Posted on 04/05/2006 9:02:13 AM PDT by cicero's_son
Indiana Is Open for Business Mitch “the Blade” Daniels is putting the state on the free-market cutting edge.
By Bret Swanson
There’s about to be a building boom in Indiana, which is desperate good news for a state that has been severely challenged by the global manufacturing shift and years of ambivalent leadership.
The chief architect of the boom is the state’s decisive Governor Mitch Daniels, President Bush’s former budget director. In Washington, Daniels drew scorn from congressional big spenders, acquiring the nickname “the blade” for his cost-cutting and privatizing ways. (The moniker could just as easily apply to his sharp wit and intellect.) The spenders in Washington, however, won those battles — big time — swallowing the blade and earning today’s enmity from the Republican base. But now Daniels is back home and in charge, and he is engineering a turnaround of an entire state with sophistication.
In the state’s short legislative session, just completed, Daniels achieved two sweeping victories. The first is the nation’s most aggressive telecommunications deregulation, which will spur hundreds of millions of dollars of investment in invisible infrastructure — the “fibers and frequencies” of the digital age, as Daniels describes it. The second is a $4 billion privatization lease of the Indiana Toll Road and the new I-69 interstate. This will fund the largest-ever upgrade of Indiana’s visible infrastructure: its antique roads and bridges.
Indiana is more dependent on manufacturing than any other state in the union. Low-cost Asian manufacturing and the troubles of Big Auto in nearby Detroit have drained employment in Indiana and depressed income growth. Daniels’ telecommunications reform was thus a major component of his strategy to connect Indiana to global markets, to diversify the state’s economy toward services, technology, and life sciences, and to make the state’s manufacturing base more productive.
Indiana’s telecom laws had not been updated since 1985, while the state’s Utility Regulatory Commission has administered some of the most severely anti-investment rules and price controls in the nation. But in a single leap, Indiana has moved from the back of the pack to number one in terms of the modernity of its telecom regime. By the end of this month, most of the state’s obsolete telecom rules will lapse. By 2009, the industry will be almost totally deregulated in the state.
An Indiana-wide video-franchise process was also adopted to replace the fragmented and wasteful cable TV franchising system that has 300 towns and counties telling global communications firms what to do. The new system opens up the investment valves by granting easy and quick approval to new providers of broadband communications services. With the reform, companies like Verizon and AT&T are now planning major new build-outs of the world’s most advanced fiber-optic links to homes and businesses in the state. Cable TV companies will be forced to respond in a beneficent upward spiral of new technology and consumer choice that could boost state economic output by more than half a percentage point annually for the next five years.
Ironically, Daniels’ “Major Moves” plan to lease the Indiana Toll Road, the seemingly more tame and obvious measure, turned out to be far more controversial. It passed by a single vote with just 15 minutes remaining in this year’s legislative session. Weeks before anyone had heard of Dubai Ports World, the bid by Australian-Spanish consortium Macquarie-Cintra to manage Indiana’s 157-mile stretch of I-80/90 had already ignited a xenophobic melee in the heartland. But unlike the DP World roll-out, Daniels had actually sought bidders for the Toll Road. His proposition was simple: The winning contractor will pay Indiana $4 billion for an asset that has never been profitable in government hands; the state gets to keep that asset; the contractor upgrades the asset with new technology and an additional $4 billion in improvements; and the state gets to fund a decade’s worth of other major infrastructure projects, some of which have been on the drawing board for twenty years. (Just last year Chicago leased its “Skyway” to Macquarie-Cintra for $1.8 billion. The Skyway connects Indiana’s Toll Road to Chicago, thus yielding a seamlessly managed road from Ohio to the Windy City.)
The day after this deal squeaked through the legislature, the Indianapolis Star concluded that “the protectionist, xenophobic rhetoric … used to fight the lease was an embarrassment to the entire state.” But Daniels won the day, sending a loud message to foreign investors that Indiana is indeed open for business.
I love it, too.
This is an exciting time to be living in Indiana. We finally have a Governor who is willing to start DOING instead of just TALKING.
I think so, too.
The Dem's are convinced that they are going to take over the House in 2006 and re-take the governor's mansion in 2008. Just like the national dems, they offer no solutions, just impotent criticism of everything Mitch does.
I think that by the time elections roll around, Hoosiers will start seeing the benefits of the change that Mitch is promoting.
I am very happy with Daniels so far.
Those feelings haven't really worn off. This toll road deal sounds like a bad move. And he's also put no brakes on local taxes and bonding, which is out of control. And unless I've missed it he's proposed nothing to solve our biggest & most obvious problem -- a very lackluster public education system.
Am I being too hard on our Governor?
When I first heard about Major Moves I was thrilled and thought, "What a gift."
I was shocked when there was so much controversy over this and predictably it came from the Democrats. As far as I was concerned this was a none political issue and a big win for the state.
I have not seen the Democrats come up with any better ideas and so far they have done a great job of dragging this state into negative numbers.
If so I'd enjoy hearing what you think -- I don't want to be too hard on Gov. Daniels if he doesn't deserve it.
You weren't too hard on him. Neither was I. You obviously LIVE in Indiana and see what this guy is doing on a daily basis.
No, you are not being to hard on our Govenor, just honest.
68skylark:
I do think you're being too hard on Daniels.
Remember what he inherited--almost 20 years of bloated budgets, political corruption, and economic stagnation. Under the Democrats' watch, we went from one of the highest per capita income states, to one of the lowest.
In just 2 years, we've gone from being a business backwater to being one of the most business-friendly states in the country.
The toll road lease was a stroke of genius. It fully funds our infrastructure development for 10 years--WITHOUT RAISING TAXES! It will also get I-69 built, something the Democrats never even contemplated.
As for education, wait until next year. I asked him recently what his next "major move" was going to be, and he said "Education, Education, Education." He wants to deregulate school districts to allow for more competition.
Frankly, I think he's the best Governor Indiana has ever had.
And he's doing all of this despite intense opposition from the Democrats, the unions, and the other "usual suspects."
Give the guy a chance!
I posted this on another thread, but people in my town that supported one-term Mitch have actually gotten their yard signs back out and put a big X over the sign.
Another "time zone conservative," I see.
Abortion on demand? Gay marriage? High taxes and higher spending? No problem.
But ask me to change my clocks 2x a year, and I'll get really outraged!
Sheesh.
With "conservatives" like you, who needs liberals?
Great. Why not go all the way and order some "Pat Bauer for speaker" bumper stickers?
Another "as long as there's an 'R' by his name Republican," I see. Massive corporate welfare? Yeah!!!! Tax the rich? Sure!!!! Eminent domain peoples' family farms to make it easier to get from Canada to Mexico in a straight shot when other good alternatives existed? Hell yes! He's a Republican!
With "Republicans" like you, who needs democrats?
I'm glad to get your pro-Daniels point of view.
It's hard for me to ignore his tax increse proposals. But if he's really going to try to do something good about public education -- which is a mess -- I'll have a much better opinion of him.
I-69 will carry over $150 BILLION dollars in trade per year through Indiana.
In the real world, most people see that as a good thing. You know...jobs, economic development?
And this legislature did more to fight eminent domain abuse than any other legislature in Indiana history.
Anyway, you've obviously got some kind of personal axe to grind with Mitch--so feel free to have the last word.
Oh, and let's not forget his "non-liberal" push to increase "sin" taxes, just like every dem we've seen for the past 20 years. But I guess those don't count as tax increases, since he's a "republican."
Last I checked, Republicans and conservatives were for:
economic growth
reduced scope of government
strong 2nd amendment rights
restrictions on abortion
education reform
room for religion in the public sphere
Daniels has been a champion for all of the above.
Meanwhile, you can't stand him because he's making you change your clock 2x per year. What a crybaby.
The extension could have just as easily used upgraded existing roads, but the government was only for new terrain from day one. They even wasted our tax dollars on a fake "study committee" to make an informed decision that was already made before the committee ever met.
Thanks, skylark.
I understand that a lot of people are nervous about all the change Daniels is pushing, but I think he will be vindicated in the end.
As for education reform, you heard it here first. That will be THE issue in 2007.
As a matter of fact, he tried to push through an education de-regulation/school choice bill already, but the Democrats and a few liberal Republicans killed it in the Senate.
The guy is a dud, and luckily, he's a one term dud.
I get it.
You're an engineer. A road-building expert.
You know a lot more than the umpteen expert panels that have studied this issue for the last 40 years.
And so we should just trust you when you say "use existing roads" despite all the evidence that the upgrade would cost more and yield poor results.
I get it.
You're an engineer. A road-building expert.
You know a lot more than the umpteen expert panels that have studied this issue for the last 40 years.
And so we should just trust you when you say "use existing roads" despite all the evidence that the upgrade would cost more and yield poor results.
Just out of curiosity, which liberal Democrat will you be supporting in 2008 for Governor?
Bart Peterson? Pat Bauer? Jonathan Weinzapfel? Vi Simpson?
The UPGRADE would cost more than building a new terrain road and stealing property from towns and landowers who are going to fight this thing for years to come? That's a real scream.
Probably whoever the libertarians run.
Oh, btw, the route was selected even before Mitch came into office.
But you probably knew that, didn't you?
In other words the equivalent of a blank check to whatever Democrat is running.
I hope you examine your conscience between now and then over issues beyond DST (abortion, gay marriage, corruption, etc.).
If after doing that, you're still comfortable with Pat Bauer as speaker and "any Democrat" as Governor, then I guess there's nothing more we can say to each other.
I think selling (technically leasing) off the toll road is questionable, and building a new terrain highway is bad bad move too. I mean they're complaing about the trouble they have keeping up existing roads, but then they go ahead and say lets build a new one? But hey, I guess its important to get the flow of illegals into this state as efficient as possible. They might have to spend an extra 15 ~ 20 minutes going a different route.
Oh, and our Double Daylight Saving Time (Or as I like to call it: Daniel's Stupidity Time) is pissing me off to no end as well.
I don't think it'll be hard to re-elect Mitch. All that would have to be done is to point northward and say "see, up there (MI) is what happens if you elect a Democrat (Granholm)."
Of course we might get lucky and be rid of Jenny this year.
So, he couldn't have nixed it? Couldn't have said that it would be cheaper and more friendly to upgrade an existing route?
Sounds wonderful.
This may be a tough and thankless task -- I'm really afraid that most Hoosiers just don't care that their public education system sucks. I'm stunned at the way DST gets everyone so worked up, but public education reform gets a yawn -- those are screwed-up priorities IMHO.
DST was sold, got everyone worked up, by telling us that we were backwards and unenlightened, or unsophisticated, by not going to DST. Completely ignoring the fact that our being in the eastern timezone was based on politics and not geography.
Oh and I really liked Daniels argument that he couldn't attract business' to this state because we didn't change our clocks. I'm sorry, but if these supposedly intelligent people are not smart enough to figure out what time it is (we didn't exactly keep it a secret), then I'm not sure they're the type we want to attract to our state.
Since we are geographically located in the central timezone, but politically were in the eastern zone, we had a good compromize going there; esentially Central DST YEAR ROUND! (quite progressive of us, eh?) Eventually Congress will get around to mandating that, they've already expanded it starting in 07.
As for education, I guess we should brace ourselves for tax increases. I've never seen any so called education reform proposals that didn't require throwing money at it.
Ditch Daniels
To me, it's just not important -- I can think of a dozen issues that matter more.
It's stupid, and I don't like the way it was rammed down our throats. I think it is indicitive of the thought process, and disregard Daniels has, and it will be a factor in other important issues as well. Indeed, as you say there were more pressing issues, but what was one of the first ones he went after? Education, tax reform...? Well okay, tax reform in the application of tax increases.
Say's a lot about the guy.
BTW: My first car was a 65Skylark.
It's simple arithmetic.
If ample numbers of people do as you intend to do, then the Democrats WILL run Indiana again.
As I said, if your conscience doesn't bother you, fine. Personally, I think turning the state back over to the Dems over an issue as silly as DST is unconscionable.
I suggest you get on the horn to the state party leaders and let them know that they screwed the pooch.
If DST is as trivial and silly a thing as you say it is, then there should be no problem repealing it. Is it really that important to hang on to DST and lose the statehouse? What gets me about it is: we were already on year round DST! So why would Ditch Daniels mess with it when as 68skylark pointed out, had many more important issues to deal with?
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