Gitte Laasby of the Gary Post-Tribune continues to tirelessly turn over rocks in the search for answers about the handling of BP's air permit hearing by Gov. Mitch Daniels and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. Specifically, why Indiana state law was ignored by the state agency in scheduling the permit hearing, giving the public less than the required notice of 30 days.
The result has been a lot of finger-pointing, and very little in the way of substantive answers to many of these lingering questions.
As the Post-Tribune revealed in April, IDEM's chief of the permits branch of the Office of Air Quality, Matt Stuckey, e-mailed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in January to ask how long was the required notice. He was told state law applies.
State law specifies it's 30 days, but IDEM scheduled a hearing with 18 to 20 days notice.
Now IDEM won't say who at the agency made the call to ignore state law.
The Post-Tribune asked IDEM three times whether Stuckey or anybody else from IDEM looked up state requirements.
Another question was whether Stuckey informed his superiors of the response he received from the EPA and, if so, who made the decision to schedule the hearing with too little notice anyway.
Each time, IDEM sent back a similar answer.
"We looked into it and, considering the public was requesting the hearing to be moved back, we did so," spokeswoman Amy Hartsock wrote.
Oh, I see. The public asked to ignore the law, so they did. Seems fair enough to me.
(English as the national language is one my favorite forms of thinly-veiled racism, so I'm always glad to see one of our GOP representatives holding down the fort. Bumped from the user diaries. - promoted by Thomas)
U.S. Rep. Mark Souder was presented today with an "A in English" award for his leadership in Congress to preserve the unifying role of the English language in the United States. Souder was recognized at the ceremony by U.S. English, a citizens' action group working to make English the official language of the United States.
"The English language is a great unifying force in our nation, and I have long argued that the government should promote it so as to bring us together," Souder said. "Efforts to make English the official language of the United States are aimed at inclusion and community. As we communicate with one another in English, we strengthen the bond that exists between all Americans."
"I am pleased to present this award to Congressman Souder for his efforts to unite our diverse nation under the common language of English," said Mauro Mujica, Chairman of the Board of U.S. English. "Mark Souder has been a strong supporter of official English policies during his time in Congress. At a time when there is renewed interest in preserving what unites us as a nation, we are grateful to Congressman Souder for his dedicated and enthusiastic support of this issue."
Souder is a cosponsor of H.R. 997, the English Language Unity Act, which would require all citizens to be able to read and understand generally the English language text of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the laws of the United States. H.R. 997 has been referred to the Education and Labor Committee, where it awaits further consideration.
So if this legislation passes and is signed by President Bush...I'll allow the readers time to laugh out loud here...
(Bumped from the user diaries. - promoted by Thomas)
Here in Monroe County, we've had a few bold plans lately, but this one is a perfect example of what progressive thinking can do for local government.
On Tuesday, former County Council president Mark Stoops won his bid to run for County Commissioner. Mark has run on a number of progressive issues, but his boldest proposal is a single-payer health system for Monroe County.
Here's an excerpt from his press release on the subject:
All local government units and larger not-for-profits have their own insurance plans and groups - Monroe County government, City of Bloomington, IU, Monroe County Schools, Richland-Bean Blossom Schools, Ivy Tech, Monroe County Public Library, Bloomington Hospital. United Way has a nice pool of organizations covering 700-800 people. The list goes on and on. Dozens of separate groups representing thousands of local people.
There is no reason, except for a lack of political will, that local government units and not-for-profits cannot pool their employees and create an efficient, low-cost, administrative agency. The savings on administration alone would be greater than 10%. That is 10% savings on millions and millions of dollars.
Once an initial larger pool is created, the lower cost would encourage still more participation by local, large employers. At that point, the economies of scale and dilution of risk would allow us to offer the plan to small businesses and individuals in the community.
The plan is designed to go in phases - after a study commission can run the numbers, it would first include all the governmental units. As it was pointed out, there are numerous benefits to making the administrative agency a separate, nonprofit entity, as it would allow state organizations (like IU) to join without any major legislative changes needed from the General Assembly.
Even as the national spotlight shifts toward the Mountaineers of West Virginia, the three undecided superdelegates here in the Hoosier state continue to receive attention as it becomes increasingly clear that an extended primary battle would place them in a key position to control if not the nomination itself, at least the media narrative as we head toward August.
The three declined interview requests Wednesday but said in statements or through spokesmen that they aren't ready to announce a decision.
"I do not know on what date I will endorse," Donnelly said in a statement. "But when I do, I will back the candidate I think would make the best president."
[...]
Visclosky will consider the results in the district and state, as well as the candidates' positions on issues such as trade, the economy and the Iraq war as he works toward an endorsement, according to his spokesman.
Ellsworth said in a statement that "if it comes down to the convention, I will cast my vote for the candidate 8th District voters chose unless there is a compelling reason to do otherwise."
Yesterday afternoon brought a concession, and with it the official beginning of the Jill vs. Mitch match-up. Long Thompson was in Indianapolis yesterday to kick off her general election campaign, and Bill Ruthhart of the Stardiscusses the challenges awaiting the Democratic nominee as she launches her bid.
It took close to 24 hours after Indiana's polls closed for Jill Long Thompson to sew up her win as the Democratic nominee for governor, but she wasted no time Wednesday homing in on her next target: Mitch Daniels.
Driving south after a campaign rally in Fort Wayne, the former congresswoman made about 50 phone calls, including a number in which she sought campaign contributions.
She's going to need the help.
Daniels has raised more than $8.8 million, according to current finance reports. He's run 11 different television ads in the past two months, during which he was uncontested in the primary.
In the same period, Long Thompson ran four TV ads. She raised $1.4 million and spent most of it in her narrow win over Indianapolis architect Jim Schellinger.
(Bumped from the user diaries. 17% of Republicans in the 2nd District are cool with Nazis and the return of segregation. Surprising, or not? - promoted by Thomas)
According to the Indianapolis Star's Election Tracker page, Congressional candidate Tony Zirkle (R-Hitler) managed to find almost 6,000 Indiana Republicans who think that he not only belongs in their party, but that he belongs in the US House of Representatives.
In fact, in Howard County, Zirkle received more votes than Luke Puckett.
Whether your candidates won or lost yesterday, it was great to see Democratic turnout numbers that will likely stand in the record books for decades to come. All across the state -- in traditional Democratic strongholds and conservative areas, alike -- there was an historic level of support for our candidates.
Allen County turnout was 34 percent, according to unofficial results. In the 2006 primary election, turnout was less than 17 percent. At Fort Wayne's Forest Park United Methodist Church, more than 530 voters had cast their ballots by 4 p.m., more than double the number usually seen in a primary - and multitudes more than usually seen in a Democratic primary.
"I've never seen so many Democrats in my life," said precinct inspector Donna Sefton, who has worked that polling place for 15 years. "This area is mostly Republicans."
She said most primary elections bring out 200 to 250 voters, almost all of whom pull Republican ballots.
This time, it looked more like a general election - in November, which featured mayoral and City Council races. There were 600 voters by 5 p.m.
The Associated Press story from a few hours ago quoted the Jim Schellinger camp on where they stand in the ongoing vote count process for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. While the Long Thompson campaign has declared victory, they assert there are still quite a few votes to tally.
Schellinger spokeswoman Jennifer Wagner said early Wednesday morning that the campaign was not conceding the race, and would evaluate matters later Wednesday.
"As far as we're concerned it's still a neck-and-neck race," she said.
Word on the street says there are still a good many provisional ballots hanging out there, and that the vote differential is down to just 3000 votes. As the process continues this morning, I will try and get some updated statewide numbers.
"We're in the process of figuring that (who won) out right now. It's too close to call," communications director Jennifer Wagner said.
Wagner said Schellinger's campaign staff is checking with each county to get updated vote totals in the race against Jill Long Thompson.
"I know everybody wants to call it ... especially Jill Long Thompson," Wagner said. "But it's far from over. ... Elections are a process that don't end when the polls close."
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton squeaked out a critical razor-thin victory in Indiana's presidential primary Tuesday but lost North Carolina's primary, a split decision that left her no closer to overcoming Sen. Barack Obama in the race for the Democratic nomination.
With 99 percent of the votes counted, Clinton was clinging to a narrow 51 percent to 49.percent lead. Only about 22,000 votes out of about 1.2.million cast separated her and Obama.
U.S. Rep. Andre Carson said it's time to reunite the party after winning a hard-fought Democratic nomination in the 7th Congressional District, where the race featured record spending and multiple candidates who split the majority of the votes.
With most of the precincts reporting, Carson led with 41 percent of the vote, according to unofficial tallies. The three top voter getters who trailed Carson together had 52 percent of the vote.
Carson said it won't be difficult to unite the party for the general election in November, when he will have a rematch with Jon Elrod, who easily won the Republican nomination. Carson beat Elrod by 9,000 votes in a March special election to complete the term of his grandmother, Julia Carson, who died while in office.
Jill Long Thompson captured a slim victory early today in a fierce battle for the Democratic nomination for governor.
With just 26 of the state's 5,230 precincts left to report at 1:30 a.m., Long Thompson led Schellinger by just 5,400 votes.
She had won 50.25 percent of the vote statewide compared to his 49.75, largely thanks to winning 54 percent of the Lake County vote, which did not release most of its results until early this morning.
Of course, the Long Thompson victory is still subject to scrutiny and recounts, and there are some still making noise about the race still having a little life left in it. More on that later after I have a few hundred cups of coffee.
If you haven't already made your prediction, now is the time. We're an hour out from the first results starting to trickle in, and two hours from the first races being called.
In terms of turnout, I'm hearing that counties across the state are running out of Democratic ballots. Tippecanoe County has surpassed 35,000 total votes for the day, Vigo is reporting a shortage of ballots, and Lake County has turned out in full force. Others mentioned in the rumor mill are Porter, Howard and even Hamilton.
The question remains, of course, as to who will benefit the most from these historic numbers.
The first exit polls will be hitting the streets shortly, and I'll bring you information as I receive it.
Update: I'm hearing that Lake, Marion, and Monroe Counties have experienced huge turnout today -- a definite plus for Obama. In the 7th, evidence seems to be pointing to big cross-over voting from Republicans -- a big plus for Dr. Woody Myers, if conventional wisdom is to be believed.
It may be anecdotal, sure, but it's still something to keep in mind as we wait for word from polling locations across the state. Via the Star:
The two precincts at Broad Ripple Family Center selected Republican Jon Elrod over Democrat Andre Carson in March's special election for U.S. Congress. But by 9 a.m., just 21 voters in one of those precincts had requested Republican ballots -- out of 168 cast.
Amid heavy turnout, Republicans appeared to be crossing over in droves today in Marion County and suburban counties, where fewer Republican voters might impact down-ticket primary races.
Conventional wisdom says this is good news for Clinton, but is it possible that the split for these non-traditional Democratic voters will be more even than we first thought?
I've given some radio interviews and the like over the past few weeks, and the one thing that I keep saying when we get to the inevitable request for predictions is that there is no way to know. Polls are all over the place, pundits are erratically buying and selling candidates and their spin, and it has become perfectly normal for the narrative to do two or three 180s in a single day 24-hour period.
But at the end of the day, the grand wildcard in today's election is this: A lot of people are going to vote today who under almost any other circumstance wouldn't be voting. Niki Kelly of the Journal Gazettebreaks it down:
The national spotlight will shine on the Hoosier State today, and Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita says the election system is ready to handle more than 165,000 new voters and a possible record turnout.
"Indiana has studied for this exam, and we are prepared," he said, noting that no election is ever perfect but he hopes today's will be an "exercise in accuracy and fairness for the candidates, the parties and, most of all, the voters."
Couple these unpredictable new voters with cross-over voting from traditional GOP supporters, and you have a recipe that could result in a lot of back-peddling pundits before the end of the night. I think it is safe to say that any top-of-the-ticket race called before 9pm will favor the females, and the same goes for Congressman Andre Carson in the 7th.
If we find ourselves huddled around the television and computer screens at 10:30pm, counting the votes as they slowly trickle in, you can safely assume that these new voters are to blame for the lack of sleep we'll all enjoy.
The polls are open, and I'm wearing my "I Voted" sticker proudly. In Indianapolis, you can't swing a dead cat by the tail without hitting a news reporter, and Hillary Clinton will be in town tonight to celebrate or spin, depending on the outcome of Indiana's vote. In Bloomington this morning, folks were hitting the streets early, and if the "Honk for Hope" signs were any indication, the Obama folks were out in full force.
Matt Tully opines on the importance of today not just for the national political narrative, but for a state that has been long-overlooked in the grand scheme of things.
How big is this?
Think about it: Since the 1968 primary -- the last presidential contest in which Indiana's vote was considered key -- 14,609 days have passed. Clearly, we're overdue.
Seven presidents have occupied the White House in the years since the 1968 election. During that time, voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and other states have determined which candidates the Democratic and Republican parties would nominate. Indiana's late primary date, coupled with the state's propensity to vote Republican in national elections, has given presidential candidates little incentive to campaign here in recent decades. Election year after election year, Indiana voters have been ignored.
But not this year.
From a whiskey shot in Crown Point to a pickup basketball game in Kokomo, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama have brought their big-budget brands of retail politicking to Indiana. They arrived in late winter and are still here in midspring. Along the way, they've flooded our airwaves and mailboxes with campaign advertising -- some of it positive, some not. They've appeared on "The Bob & Tom Show" and shared stages with Indiana's own John Mellencamp. They've brought the national media along with them, taking reporters to college towns, farm towns and struggling factory towns. They've met voters in every part of the state and have no doubt come to understand there's more than corn in Indiana.
(Bumped from the user diaries. I'm a sucker for contests. - promoted by Thomas)
Here's the official Indiana Election Day prediction thread. I'll be taking predictions for the Presidential, Gubernatorial and IN-7 races.
The persons whose predictions most closely match the actual results will be declared the winner. There will be one winner for each category. As a prize, each winner will be able to choose a candidate from the ActBlue database to be placed on my ActBlue page. In addition, I will contribute $5.06 (in honor of election day) to each candidate to honor the winner's choices.
So let the game begin. Submissions must be made by 10am Tuesday morning to be valid.
So what've you been hearing right before the primaries? You know me, I love to gossip. Here's what I've got. How about you?
I hear the party has pretty much given up on Schellinger. Jill Long Thompson's election night celebration is in Ft. Wayne and not with the establishment in Indy. Will "change" win over "insiders" in the gubernatorial race?
How about in the Presidential battle? Sources tell me that Team Clinton is feeling confident that they will carry the day while Team Obama is encouraged by the amount of new registrations state-wide and are banking on "change" to give him the win.
All the 7th Congressional District campaigns are sweating those new registrations too. With so many new voters outside of Center Township, will Orentlicher buck the polls? No one thinks Carolene Mays stands a chance. I've heard of three different polls now that puts Woody just a hair under Carson; perhaps the newbie "change" can sweep the day.
The happiest candidates the night before the election? Mitch Daniels, Jon Elrod and John McCain.
41% Jim Schellinger 43% Jill Long Thompson 16% Undecided
Schellinger, an Indianapolis architect, is up 5 points. In the final weekend, there is movement among women to the man. Long Thompson had led by 23 among female voters, now by 5. Among men, the two remain effectively tied. Among voters age 18 to 49, Long Thompson last week led by 10; today, Schellinger leads by 3, a 13-point swing. There is similar volatility in Southern Indiana and in Greater Indianapolis, where Schellinger finishes strong. Given that 16% of likely voters remain undecided on Primary Eve -- unchanged over the past three weeks -- any Primary outcome is possible.
A recently created event page on Facebook is heralding an Auction and Karaoke Night on the evening of May 16th at The 412 Club on E. Washington Boulevard. The proceeds are for the "Northeastern Indiana "It's time for change" Political Action Committee".
The event page states: "Join us for food, drinks, song, and fun! Auction to benefit the Matt Kelty Legal Defense Fund begins at 9 pm.".
keltyinfo@yahoo.com.
We can expect participants to sing songs like Pink Floyd's "Money" and The O'Jays' "For the Love of Money."
And just because I can, a little blast from the not-so-distant past.
Worst time ever to go off of the grid, I know, but I graduated today and have familial obligations throughout the evening. Tomorrow is going to be busy, busy, busy with the Jefferson Jackson Day Dinner taking up most of my schedule, but I'll check in during the morning hours with some much-needed upates.
(Bumped from the user diaries. - promoted by Thomas)
Sen. Hillary Clinton has picked up a key endorsement in Muncie.
Hoosiers for Hillary today announced the endorsement of Miss Indiana Brittany Mason. Mason will announce her endorsement tonight in Indianapolis before the Hoosiers for Hillary rally with special guest John Mellencamp...
"Hoosier families face a struggling economy with spiraling gas prices, stagnant wages and rising health care costs." said Mason. "We need a president who will stand up for us, fight for us and work with us everyday to tackle our toughest challenges. Hillary Clinton has a proven record of bettering the lives of hardworking Americans and giving a voice to those who are seldom heard. I am confident that as President, Hillary will rebuild the middle class and restore the American promise."
No word yet about Blue Indiana or Tyrion himself. Keep trying guys, they're handing threats out like candy now; you'll get one soon!
I have now been advised by counsel for Dr. Meyers that the Doctor considers my original post "libelous," and that failure to correct the record will be grounds for an immediate lawsuit.
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