If you’re an IPS teacher who is being let go because of budget cuts, you’re going to love this.  My Indianapolis Star counterpart Andy Gammill is reporting on his web blog that IPS is changing its nepotism policy to hire Superintendent Eugene White’s son.  

Reginald White is being hired as a coach and behavior dean at Tech High School   The younger White will report to Deputy Superintendent Willie Giles instead of to the elder White.  And Giles will report directly to the school board.  

Now I’m not Reginald White is not qualified to do the job.   What I am saying is that it doesn’t look good when on the one hand the Superintendent tells parents teachers are being fired because of a declining student population, and on the other hand, the Superintendent’s son is getting  a job.

I find it hard to believe that out of the hundreds of teachers that work for the District or the ones that were let go, IPS could not have chosen one of them for the job and avoided losing a teacher.

But then again, there are a lot of things about the IPS administration I find hard to believe.

The American Energy Solutions Group, chaired by Congressman Mike Pence, hosted an energy summit in Indianapolis yesterday to discuss the proposed cap and trade legislation being pushed through Congress by President Obama.   Republicans are less than thrilled with the prospect of a catastrophic tax increase levied on employers in the name of the environment this bill will do nothing to protect.

Under the plan being debated in Congress, the government would effectively recognize the right to emit carbon, limit that right through caps, and sell credits back to industry allowing them to pollute.  If a manufacturer wants to go beyond the cap, they can purchase credits from industries that pollute less.   All at a healthy profit… for the government.

Over time, the magical theory goes, the caps are lowered and industry is forced to develop new green technology so they can continue supplying whatever it is they make… or they could just go to China and avoid this nonsense altogether.

It’s worth remembering that manufacturers don’t pay higher taxes, their customers do in the form of more expensive cars, energy, and other products with a carbon footprint.  Indiana is a state where we like to make things, so we’re especially hard hit under a cap and trade plan.

The good news is that energy producers just have to pay the piper.  After all, you can’t produce energy in China, put it on a container ship, and send it to Indiana.  Instead, they’ll face massive increases in the cost of energy production and rate payers can expect to get soaked.  In Indiana 94% of our energy comes from coal and we will see our energy bills double.  That’s the good news.

The bad news is that every other industry subject to cap and trade can move elsewhere, costing us jobs and actually increasing global pollution by forcing them to move to regions with little or no environmental regulation.  We know the routine here in Indiana.  If manufactured goods become too expensive to produce here, companies will go somewhere else.  If you’re skeptical that cap and trade costs jobs don’t take my word for it, read the bill.

On page 761 (of 932) you’ll find the creation of the “Climate Change Adjustment Allowance,” a fancy Congressional term for unemployment due to their deliberate action.  The bill itself assumes job loss once it passes so it establishes a new unemployment welfare program to accommodate the victims of environmental protection.  How nice, and just in time for a global economic meltdown.

Even before it passes Congress, President Obama is promising the revenue to government-run health care.  At a time when Democrats are working to pass this tax increase and a budget that borrows 46 cents of every dollar it spends, this bill seems to be a great stimulus package for China.  They’ll be the purchasers of our debt, and will eagerly welcome the industries that flee Indiana.  But don’t worry about losing your job, after all, your “Climate Change Adjustment Allowance” check is in the mail.

It’s nice to be back.

I’m hearing some pretty interesting rumblings behind the scenes regarding the Mayor’s race in 2011.

Although there is no nominee, I hear the Obama campaign has agreed to send staff and volunteers into Indianapolis to help the Democratic candidate win the race.  However, it doesn’t come without a price tag.  In exchange for help in getting the Mayor’s office back, the Administration is telling Marion County Democrats that sort-of-kind-of Sheriff Candidate Kerry Forestall will not get the spot of U.S. Marshall for the Southern District and instead it will go to someone pikced by either Indiana Congressmen Brad Elsworth or Baron Hill.

This raises a couple of questions.  What does this now mean for the Democratic nominee race for Sheriff and will Forestall get back in?   Secondly, if the Obama folks do get involved in the Mayoral race, who would benefit the most, Kip Tew, Woody Myers, Melina Kennedy, Jose Evans, Joe Hogsett, Brian Williams?  And will Indianapolis citizens take kindly to D.C., meddling in their internal affairs?  And what will this mean for Republicans, particularly incumbent Greg Ballard should he decide to seek a second term?

So many questions, so much time.   It is so nice to be back.

So the saga of the Indiana Soldiers and Sailors Children’s Home is over (apparently), and no one comes out of it looking good.  Yesterday Rush County Circuit Court Judge David Northan refused to issue an injunction sought by supporters of the home to keep it open, which would have overruled the decision by the Department of Health to close it and turn it over to the National Guard for their own at-risk kids program.

Governor Daniels comes off as being hard-hearted and unwilling to give a reasonable chance to a program that many graduates say turned around their lives.  It looks especially bad that he is turning it over to a very similar program operated by a different agency, although one that helps a much narrower segment of children (16-19).

But the kids from ISSCH have given their side a black eye, too, by their actions since being sent home last weekend.  In the words of the supporters’ attorney, Everett Powell, several of them “have had encounters with the criminal justice system” in the three days between graduation and yesterday’s court ruling.  Details are sketchy, as they always are in juvenile cases.  But apparently some got into drugs and somebody tried to rob someone.

Why, why, WHY would kids who have supposedly been benefiting from the loving care of the home be back into crime within 72 hours of their departure?  Powell and other supporters say that’s easy to understand.  The kids were traumatized by getting kicked out of the home and reverted to old habits.  But if the home had really inculcated some better character and values, shouldn’t they have held up under those old temptations for more than three days?

As Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels’ team gets ready to unveil a plan to address the Capital Improvement Board funding shortfall, one of the biggest challenges the administration will face is selling the plan to outstate lawmakers. Lawmakers argue that the people who benefit from the facilities, should help pay for them.  I agree because the entire state of Indiana benefits from  downtown Indianapolis, so the entire state should help pay, in the form of sales taxes. As I have said before, downtown Indianapolis is a major economic engine for this state.  It generates millions of dollars in sales tax revenue which goes to pay for other programs across Indiana, including schools.  That’s right schools.

Remember this folks, when we did the property reform of 2008, we took the operational costs of schools off the property tax rolls and used the sales tax increase to help pay for them. The state also assumed the costs of police pensions and child welfare services. The money generated from downtown Indianapolis, helps pay for those schools, pensions and child welfare services.

It’s estimated downtown Indy generates $250 million for the state of Indiana in sales tax revenue. In a perfect world, the sales tax revenue generated from these facilities would be used to pay for them and then the rest would go elsewhere, just like any normal business model. Unfortunately, the short-sightedness of some lawmakers does not allow them to see that letting downtown fail is political equivalent of cutting off your nose to spite your face.

So if downtown Indianapolis was to fail, I am sure Hoosiers in other parts of Indiana would love to see their taxes go up to pay for these programs that they solely benefit from. Just as I am sure they have no desire to help Marion County with its problems, it will be more than justice for the citizens of Marion County to return the favor. Good luck guys finding the money to pay for your schools, police pension and child welfare programs. You’re going to need it.