council to look at how best to make an essential county job more attractive to applicants.
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Kokomo Tribune. November 9, 2016
Strong stance for openness.
Six years ago, the Indiana General Assembly passed legislation that allows judges to fine public officials who deliberately flaunt public-access laws.
We remind our area's public officials, particularly those who won their elections Tuesday and will take office for the first time this coming January, to give the law serious consideration before the new year.
The law allows a judge to levy a fine of up to $100 for a first offense and up to $500 for a repeat offender.
Indiana is actually late to the party. Most states allow civil or criminal penalties for public officials who intentionally violate their open-meetings and open-records laws. In some states, a violation can mean removal from office.
Indiana's law allows only a fine, but the public official would at least be required to pay the fine out of his or her own pocket.
The law is intended to put some teeth into provisions giving the public and media the right to be notified of public meetings and to access public documents. Under the old law, someone denied access to a public document or government meeting had no recourse other than to take the case to court. This measure gives public agencies greater incentive to resolve a dispute before seeing a judge.
The law is not aimed at punishing people. It's aimed at delivering a simple but critical message: This is the public's business, and it should be conducted in public view.
Public participation is a crucial part of the American system of government. To be able to fully participate, members of the public have to be able to attend meetings. They have to be able to examine public documents.
Some lawmakers had complained the state's public access law was burdensome. They had questioned whether tougher penalties for violating the law wouldn't harm public officials who mistakenly break the law.
We didn't buy that argument then, and we don't buy it now.
This measure doesn't target every official who fails to release a public record. It targets the so-called "bad apples," who have been advised a document is public record but still refuse to release it.
Folks like that deserve to be fined.
This law puts real meaning in the provisions of the state's open-meetings and open-records laws. It says to both public officials and average citizens Indiana is serious about transparency in government.
It was an important message for lawmakers to send, and one officials should keep in mind as they do the people's work.
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South Bend Tribune. November 9, 2016
Seeking long-term answers for homeless problem.
South Bend's gift to the Hope Rescue Mission to help buy a downtown building to house the homeless now living in tents under the Main Street viaduct is only a small, temporary step toward addressing homelessness downtown.
A long-term solution is likely to prove much more elusive.
The city donated $125,000 in economic development income tax money to help renovate the former Kraz building on Monroe Street into a shelter this winter for those men and women living in the tents.
The tent city has begun to test the patience of nearby downtown businesses, which are worried the building renovation will result in a permanent expansion of homeless services in the area and reverse much of the progress that's being made downtown.
Millions of dollars in development has been planned for the area, including new apartments and tech businesses. And those businesses located nearby the viaduct are already feeling the effects of the homeless. Leo Priemer, a financial adviser with an office about a block away from the tent city, is locking his door during business hours. His business already has been vandalized, with someone shattering his front door window and there's a bullet hole in another window. Priemer is skeptical about claims that Hope will stop using the Kraz space after winter.
The issue has become a delicate balancing act. Mayor Pete Buttigieg has said he wants to ensure the safety of all residents and business owners while also protecting the constitutional rights of the homeless to be downtown.
The mayor has said the lines of communication between his administration and the downtown businesses are open, but there is a disconnect somewhere. Some business owners don't feel like the administration is hearing their concerns and taking them seriously. Their concerns are legitimate and the city must address them.
The city hopes a more permanent solution is in place by next winter, which includes a plan to convert the former Oliver School in the Rum Village neighborhood to housing units that would serve such individuals. Many of those living under the bridge are ineligible for an array of homeless programs because of their behavior or drug and alcohol abuse.
This community must find a humane, long-term solution to a problem that has many layers. It will take a dedicated effort from the city administration, businesses, social service agencies and police. Ignoring the problem won't work, and neither will applying a Band-Aid to a wound that cuts deep.
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