18. July 2008 by Greg Kelver.

Once again the LaPorte County Commissioners have demonstrated that they are not qualified to govern a high school class much less a real county with 110,000 real lives in it.

It is a given fact that just about everybody thinks they are paying way too much for gas and electric.  It certainly doesn’t take much political skill to get people riled up when somebody starts kicking NIPSCO in the shins.  So in yet another brilliant political smokescreen designed to distract LaPorte County Taxpayers while generating more billable hours for the County Attorney, the Commissioners have given him the go ahead to blow smoke from NIPSCO’s upcoming rate increase. Even though the News-Dispatch reports that County Attorney Friedman said it is unknown what kind of increase the energy company is seeking until it files information in August.

 http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=15966 

Positively brilliant political pandering! Nothing like waiting to get all the facts before you announce that you are going to waste more of somebody’s money doing stuff you really shouldn’t be doing in the first place. But please keep in mind this is the same Commissioner Dream Team that has been yanking LaPorte County property taxpayers around for over a year and still can’t get it right even after being roughed up by the DLGF.

Let’s cut the bullshit.  As a small business owner who understands real economic development, I can assure the Commissioners and County Attorney Friedman that the disaster that they have created with their property tax mess is a FAR, FAR greater detriment to LaPorte County’s ability to attract new business than NIPSCO’s first rate increase case since 1987 will be. For the last twenty years, I have spent my life helping businesses to save energy in their buildings.  I know firsthand that smart businesses can save tremendous amounts of energy and improve their bottom line through sensible engineering choices.  But unfortunately, business has absolutely no such similar option for the screwed up property tax reassessment system inflicted on them by state legislators and incompetent electeds.  Ladies and gentlemen, if you truly want to understand why we have economic problems, please focus your attention on the three ring circus of local, state and federal government, not NIPSCO. 

But what is truly rich about the Commissioners quicksand stand against NIPSCO’s upcoming rate case is that at this very same meeting, they voted to sharply raise the fees for tests provided by the LaPorte County Health Department. Those sharp increases  included doubling the fee for blood profiles for county employees.  They also announced that the Health Department will start testing for chicken pox at $170 a pop.  Chicken pox!! Hello Forest, meet the Trees.

Personally, I think it is amazingly hypocritical for the Commissioners to hike the county  fees for basic health testing at the very same meeting they present the political illusion of fighting NIPSCO. But of course that is just my opinion.  Voters certainly will have an opportunity to give their own opinion in a few weeks.

Vote for more of the same, get more of the same.

Posted in Energy, Government, Politics | 1 Comment »

12. July 2008 by Greg Kelver.

Governor Daniels has had plenty of boneheaded ideas over the last four years but the conceptual idea of getting the State out of the lottery business is NOT one of those.  State government often demonstrates an uncanny ability to screw up a two car parade and apparently it has just done so again with the Hoosier Lottery Scratch-off games.

Seems as though some shrewd attorneys have figured out that selling scratch-off tickets after the big prize is gone amounts to some sort of fraudulent practice.  At first glance, it certainly does not seem right that thousands of Hoosiers are plunking down their cash every week to take a chance on a prize that they have ZERO chance of winning.  Acutely aware of the election year consequences of what could happen once people figure out they have again been scammed by both Old Parties, Hoosier Lottery officials have quickly announced that retailers must immediately remove the tickets for any game in which the top prize has been won.  

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080712/LOCAL18/807120434 

On the surface, pulling the tickets certainly seems like the right thing to do, but if you scratch just beneath the surface, there is a big problem with what state officials have just done.  Depending on when the ”big prize” is won, I think that pulling the plug on a game that just got started probably could result in the state actually LOSING money on a scratch-off  game.  There are obviously significant initial costs to the state to start-up, advertise, administer and pay prizes for a new scratch-off game.  But unlike small business owners who understand the concept of the “break-even” point, apparently break-even is not a worry for state officials.

Years ago, taxpayers were led to believe that the lottery was a cash cow that was going to make money that could be used for noble government purposes (like education). But if the state starts pulling scratch-off games and losing taxpayers’ money, it doesn’t take either a rocket scientist or a CPA to see the fundamental problem with a state-run scratch-off.  And forcing Hoosiers who are morally opposed to any gambling to pay higher sales tax, income tax or property taxes to cover the state’s losses is just flat out wrong.  That is a really bad bet that no overburdened taxpayer should be forced to take.

  Game over.

Posted in Government | No Comments »

4. July 2008 by Greg Kelver.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

http://www.ushistory.org/Declaration/document/index.htm 

Happy Independence Day!

And thank you to the men and women who had the guts, the courage, and the vision to make this great country possible. 

Posted in Government | No Comments »

2. July 2008 by Greg Kelver.

If Einstein was correct that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, then more than a few folks have probably  noticed that Commissioners Hager and Huston apparently have both lost their minds.

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=15321&TM=20847.01

Of course in a county that has perfected the art of Punch 10 (now Push 10 Paperless) voting, local taxpayers already know that senseless insanity is the new reality when it comes to local government.

Local attorney Mark Phillips nailed the root of the current property tax reassessment problem. The News-Dispatch reported- 

“This is just government at its worst,” he said. “The taxpayers of La Porte County had a contract shoved down their throats with no bid and no opportunity to be heard. What harm can that be for a government body to hear what taxpayers had to say?”

Less than two years ago, voters finally came to their senses long enough to boot an incumbent and take a shot with Mike Bohacek as the new commissioner.  In my opinion, Mr. Bohacek has pretty much established himself to be the lone voice for reason and common sense on the commission.  Abused Taxpayers can only hope that come November, enough clear thinking voters will head for the polls so the LaPorte County Commissioners may once again have a sensible majority who are looking out for the rights and best interests of the citizens they are supposed to serve instead of acting like the self-serving, two-bit political hacks we have come to expect.

Posted in Government, Politics | 1 Comment »