Bud Bernitt, who is running for Congress in the Eighth District, issued the following press release yesterday:

Roads bring jobs, and that is why I am challenging my Democratic opponent to sign a pledge to support the extension of Interstate 69 from Evansville to Indianapolis. Voters have made it clear to me: Build Interstate 69. Now.

The economy is performing poorly and unemployment in the United States is 9.7%. The right medicine for the Eighth is I-69, and that is why I plan to talk up Interstate 69 throughout this entire race and right on through November.

(Read more after the leap)

The guys over at Frugal Hoosiers have written a great post on the continuing obstruction to Indiana’s economic bowel that is Pat Bauer.  Remember, this is the guy who passed through the House, on a party line vote, a budget that only covers Indiana for one year.  His budget didn’t even cover funding for child care or education.  He’s also kicked government consolidation to the curb and so far, is pushing off property tax caps until the next session saying we need a year to see how it all plays out.

Frankly, I don’t think I need to remind our savvy HA readers that the first half of any two party legislative session is dedicated to the budget.  That’s why it’s longer than the short session.  But “The Hair” wants to revisit the budget again next year for year two of the Democrats budget.  This is also the same guy who said that “Major Moves” was too big to consider in a short session back in 2006!

Via FH via a 2006 Mike Smith AP article:

House Minority Leader Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, said he opposed higher fees Daniels plans to impose on his own next spring on the Indiana Toll Road. He also questioned whether the rest of the governor’s highway plan had “enough meat that we would want to spend a lot of time on it.”

As for an “aggressive” session on other initiatives by Daniels and majority Republicans, Bauer said he would have see them in detail first. Short sessions, he said, were supposed to be for dealing with emergencies.

So, Major Moves was too much for Bauer in 2006, but doing another budget, voting on tax caps (which he supported in 2008 (oh wait, that was an election year) while Government Reform is pursued again (the Governor, rightfully, won’t let it die so easily) will be simple enough to handle in a three month (not even that) short session?  Does Bauer have his piece on too tight?

Have you noticed how many issues affecting Northwest Indiana involve and quote second term state representative Ed Soliday?

Today’s would be a fight over unlocking “emergency” money from Major Moves, a move by Democrats in the house to get an extra $500 million sent to local communities for construction projects.

This all results from the clammoring for $5 billion that is supposed to come to Indiana from the Stimulus Bill, that many are calling the Pork Bill. As much as $500 million is now slated to come to NW Indiana communities. What are your thoughts? Do we need to create construction jobs?

Published in the Indiana Daily Student, October 30, 2008

To the Editor:

In your editorial of October 29, you write “neither Jill Long Thompson nor (Mitch) Daniels is running on a platform of serious change or upheaval.”

Where has the IDS Editorial Board been for the last four years? Governor Daniels has pushed through a number of major public policy initiatives, including the “Major Moves” plan to upgrade infrastructure throughout the state, Daylight Savings Time, leasing the Toll Road (which provided a huge sum of money for infrastructure improvements), privatizing aid to the poor, major property tax reform, and a balanced budget. Students should pay attention to property taxes because property taxes are a cost of doing business for landlords and are therefore reflected in your rent.

(Read more after the leap)

The contradictions between Jill Long Thompson and the only guy willing to run with her, err, her chosen running mate, Dennie Ray Oxley II, are many.

And certain Democrat spin-mistresses are already beating a swift retreat away from his importance to the ticket.

You can bet that they wouldn’t be downplaying the significance of his presence on the ticket if they really thought that he was such a great choice.

The contradictions with what young Dennie Ray II is saying now and with what he has done in the past are even more enlightening, however.

See why after the leap.

Gov. Mitch Daniels’ campaign picked up some meaningful endorsements today. Labor leaders from across the state announced that Mitch is their man for the 2008 election. Getting endorsements from such a historically Democrat quarter is pretty interesting; especially when you consider one of the reasons cited by a union official in “The Region”. According to Dave Fagan, an officer with the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 in Merrillville, Major Moves was a big factor in their endorsement. “Major Moves has brought in about $4 billion with interest for infrastructure. And with that infrastructure is employment, jobs for construction workers across the state.”

For those of you who aren’t from the northern part of the state, Major Moves is (maybe these endorsements single it is now a “was”) a political charged issue. Some quarters successfully painted a picture of the Governor selling the Indiana Toll Road to a foreign entity. Although they didn’t say it, you almost had to wonder if some of these folks were picturing this private company coming into the state and rolling up the Toll Road and taking to some other place. Local political leaders from the party that does not hold the governor’s mansion right now publicly decried the “sale” (they didn’t want to understand the concept of that legal and business devise known as a lease) while privately expressing elation about the money they were getting.

Let’s face it, when you put the politics aside, the Toll Road lease was one of the smartest things Mitch Daniels has done as governor.

After the tragedy in Minneapolis, people all across the nation are wondering if the bridges they’re crossing are indeed safe. A WISH-TV report shows (warning, video will pop up) that of the 5,700 bridges in Indiana, 250 are structurally deficient while 559 are functionally obsolete. The bridge in Minneapolis was labeled structurally deficient in 1990.

So how does INDOT plan to address this situation? When the Indiana House of Representatives was controlled by the Republicans in the first half of Governor Mitch Daniels first term, they passed the highly volatile “Major Moves” program which Democrats still pan today. But in turns out, that Republicans were thinking ahead at the time. INDOT, according to the WISH-TV report says that “many of the major moves projects include bridge rehabilitation” and that “hundreds of bridges will be fixed in the ten year major moves plan”.

So in addition to bringing the state millions of dollars in revenue which helped bring our state out of debt, we also have the money to address the problems and concerns with our bridges to make sure that the tragedy that happened in Minneapolis, doesn’t happen here.

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