Brad Ellsworth launches second television spot: “Think”
July 22nd, 2010Dan Coats under fire for standing against unemployed Hoosiers
July 20th, 2010This morning’s story on the upcoming vote on an unemployment extension in the New York Times included a blurb on Dan Coats’ continued opposition to reinstating benefits to nearly fifty thousand Hoosiers who have become victims to the latest batch of Republican roadblocks.
In one case, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee issued a statement noting that Dan Coats, the Republican Senate candidate in Indiana, had backed Republican efforts to block the jobless pay unless it was offset with cuts elsewhere.“Due to Republican obstructionism, over 48,000 unemployed Hoosiers have already lost their unemployment benefits,” the Democratic statement said.
Dan Coats owes Indiana an explanation for why he refuses to support those who have been hit hardest by these tough economic times.
Many Hoosiers Suffering Under the Daniels Economy
July 19th, 2010
Thomas Cook from the WRTV Capital Watch Blog has a great new piece illustrating how more and more Hoosiers are suffering under the Daniels economy, yet fewer and fewer are receiving state benefits.
Governor Mitch Daniels has made it abundantly clear that his road to higher office will be painted black — you know, the color of his oft-touted budget numbers. Surplus! Fiscal responsibility!
Anyway, the truth of the matter is a bit more bleak looking in Mitch for America land. Sure, Indiana has “balanced the books,” but much of this balancing involved shifting huge burdens off the state and shouldering local governments with crippling debt and a political suicide pact that required either slashing local services or enacting a local tax increase.
Tax increases that the purportedly anti-tax Governor Daniels was all-too-willing to support, it’s worth noting, along with his sales and cigarette tax increases.
In this morning’s Star, Maureen Groppe takes a look at yet another area of state services that has fallen into disrepair while Mitch’s Golden Age proceeds unabated in the realm of carefully-managed public relations. Here’s the latest story the Governor’s office doesn’t want to talk about:
Indiana has an unemployment rate above the national average, but its welfare rolls are getting smaller. Why? Indiana has some of the toughest eligibility rules and smallest benefits in the nation, state officials say.
“You have to be poorer than poor,” said Jim Dunn, policy manager for Indiana’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which provides cash aid. “Even though Indiana has been hit hard with the employment loss, anyone who continues to get unemployment benefits has too much income to qualify for cash assistance in Indiana.”
Cook further elaborated on the extreme restrictions of Indiana…..
A family of three can’t earn more than $378 a month in Indiana to get cash assistance from the federal-state program. Only Alabama, Arkansas and Louisiana have stricter limits.
“It’s ridiculously low, and we should adjust it,” said state Senate Minority Leader Vi Simpson, D-Ellettsville.
One would think that Daniels’ hard-earned “preservation” of a nearly $1 billion state surplus might have, you know, resulted in some positive developments for those who have been hardest hit by the economic collapse that Daniels maintains he is protecting us from. As it turns out, though, Indiana has maintained an absurdly meager program for needy Hoosiers. From the Star’s sidebar:
Cash assistance limit for a family of three:
» Indiana: $288 per month, 11th-lowest in the U.S.
» Ohio: $410.
» Michigan: $489.
» Alaska: $923, the highest amount in the nation.Change in number of Hoosiers receiving benefits, 2005 to April 2010:
» Medicaid: 27 percent increase, to 1,076,522.
» Food stamps: 45 percent increase, to 811,061.
» Welfare cash assistance: 26 percent decrease, to 104,591.Mitch Daniels’ state budget surplus victory: Political gold for his future ambitions, and that’s all that should matter to us, right?
Chrysler’s Historic Investment in Kokomo
June 11th, 2010
Hoosiers continued to receive great news from the Chrysler Group this week as the company announced a historic $300 million investment to its Kokomo plants. The investment will fund the installation of equipment and special tooling to modernize Indiana Transmission Plant I and the Kokomo Casting Plant. The project will extend the life of both manufacturing facilities and help retain nearly 1,200 jobs.
The investment is the largest in the U.S. since the new company was formed in June of 2009.
This fantastic news comes on the heels of Chrysler’s announcement last month of adding 399 jobs also in Kokomo. And shortly after General Motors announced adding hundreds of jobs to its Southern Indiana plant in Bedford, along with hundreds of jobs in Marion and Fort Wayne.
This growth is the direct result of the Automotive Restructuring Initiative created through the hard work of President Barack Obama, Senator Evan Bayh and the Indiana Democratic Congressional delegation. While there is still work to do, these are encouraging and real signs that we are moving in the right direction.
However, none of this job growth would be realized today if it was left to Governor Mitch Daniels and Treasurer of State Richard Mourdock.
Daniels has been vehemently oppositional and outspoken on the President’s Auto Restructuring plan, saying, “honestly, I don’t know that throwing more printed money at this situation in any way, shape or form would make any difference.”
And at the Governor’s urging, Mourdock decided to file a law suit against Chrysler in an attempt to halt the company’s bankruptcy filing. He was quoted as saying, “never did I imagine I would be the sole person fighting the Obama Administration against an automobile bailout.” Not only was Mourdock’s lawsuit unsuccessful (and widely criticized), it cost Hoosier taxpayers $2 million dollars in legal fees.
Once again, the facts show that Mitch Daniels and Richard Mourdock were wrong.
Mitch Daniels has clearly led the state of Indiana in the wrong direction. We are currently facing a drastic budgetary crisis with no answers (or transparency) from the Governor’s office to explain the situation. Thousands and thousands of Hoosier teachers are being laid off across the state as a result of budget cuts by the Governor himself. Not to mention the statewide criticism relating to the countless errors and inaccuracies in the state’s job creation statistics.
And of course, let’s not forget that Indiana is now currently embroiled in a bitter and embarrassing (not to mention expensive) lawsuit with IBM, thanks to Governor Daniels’ terrible decision to privatize the Family and Social Services Administration. It’s seemingly one problem and one mistake after another.
Enough is enough. Hoosiers just cannot afford any more of Mitch Daniels’ ill advised, poorly concocted, bad decisions.
But despite the negative and incorrect assertions from the likes of Mitch Daniels (and Richard Mourdock), the announcement from Chrysler on their historic investment in Kokomo - along with similar job growth announcements from GM plants in Bedford, Marion and Fort Wayne - show we are making progress.
“Crude Coats”
June 4th, 2010James Carville on Dan Coats: Indiana can’t afford this lobbyist
June 3rd, 2010For those of you who are not on the Indiana Democratic Party’s mailing list, you missed an excellent missive from Ragin’ Cajun’ James Carville. Carville, who certainly hasn’t shied away from vigorously defending his cherished Gulf coast during this most recent environmental crisis, had some tough words for lobbyist Dan Coats….
Being from Louisiana, it really chaps my hide that BP’s callous irresponsibility has allowed Gulf Coast communities to be devastated by this catastrophic oil spill. This disaster will have long term consequences for the Gulf Coast ecosystem and economy for years to come.
What makes this whole situation worse is knowing that special interest money from big oil is still gushing into Washington faster than crude into the Gulf. Major corporations like BP are represented in Washington by an army of lawyers and paid professional lobbyists, whose job it is to fend off efforts to make their clients follow the rules and act responsibly. These big corporate lobbyists actually help write the laws that are meant to govern their clients’ activities. It’s the same old story - again and again.
And now, Dan Coats, one of those lobbyists, is trying to run for the U.S. Senate in Indiana. As absurd as this sounds, sometimes these lobbyists actually get elected to Congress!! After taking millions of dollars in lobbying fees from special interests, they use their big corporate connections to win a seat in Congress where they can continue fighting for the interests of the corporations that made them rich.
Dan Coats, the Republican nominee for Senate is a lobbyist for big corporate special interests like chemical companies, oil companies, and insurance companies. And get this: Coats’ lobbying and law firm counts among its clients the two corporations directly involved in the Gulf oil disaster: BP and Halliburton.
BP is the most irresponsible - and most often fined - major oil company in the world … by a wide margin. How could such an irresponsible company be allowed to jeopardize the health and economic livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of families along our Gulf Coast?
Let me say it again. Two companies share the responsibility for the Gulf catastrophe. They are: BP and Halliburton - they are both clients of Dan Coats’ law and lobbying firm, King and Spalding.
If Dan Coats gets elected to the U.S. Senate, whose interests do you think he’s going to represent? The citizens of Indiana - a state which he moved out of ten years ago? … Or the big oil companies and other corporate interests that have helped pay his salary for years?
After eight years of a Bush administration run by oil company executives, the last thing America needs is a Senator who made his millions lobbying for them. We need to make sure the oil companies don’t get their lackey, Dan Coats, elected to the Senate.
Lobbyists already have too much power in Washington. We can’t afford to be electing them to the United States Senate.
James Carville: Indiana can’t afford to elect a lobbyist to the Senate
June 3rd, 2010Strong words from Democratic legend James Carville, who sent a message to Hoosier Democrats today warning of the cozy big oil relationships that Dan Coats would bring with him to the Senate.
Dan Coats, the Republican nominee for Senate is a lobbyist for big corporate special interests like chemical companies, oil companies, and insurance companies. And get this: Coats’ lobbying and law firm counts among its clients the two corporations directly involved in the Gulf oil disaster: BP and Halliburton.BP is the most irresponsible - and most often fined - major oil company in the world … by a wide margin. How could such an irresponsible company be allowed to jeopardize the health and economic livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of families along our Gulf Coast?
Let me say it again. Two companies share the responsibility for the Gulf catastrophe. They are: BP and Halliburton - they are both clients of Dan Coats’ law and lobbying firm, King and Spalding.
James Carville made it clear that Hoosiers just can’t afford to send a lobbyist (back) to Washington.
After eight years of a Bush administration run by oil company executives, the last thing America needs is a Senator who made his millions lobbying for them. We need to make sure the oil companies don’t get their lackey, Dan Coats, elected to the Senate.Lobbyists already have too much power in Washington. We can’t afford to be electing them to the United States Senate.
Sylvia A. Smith: “Republican brand” is tainted by Souder
May 24th, 2010The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette’s political columnist has some tough words for Republicans looking to hold on to the seat vacated by the embattled Rep. Mark Souder. Specifically, don’t expect voters to forgive and forget.
When a popular lawmaker dies in office, the candidate most closely associated with him or her has a huge advantage. Think of the special election won by Andre Carson, the nephew of the Indianapolis congresswoman who died in 2007. In Pennsylvania last week, the protégé of the late Rep. John Murtha won a special election despite the anti-Washington atmosphere.
In both cases, voters were motivated more by whether they liked the lawmakers who died in office than by what they thought of the potential successors.
An admitted affair from a conservative “family values” pol taints the Republican brand. Some Republican voters would just stay home in disgust with ’em all. Republican-leaning independents would be much more open to a Democrat. And Democrats would vote with glee. That’s a recipe for Democratic victory.
So from the Republican perspective, it’s best to put as much distance as possible between the memory of a tear-stained Souder reading his mea culpa from a podium and the special election to replace him.
Senator Amy Klobuchar at the JJ Dinner
May 18th, 2010Mitch Daniels’ Fine Mess
May 17th, 2010Governor Mitch Daniels has sure put the state of Indiana in a fine mess.
As you recall, back in December of 2006, ignoring a loud chorus of critics and failing to learn from other states (Texas and Florida) where similar efforts had failed, Mitch Daniels stubbornly decided to forge forward with an enormous, 10-year, $1.16 billion deal with IBM Corp. to upgrade the state’s paper-based welfare application system to a system using a statewide call center and online document processing.
Part of this new plan was to shift 1,500 of the agency’s 2,200 caseworkers to the private sector, and in doing so, the Governor ignored the numerous critics who argued that outsourcing such a critical government function was a mistake.
Turns out, the critics were right all along. The supposed new and improved system was fraught with errors and riddled with problems from the beginning.
The list of headaches were lengthy and included issues with the processing of food stamps, bugs that repeatedly wreaked havoc with the system, and a lawsuit filed by The American Civil Liberties Union alleging that disabled Hoosiers were being denied benefits improperly.
Here’s more from the AP, via The Republic -
In its lawsuit, the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration is seeking to recover $437.6 million it paid IBM through Jan. 31, plus the costs of any third-party lawsuits, federal penalties and state employee overtime incurred as a result of the deal. The state is seeking triple damages, or more than $1.3 billion.
Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM countered with its own lawsuit, asking for $52.8 million in deferred payments and equipment costs that it said the state still owes. IBM said it followed the state’s instructions, but the contract designed by the Daniels administration didn’t allow for the economic downturn that created tens of thousands of new welfare applications.
Both lawsuits were filed in Marion County courts last Thursday.
But the lawsuits are not the first to result from the IBM contract. Carmel attorney Scott Severns has a federal class-action lawsuit pending in Indianapolis seeking to bar the state from cutting off aid to people while they appeal the decisions to deny them benefits.
“It’s certainly refreshing to see the state stating clearly what happened. If we had had that kind of transparency three years ago we could have avoided a lot of this,” Severns said, noting that only one public hearing was held just days before Daniels signed the deal. “It was tragic for the people who were affected by it.”
What a fine mess you’ve created, Governor Daniels.
It is clear that that both IBM and the State of Indiana have made mistakes in this nightmare of a deal. The greatest of which was how the Governor repeatedly refused to listen to critics and heed warnings signs which showed that this was a terrible deal to begin with.
