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Barack Obama \ Benghazi \ Mitt Romney
Commentary: Rapid response in the fog of campaign war
By Cam Savage TheStatehouseFile.com The Obama administration’s handling of a terrorist attack at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya on Sept. 11, 2012 that resulted in the deaths of U.S. Ambassador Christopher J. Stevens and three other Americans shared center stage in Washington this week with a scandal at the Internal Revenue Service and the [...]
Barack Obama \ column \ commentary \ John Krull \ politics
Commentary: Partisanship leads to less government accountability
By John Krull TheStatehouseFile.com INDIANAPOLIS – Sometimes people ask me what I’ve got against partisanship. What I dislike about unremitting partisanship is that it first makes people blind. Then it makes them stupid. And, finally, it gives them immature views of the way government and humanity work. Consider this latest flap over the Obama administration’s [...]
Commentary: SB 621 critics got it wrong
By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz IndyPoltics.Org Indiana Gov. Mike Pence made my day last Saturday. He signed Senate Bill 621, which will reorganize Marion County government for the better. I know a lot of people have been calling this a power grab, but with all due respect, they have no idea what they’re talking about. I have [...]
column \ commentary \ gun control \ John Krull \ NRA
Commentary: NRA ‘win’ may be costly
By John Krull TheStatehouseFile.com INDIANAPOLIS – Nearly 300 years before Christ was born, the Greek King Pyrrhus won an important battle against the Romans, but at a heavy cost. When someone tried to congratulate him on the win, Pyrrhus replied, “Another such victory and I am undone.” Pyrrhus was right. His victory made it impossible [...]
analysis \ column \ Lesley Weidenbener \ Mike Pence \ occupational licenses \ veto
Analysis: Pence makes good on promise to oppose new regulations
By Lesley Weidenbener TheStatehouseFile.com INDIANAPOLIS – Gov. Mike Pence vetoed his first bills this week and it turns out the moves should have been fairly predictable. He was looking for less regulation of occupational licenses – not more. Pence axed bills that would have created licenses for diabetes educators, anesthesiologist assistants and dietitians. One of [...]
Commentary: Bear crawling our way to better teacher evaluations
By Cam Savage TheStatehouseFile.com Disgusting images of blistered and blackened hands notwithstanding, the four Cascade High School coaches who forced their charges to bear crawl for up to a mile as punishment for missing track practice last week will keep their teaching jobs in the Mill Creek Community School Corporation. School district officials took swift [...]
column \ commentary \ John Krull \ Mike Pence
Commentary: Pence starts to reveal himself
By John Krull TheStatehouseFile.com INDIANAPOLIS – Now that the 2013 session of the Indiana General Assembly has wrapped up, a few things about the state’s new governor, Republican Mike Pence, have become clear. That’s a good thing, because many Hoosiers didn’t know much about him or what he would do as governor when he took [...]
Abdul Hakim-Shabazz \ Senate Bill 621
Commentary: Why Senate Bill 621 does and doesn’t matter
By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz IndyPoltics.Org One of the biggest laments that I will hear from lawmakers outside of Indianapolis is how they don’t like dealing with what they label “Marion County” legislation. This session there were three major bills that fit that category, mass transit, financial assistance to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Senate Bill [...]
Abdul Hakim-Shabazz \ column \ commentary \ Otis Bowen \ property taxes \ taxes
Commentary: Bowen was the grandfather of today’s property tax caps
By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz IndyPoltics.Org As I sat down and did my research on the late Gov. Otis “Doc” Bowen, two things really fascinated me about his time in public service. One was his frankness about sex when he was the Secretary of Health and Human Services in the mid-1980s. The other, which I would argue [...]
analysis \ column \ crime \ drunk driving \ highway \ Lesley Weidenbener
Analysis: Past battles over drunk driving levels are likely to be repeated
By Lesley Weidenbener TheStatehouseFile.com INDIANAPOLIS – National traffic safety officials are urging states to reduce the amount that folks can drink before getting behind the wheel – but don’t look to Indiana lawmakers to get behind the idea anytime soon. I remember when Indiana was one of the few remaining states with a legal blood [...]