Mitch Daniels strikes again

And again. And again.

Like his former boss, the Governor will not let reality stand in his conquests. (See this from Wish -TV and some commentary from Taking Down Words). Not sure what he is off to conquer but with this guy it might be Freedonia. With us as Mrs. Teasedale.


The Louisville Courier- Journal has a report on his agenda for the upcoming General Assembly: 1) new taxes on cigarettes for healthcare, 2) privatize the lottery, 3) all day kindergarten, and 4) the new toll road around Indianapolis. "Daniels also has plans to boost the number of child caseworkers, to provide additional benefits to Hoosier soldiers and veterans and to maintain the state's balanced budget. And he might have a few more ideas up his sleeve. It's too soon to know."

I find the following so very telling about the Governor's mentality:

The governor gets a little riled when anyone refers to this proposal as a cigarette tax increase. He prefers to focus on the health benefits of reducing smoking -- something he believes higher prices will do -- and on the insurance plan.

Guess what? It is a tax increase. Call it whatever you like but he wants to increase a tax. What is it about Republicans that they cannot say what they mean and mean what they say? Might it just be that they have the cowardice of their convictions? Or has he taken up residence in some place like cloudcuckooland? I do not like the idea of paying more for my smokes but I like the idea of healthcare for my fellow citizens even better. Show some backbone, Mitch.

I think we all now realize that Mitch is just a Steve Goldsmith clone. His unbridled lust for selling off the state may even exceed that of Goldsmith's to sell off Indianapolis. I cannot say that the Indiana Lottery means that much to me. I think it got one dollar from me this year (which is $1.00 more than I got from them). However, there are very good reasons that the government handles the lottery rather than private companies. This article from the Indianapolis Business Journal implies why we let the government run a lottery. If Mitch does not want to govern, maybe he should resign as Governor?

Remember privatization does not mean opening government services to private competition but swapping a government monopoly for a private monopoly. A government monopoly of services for the citizenry allows for oversight by that same citizenry but no such oversight exists over a private monopoly. So who is going to benefit from privatizing the lottery? (Again, thanks to TDW for these links, here and here.) Hmm, what is Mitch going to do after he leaves office in '08? The good news is that some of his privatization plans are meeting criticism, if not opposition.

The other end of his plan for the lottery has its own problems. We are going to give money so people can go to school. Well, we do that already. The problem is the jobs are not here. Even the Anderson Herald-Bulletin recognizes that fact. I cannot find the exact comment but someone over on TDW suggested a private-public plan where government gets the private sector to agree to take students from Indiana. Hey, we give them tax breaks. It makes sense.

The all day kindergarten is a good idea, and as former Governors O'Bannon and Kernan would say - past due.

Having written before on the new toll road, the ICC, I do not have more to add. A bad idea. Myopic. Somebody point out to the Governor that what he thinks is the path forward is really the path back. He thinks he is in the 21st century when actually he is going back to the canal days of the 1830's. Anybody who has been to Metamora knows how that story turns out but if you have no idea about Indiana's canals, see this article.

Considering just how far behind the pack, we are as a state, that the Governor would want to lead us into different territory than that what has already been trod. Guess not. Oh, Governor, just because it is green does not mean that is grass you are stepping on.