News
- 07/28/10 - Baron Hill-backed disaster legislation passes House (Courier-Journal)INDIANAPOLIS – The U.S. House passed legislation Tuesday that could make it easier for communities to obtain federal emergency assistance when disasters strike along state borders. The Multi-State Disaster Relief Act now moves to the Senate for consideration. U.S. Rep. Baron Hill, D-9th District, has been pushing the legislation since the Federal Emergency Management Agency twice denied some aid to flood-ravaged Southern Indiana after storms nearly a year ago. The Louisville area was hit by the same weather, but individuals and businesses there received assistance because Kentucky emergency officials were able to tally more damage than were Indiana officials. Hill said FEMA treated the states’ requests as essentially two separate incidents and did not take into consideration the totality of damage in both states. “We can try to be prepared for natural disasters, but they are ultimately beyond our control,” Hill said during a speech on the House floor about the bill. “However, we do have full control over how our federal government responds and aids individuals following a disaster. And, in this instance, I believe our government missed the mark.” The legislation would require FEMA to take into account whether contiguous counties in a neighboring state were granted assistance following a major disaster caused by the same storm or other incident. The bill would also require FEMA to review and revise the regulations used to measure the severity and impact of a disaster when determining if individuals should receive assistance. MORE
- 07/12/10 - Ben GiaQuinta dies (Journal Gazette)FORT WAYNE - Ben GiaQuinta, a former state representative and World War II veteran, died Sunday morning from complications tied to congestive heart failure. He was 87. GiaQuinta died at the home of his son, Mark GiaQuinta, where he had been living for seven months. His six children were with him when he died. “Most people will think of him as a true gentleman and someone who was very kind and thoughtful,” Mark GiaQuinta said. “But he was also extremely determined in everything he did, that’s what made him an effective legislator. When he wanted to get something through, he was relentless in his approach.” Ben GiaQuinta, born in Brockton, Mass., served in World War II for three years and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. He spent much of the war with the 102nd Infantry in Europe as a rifleman and machine gunner. Before his retirement in 2006, he was the last World War II veteran to serve in the Indiana House. MORE
- 07/08/10 - A fascinating race for state treasurer (Brian Howey)
INDIANAPOLIS - I've been writing this column since 1985 and I don't recall ever talking about the treasurer of state race. The office is that of bureaucratic function and in my mind shouldn't even be elected. It should be part of the governor's appointed cabinet. But this year we have a fascinating race between the Republican incumbent Richard Mourdock and a 28-year-old Democrat from South Bend named Peter Buttigieg (pronunced Boota-judge). Buttigieg is a Rhodes Scholar and studied economics at Oxford. Mourdock is best known for his attempts to derail the Chrysler-Fiat merger, a case that was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court during the summer of 2009 when the U.S. auto industry teetered on the brink. When the merger occurred, Mourdock believed that Indiana police and teacher pension funds were getting "ripped off." Mourdock said he was doing his "fiduciary" duty and spent more than $2 million to pursue the lawsuit that ultimately the Supreme Court said "had not carried the burden" of proof. Buttigieg is critical of Mourdock's attempts to stop the Chrysler-Fiat merger, which, if it had occurred, would have forced Chrysler into liquidation. He questioned Mourdock's wisdom for investing Hoosier pension funds into Chrysler stock, which was rated "junk" status at the time of purchase. "Indiana's government bought junk bonds for its pensioners" then "acted surprised when they lost value," Buttigieg said.
MORE - 07/07/10 - Some answers for those asking, ‘Brad Ellsworth?’ (Indy Star)
Indianapolis - Election Day is less than four months away, but many Indiana voters still don't know much about Brad Ellsworth, the Democratic nominee for Senate. That could change shortly, as he began airing his first campaign commercial Tuesday. It's none too soon. As a congressman from Evansville, he could walk down the street in many parts of the state without being recognized. But he's not worried. Four months is a lifetime in a political campaign, and with a rare open Senate seat at stake, there's little doubt his race against former Sen. Dan Coats ultimately will receive gobs of attention. "Absolutely not," Ellsworth said Tuesday morning when I asked him if he was a household name. "But when the regular campaign starts up, when the TV ads start and we get out more during the (congressional) recesses, it will pick up." It's been a strange race in many ways -- from Sen. Evan Bayh's last-minute decision not to run for a third term to Coats' decision to come back to Indiana in the hopes of winning back his old seat. Now, it's a dash to Election Day. Tuesday, Ellsworth, whose face was sun-splashed from walking in Fourth of July parades, met with me to talk about the campaign. He has taken on a tough task, running during a year in which Democrats likely will suffer a beating. He faces many voters still angry that he voted for the federal health-care bill, as well as ridiculous charges that he's a liberal lapdog of national Democratic leaders. In reality, he is probably the only candidate his party could have fielded this year, other than Bayh, who had a chance of winning the election. A moderate Democrat and former sheriff, Ellsworth is preaching a message that used to be common but isn't heard enough in these ultra-partisan days.
MORE - 06/25/10 - Treasurer candidate says no to bank PAC donations (Northwest Indiana Times)
Indianapolis - The likely Democratic
nominee for state treasurer says he won't accept campaign donations from bank
political action committees. Pete Buttigieg said Wednesday it is
a conflict of interest for the state's chief investment officer to take
campaign donations from bank PACs since the treasurer decides which banks
hold the state's money. "Hoosiers should never have to
wonder whether decisions made in the treasurer's office about where to place
their money are affected by campaign contributions -- and when I am
state treasurer, they won't," Buttigieg said. The treasurer manages more than $7
billion in state assets and investments. Besides refusing donations from bank
PACs, Buttigieg said he will only accept donations made by bank employees up
to $2,300, the maximum individual donation allowed in a federal race. If
elected, he said he will work with state legislators to enact a ban on
donations by bank PACs to future treasurer candidates. "If a bank gives money and then
gets state business, it can create the appearance of a pay-to-play
situation," Buttigieg said. "Until we can pass this long-overdue
reform, I am going to lead by example and hold myself to this standard, and I
invite my opponent to do the same.".
MORE - 06/07/10 - Chrysler Bankruptcy Drives Treasurer’s Race (Courier & Press)
INDIANAPOLIS - A year ago, Richard Mourdock placed the Indiana Treasurer's Office prominently on the political radar when he tried to toss a roadblock into the path of bankruptcy proceedings intended to save Chrysler from liquidation. Friday, Mourdock was in New York for a speaking engagement in front of Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP - the 111th of what he calls the "Chrysler speeches," most of which he has delivered to rotary clubs and chambers of commerce throughout Indiana. On Friday, a column on which he and Gov. Mitch Daniels collaborated on was published in the Wall Street Journal a year after a federal judge green-lighted the bankruptcy deal favored by President Barack Obama's administration. It's an unusual amount of publicity for the normally nondescript office to receive, and with Hoosiers set to determine in November whether to keep Mourdock for a second term or replace him with a Democrat, the Chrysler bankruptcy challenge could be the race's defining issue. The former Vanderburgh County commissioner drives a Dodge Ram and has owned two other Chrysler-made vehicles. But he points to his lawsuit, filed on behalf of two Indiana pension funds - one for teachers and one for public safety officers - as evidence he has been a careful steward of Hoosiers' dollars. His opponent, South Bend economist Pete Buttigieg (pronounced "Boota-judge"), also is highlighting that battle against the Chrysler bankruptcy for other reasons. He says Mourdock's move was a reckless one that put auto-industry jobs on the line.
MORE - 06/01/10 - Souder fallout continues to sting (Indy Star) So what are the downsides? Residents of the 3rd District will go nearly six months without a representative in the House at a time when Congress may make important decisions that affect the economy, the environment and other key issues. The responsibility for that lack of representation falls directly on Souder, who knew when he decided to engage in the affair that the ethical and moral violations would be enough to force him from office if ever disclosed. MORE
- 05/24/10 - Double election likely Nov. 2 (Journal Gazette)An admitted affair from a conservative “family values” pol taints the Republican brand. Some Republican voters would just stay home in disgust with ’em all. Republican-leaning independents would be much more open to a Democrat. And Democrats would vote with glee. That’s a recipe for Democratic victory.MORE
- 05/19/10 - GOP, Dems size up chances for seat (Indianapolis Star)
"This is a very Republican district, but with an open seat you'd have to say it only leans Republican," said Indiana Democratic Party Chairman Dan Parker. The Democrats' nominee in the November general election is Tom Hayhurst, a physician and former Fort Wayne city councilman who got 46 percent of the vote against Souder in 2006.
MORE - 05/17/10 - Ex-sheriff wears independent badge in Senate race (Journal Gazette)
Brad Ellsworth was a popular southern Indiana sheriff who has never lost an election. In his first attempt to win a congressional seat, he dislodged a five-term Republican incumbent. In Congress, he developed a reputation as one of about a dozen conservative Democrats likely to buck their party one out of every 10 votes or so.
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