Indiana's 3rd District (Democratic Congressional Committee)

Borror giving up House seat: Fort Wayne legislator quits abruptly to lobby

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 10:24:00 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS – Veteran Rep. Randy Borror, R-Fort Wayne, is leaving the Indiana legislature effective today to run a new Fort Wayne office of a large state lobbying firm.

"This was a brutal decision for me," he said. "For 28 years I have been involved in politics in one way, shape or form. For the last 10 years I have dedicated myself to the state. The next 10 years and beyond I am dedicating to my family."

Borror, 52, has served in the Indiana House of Representatives since 2001, and in the 1980s worked with U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar and the National Republican Senatorial Committee in Washington. He also recently was one of 15 people seeking to replace former U.S. Rep. Mark Souder on the fall ballot.

After this year's legislative session and the recent caucus to replace Souder, Borror said he realized he has been missing important things in his 12-year-old daughter's life.

So when Bose Public Affairs Group LLC presented him an offer, he decided to change gears.

Borror will open a new Fort Wayne office, which will provide consulting services to clients on legislative and political strategies with a special focus on the executive branch and state agencies.

He plans to spend more time in Fort Wayne, but will still work some in Indianapolis.

This year, the legislature passed an ethics reform bill that requires legislators leaving office to wait a year before lobbying. But that provision isn't effective until 2012.

Even though he can legally lobby the legislature, Borror said he won't do so until June 2011 – leaving at least a gap of one session between his legislative service and lobbying his former colleagues.

Borror can and will lobby the executive branch on behalf of clients. He has been close to Gov. Mitch Daniels for years. He carried two major pieces of legislation for the administration – one creating the Indiana Economic Development Corp. and one leasing the Indiana Toll Road to pay for billions of dollars in road projects.

"We're losing a true public servant," Daniels said. "All Randy has ever cared about is building Indiana and leaving a better state behind. That he did."

Republicans have a good chance of taking back the House majority in the fall election, and Borror was primed for a leadership role in the caucus.

He said he will miss "being around a table at midnight with 48 hours to go" on a budget bill or other important legislation.

"It's a great loss for the legislature and people of Allen County," said Rep. Jeff Espich, R-Uniondale. "Randy is obviously a leader here. We have used each other as sounding boards on policy and politics. We're going to miss him. I'm going to miss him."

Espich said that no matter who is picked to replace Borror, that person will lack influence and institutional knowledge.

Resigning immediately means a Republican caucus of precinct committee officials will name someone to fill the remainder of the term and also the spot on the fall election ballot.

Borror said he expects up to 10 people to seek the position because House District 84 is a compact area that tends to vote Republican. It covers primarily the northeast side of Fort Wayne, including much of St. Joseph Township and a handful of precincts in Washington and Adams townships.

Borror said he won't endorse anyone or get involved in the caucus.

Evan Smith of Fort Wayne is running for the seat as a Democrat.

Source: Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
Niki Kelly

Tri Lakes resident Wray McCalester seeks 83rd District State Representative seat

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 09:37:00 GMT

Whitley County resident Wray McCalester of Tri Lakes is the Democrat Party’s nominee for the statehouse in the 83rd District, a district that includes parts of Allen, Noble and Whitley counties.

McCalester, who retired from General Motors in 2007, is currently pastor at the United Methodist Church in Wolf Lake, where he has served since 1999. He is the longest serving pastor in the 167 year history of the church.

McCalester was selected as part of the committee to negotiate the innovative labor agreement at the then new Fort Wayne Assembly truck plant in 1985. He participated in three negotiations, the last as chairman. In 1997, he was appointed to the position monitoring the insourcing/outsourcing of work at the facility, a position he held until his retirement.

During his terms as a negotiator and representative the Fort Wayne plant became widely known for its quality, profitability and innovative approaches to problem solving. His last major accomplishment before retiring was to lead the committee that negotiated a 300,000 square foot addition to the plant where sequencing of material is performed. The Fort Wayne plant is the only General Motors facility in the entire country to retain that work. The new building added approximately 140 jobs to the facility and put Fort Wayne in an advantageous position when General Motors was looking for a plant to add a third production shift. The new shift, currently in start-up mode, will add hundreds of new jobs to the facility.

After retirement, he recognized that many, through no fault of their own had no access to affordable health care. McCalester asked for and received permission from the church to explore the possibility of sponsoring a free health clinic in the Wolf Lake community to serve portions of southern Noble County and northern Whitley County. Receiving permission, he approached Dr. Tom Hayhurst, also recently retired at that time, about opening a clinic in Wolf Lake. They recruited other volunteers, and the Wolf Lake Free Health Clinic, now housed in the church, opened in November, 2007. It provides free basic health care for those with no insurance. Most of the clinic’s patients come from Noble and Whitley County. While some free clinics restrict services to residents of one county or area, the Wolf Lake Free Health Clinic does not. McCalester believes it is important to provide services for patients needing care regardless of county of residence.

McCalester said he intends to speak out for small businessmen and women, working men and women, and the many victims of this recession in the district who have lost jobs, homes, and sometimes even their dreams. He plans to stand up for a budget that gives our children a chance for a quality education, and avoid cuts in the numbers of teachers, police and firemen who provide much needed, and often unappreciated service.

He said he believes that much of this can be accomplished by avoiding rash and costly decisions such as the 1.3 billion dollar catastrophe springing from the privatization and outsourcing of the Indiana Family and Social Service Administration to an unproven companies located outside of Indiana.

“Indiana works best when Indiana companies and Indiana workers handle Indiana needs,” said McCalester. “Indiana should not be spending the taxpayer money to hand profits to out of state companies at the expense of Indiana businesses, workers and families. The focus of the legislature and Governor’s office ought to be on bringing in jobs for business and workers and not sending them out.”

“Everyone knows that small businesses are the backbone of a healthy state economy. They employ the most workers and care should be taken to protect them from government foolishness,” McCalester said.

Source: Talk of the Town - Whitley County

Jennifer

Senate candidates will debate

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 12:00:00 GMT

Voters will get at least three chances to compare the candidates for U.S. Senate side-by-side before casting their ballots in November.

The candidates -- former U.S. Sen. Dan Coats, a Republican; U.S. Rep. Brad Ellsworth, a Democrat; and Rebecca Sink-Burris, a Libertarian -- have agreed in principle to participate in three debates sponsored by the Indiana Debate Commission.
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The debates will be held in Northern, Central and Southern Indiana. Venues interested in hosting a debate have until July 16 to apply via the commission's website, www.indianadebatecommission .com/venue.htm.

The nonpartisan commission, a statewide group of 13 affiliates including the Hoosier State Press Association, the Indiana State Bar Association and the League of Women Voters, was formed in 2007 to promote more chances for the public to hear candidates' views.

"The debate commission is building a solid record of hosting political events that enable voters to compare and contrast the political positions of candidates," said Dennis Ryerson, debate commission president and editor of The Indianapolis Star. "With the cooperation of broadcast and print media statewide, we provide the largest audience and the strongest debate coverage of any such event in Indiana."

In April, the commission sponsored a debate among the five Republican candidates for the Senate, which was aired by 40 broadcast outlets in Indiana and by C-SPAN

Source: IndyStar
Mary Beth Schneider

Support for health care law reaches new high, according to latest poll

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 03:34:00 GMT

WASHINGTON -- The patient is alive and kicking. A new Associated Press-GfK poll finds public support for President Barack Obama's new health care law has risen to its highest point.

The nation remains divided, with 45 percent in favor and 42 percent opposed to the president's signature domestic accomplishment.

Still, the shift in public sentiment was significant. Opposition to the overhaul increased after Congress passed it in March. And last month, supporters were outnumbered, 39 percent to 46 percent. But the latest survey found the strongest backing for the health care plan since the AP-GfK poll began asking in September.
How the poll was done

The Associated Press-GfK Poll on the health care overhaul was conducted by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Corporate Communications from June 9-14. It is based on landline and cell phone telephone interviews with a nationally representative random sample of 1,044 adults. Interviews were conducted with 732 respondents on landline telephones and 312 on cellular phones.

Digits in the phone numbers dialed were generated randomly to reach households with unlisted and listed landline and cell phone numbers.

Interviews were conducted in both English and Spanish.

As is done routinely in surveys, results were weighted, or adjusted, to ensure that responses accurately reflect the population's makeup by factors such as age, sex, education and race. In addition, the weighting took into account patterns of phone use -- landline only, cell only and both types -- by region.

No more than one time in 20 should chance variations in the sample cause the results to vary by more than plus or minus 4.3 percentage points from the answers that would be obtained if all adults in the U.S. were polled.

There are other sources of potential error in polls, including the wording and order of questions.

The questions and results for this poll are available at http:www.apgfkpoll.com.

"I thought when people began to realize what was in the health care package that they would see it's a good, solid program and that would dispel some of the misinformation," said Claudia Harris, 72, of Orem, Utah, an English professor at Brigham Young University.

Electrical contractor Kerry Eisley of Moscow, Pa., said he thinks people are starting to get nuts-and-bolts information on how the legislation affects them.

"If we can insure more people across the United States and get the cost of health care down, I think that's a better thing," said Eisley, 43, a Republican who supports the health care plan, though not a single GOP lawmaker voted for it.

The poll found support increased since May among men (from 36 percent to 46 percent), people in their prime working years (from 35 percent to 49 percent among 30-49 year-olds) and Republicans (from 8 percent to 17 percent.) The uptick among Republicans comes even as party leaders are calling for the law's repeal.

The changes coincide with a concerted effort by the Obama administration, congressional Democrats and their allies to sell the immediate benefits of the law.

Those include coverage for young adults on their parents' plan until they turn 26, a $250 rebate check for seniors with high prescription costs, tax credits for some small businesses that cover their employees and federal funding to train more primary care doctors and nurses.

"They are clearly making progress in convincing more Americans that this bill is the right way to go," said Robert Blendon, a Harvard University public health school professor who tracks opinion trends on health care.

Source: Cleveland.com
AP

Bauer files to get data on Daniels’ job claims

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 02:50:00 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS – House Speaker Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, sent a public information request last week to the Indiana Economic Development Corporation in an effort to drill deeper into job numbers touted by Gov. Mitch Daniels’ administration.

“I would urge the IEDC to exercise its discretion in favor of sharing vital information with Hoosier taxpayers about Indiana’s true level of job creation success,” Bauer said.

The state development corporation and Daniels often highlight the number of economic development deals they have closed and how many jobs the companies say they will create in the future.

But the state doesn’t adjust those numbers to reflect the number of jobs actually realized compared with the original promise.

Daniels said Friday that staffers were digging deeper into the numbers as a result of Bauer’s request.

He noted the severe economic recession means some businesses haven’t been able to expand as much as they thought while other companies have exceeded expectations.

The net result is that 92 percent of the jobs that were promised have been created, Daniels said.

And he cautioned that Indiana’s strong job creation efforts “shouldn’t be obscured by record-keeping” questions.

An Indianapolis TV station has pressed for the company-by-company information and received only aggregate data from the agency.

The TV report claimed its investigation determined as many as 40 percent of the jobs were never created.

Bauer said the issue casts doubt on Daniels’ claim when he was running for re-election that he created two jobs for every one that was lost.

“We just want information. Other states have that information available,” Bauer said. “The public deserves to know.”

But the development corporation refuses to give specific information on each company and its progress toward promised jobs.

Corporation Executive Director Mitch Roob said that’s because the information used to come up with the aggregate data is from each company’s confidential tax return.

That tax return is how the state knows how many jobs have been created and therefore what tax credits to give to the company.

“Companies view that as competitive information,” he said. “They don’t think it’s the public’s business.”

But Bauer said it is of public concern because state tax dollars are given to companies as incentives.

Roob said state tax credits and training dollars are almost always given to businesses after the jobs are created so the state is protected.

“It is categorically not the case that we haven’t been good stewards of public dollars,” he said.

Bauer has been promised a response to his request by June 25.

Source: Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
Niki Kelly

State $1 billion short for budget: Receipts shy in 10 of past 11 months

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 12:03:00 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS – State tax collections continued to lag projections in May, bringing the budget deficit to more than $1 billion.

That means tax revenue has come in $1 billion short of the spending levels passed in the budget for the current 2010 fiscal year.

“Despite actions to reduce budgeted spending, the state’s reserves were once again drawn down further this month,” State Budget Director Chris Ruhl said. “Without the necessary spending reductions ordered by (Gov. Mitch Daniels), Indiana would be broke like so many other states with no remaining options other than raising taxes.”

Daniels has frozen salaries, instituted a strategic hiring freeze, slashed agency budgets and tapped the state’s Rainy Day Fund to get through. His cuts include a $300 million reduction for Indiana’s schools, and the administration will transfer money from various dedicated funds to balance the books when the fiscal year ends this month.

Total revenue collections were $982 million in May – which is above the same period last year. But the monthly tally was $83 million below the amount used to plan the budget.

Revenue collections have been below budget for 10 of the 11 months of the current fiscal year. The average monthly gap has been nearly $100 million, with all but two months registering a shortfall of greater than $60 million, Ruhl said.

The current budget estimated 2 percent growth in tax revenue for fiscal year 2010. Actual year-to-date tax collections are 7.5 percent below fiscal year 2009, which were 7.4 percent below fiscal year 2008.

Year-to-date tax collections for the current year most resemble those of fiscal year 2005.

Source: Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
Niki Kelly

Bell leaving House for Chamber job

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 12:00:00 GMT

Avilla Republican to finish current term in District 83

INDIANAPOLIS – State Rep. Matt Bell, R-Avilla, announced Wednesday he is taking a new job and will not seek re-election in House District 83.

Bell, 35, has been tapped as the head of the Regional Chamber of Northeast Indiana. This organization was known as the Northeast Indiana Corporate Council but changed its name Wednesday.

“This was not something I expected,” he said.

“But it’s a great job with lots of promise and is good for my family.”

Bell is married and has two young children.

He has been the director of LEAP of Noble County, a literacy program, for several years.

He will withdraw from the November ballot in the next week but will finish his term this year. The start date at his new job has not been set.

Bell has served the district since he was appointed in a 2005 caucus to complete then-Rep. Bob Alderman’s term. House District 83 covers the northwest corner of Allen County, the northeast corner of Whitley County and much of southern Noble County.

Since coming to the state legislature, Bell has become an expert on alcohol and gambling issues and likely would have been named the House public policy chairman if Republicans were to win a majority of seats this fall.

Bell said Keith Busse, chairman and chief executive officer of Steel Dynamics, contacted him in early April about interviewing for the Chamber position.

The group includes about 45 CEOs whose mission is to promote economic development and job creation in the 10-county region.

A statement from the Regional Chamber of Northeast Indiana said the organization aims to provide a unified voice in shaping public policy that promotes economic growth.

A GOP caucus of precinct committeemen and women will pick a replacement for Bell on the fall ballot in coming weeks. Bell said he has no idea who might be interested in filling the seat and doesn’t expect to endorse a candidate.

In 2005, Whitley County’s Mark Roach and Allen County’s Rudy Mahara also sought the seat.

Source: Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

Niki Kelly

State budget deficit passes $1 billion

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 10:26:00 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS – State tax collections continued to lag behind projections in May, bringing the budget deficit to more than $1 billion.

This means that revenue has come in $1 billion short of the spending levels passed in the budget for the current 2010 fiscal year.

“Despite actions to reduce budgeted spending, the state’s reserves were once again drawn down further this month,” State Budget Director Chris Ruhl said. “Without the necessary spending reductions ordered by (Gov. Mitch Daniels), Indiana would be broke like so many other states with no remaining options other than raising taxes.”

Daniels has frozen salaries, instituted a strategic hiring freeze, slashed agency budgets and tapped the state’s Rainy Day Fund to get through. His cuts include a $300 million reduction for Indiana’s schools and the administration will transfer money from various dedicated funds to balance the books when the fiscal year ends this month.

Total revenue collections were $982 million in May – which is above the same period last year. But the monthly tally was $83 million below the amount used to plan the budget.

Revenue collections have been below budget for 10 of the 11 months of the current fiscal year. The average monthly miss has been dramatic – nearly $100 million, with all but two months registering a miss of greater than $60 million, Ruhl reported.

The current budget estimated 2 percent growth in tax revenue for fiscal year 2010. Actual year-to-date tax collections are 7.5 percent below fiscal year 2009, which were 7.4 percent below fiscal year 2008.

Year-to-date tax collections for the current year most resemble those of fiscal year 2005.

Source: Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
Niki Kelly

Reality Check: State wants to keep job numbers secret (Part I)

Wed, 26 May 2010 12:03:00 GMT

Indiana has created more than 100,000 new jobs in the past five years – at least that's what the governor and Indiana's Economic Development Corporation want you to believe. But 13 Investigates discovered Indiana's real job numbers are a tightly kept secret. And the governor and IEDC want to keep it that way.

Indianapolis - Indiana's much-publicized job numbers don't add up.

Where the Indiana Economic Development Corporation claims tens of thousands of new jobs, 13 Investigates documented empty factories and undeveloped corn fields all across the state. WTHR's investigation found at least 40% of Indiana's 100,000 "new jobs" promoted by the IEDC and Governor Mitch Daniels have never come, drawing the governor's ire.

"You seem to have a blindingly clear view of what is perfectly obvious," the governor said of the Eyewitness News investigation. "In a recession, a lot of businesses have to change their plans."

But the governor did not explain why a state economic development agency that he created and oversees continued to promote Indiana's job commitment (promised jobs) statistics instead of its job realization (actual jobs) numbers long after it became "perfectly obvious" that thousands of promised jobs would not materialize. And when asked to provide the state's real job numbers and to explain which companies followed through on their job promises and which ones did not, Daniels directed WTHR to attend an IEDC board meeting.

"The IEDC board meetings are public and a lot of enterprising reporters choose to attend them, and the those numbers are available there," he told WTHR in March.

13 Investigates accepted the governor's invitation.

Governor walks out

WTHR attended IEDC's spring board meeting, where board members reviewed charts and graphs showing summary job information. But despite the governor's invitation, the board offered no job realization numbers to support specific job commitments previously promoted by Daniels and the IEDC. So after the meeting, WTHR again asked the governor to provide that information and, this time, he simply walked out.

IEDC director Mitch Roob explained the governor and IEDC will not release Indiana's detailed job numbers to anyone. While the state uses Hoosier tax dollars to help attract new jobs, Hoosier tax payers do not get to see what they're paying for.

"We don't share it with the public. We don't release it to the news media. That's confidential information," Roob said.

What Indiana keeps confidential, other states make very public. Nearby states such as Ohio, Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota offer detailed economic development information to anyone who wants to see it.

Source: WTHR 13 Eyewitness News

Reality Check: State wants to keep job numbers secret (Part II)

Wed, 26 May 2010 12:03:00 GMT

"Just common sense"

"We think it's good public policy and, frankly, just common sense," said Warren Ribley, director of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

Under the Illinois Corporate Accountability Act, all Illinois companies that receive state economic development incentives must file a detailed report with IDCEO, and that information is then posted online.

Illinois tax payers can see how many jobs were created by a company compared to the number of jobs it promised; how many of the new positions are full-time, part-time and temp; starting dates for the new positions; salaries and total payroll created; and how much public tax money was provided to each company.

"I think our residents deserve that because we're using their hard-earned funds," Ribley said. "We owe that level of accountability back to the taxpayers."

Michigan provides similar information, including company-by-company job realization numbers and salary details for all newly-created jobs.

"There's no reason to withhold it," said Bridgett Beckman, public information officer of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. "All of that is discussed at public meetings and it's all a matter of public record."

Roob sees the issue very differently.

"That's just not the way Indiana has done it – ever," he said. "People in Indiana -- the businesses of Indiana -- feel very strongly that their relationship with state government is between state government and that company."

Information blackout

Getting information about those relationships is not easy. Even the most basic pubic records from IEDC can take weeks or even months to get. When 13 Investigates did receive the records it requested, wage, tax credit, employment, and job realization information had been crossed out.

"That's not a mistake," Roob said. "That is a competitive weapon that companies believe can be used against them by their competitors."

Other states believe that's simply not true.

"I don't understand that philosophy, particularly if a state is using public funds and state tax dollars to pay the bill for those new jobs. We need to hold [companies] accountable to make sure they do create those jobs, and the public also has the right to hold us accountable" said Ribley, adding that publicly releasing corporate job numbers has not discouraged companies from bringing jobs to Illinois. "We've never had a single company express concern or raise the fact that they did not want to choose Illinois because they were going to have to report that information," he said.

"What else would they say? We compete with them and beat them each and every day," responded Roob, who insists Indiana's confidential policy on corporate job and salary information gives IEDC an advantage in attracting jobs to Indiana.

"We do not intend to unilaterally disarm the competitive advantage that the Indiana Economic Development Corporation has," he said.

But is withholding information from taxpayers really giving Indiana a competitive advantage?

Source: WTHR 13 Eyewitness News