With today being the last day of 2008, it’s only fair we note the top 10 most interesting news events of the year.  I decided to mix local, state and national stories.  As always, feel free to add your own suggestions.

10.  Townships Assessors voted out and the IPS bond referendum is voted in, proving that organization will always win the day.

9.  John McCain picks Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his vice-presidential nominee, DVD rentals of “Fargo” go through the roof.

8. The Chicago Cubs officially go 100 years without winning a world series.  St. Louis Cardinal fans show little surprise.

7. Washington Township Board becomes the official poster child for the Kernan-Shepard Report by voting itself a 69-percent pay raise.

6. The Governors of New York and Illinois both go down, just in different ways.

5. Indianapolis lands 2012 Super Bowl, now the big question is will the Colts still be good enough to play there by then?

4. The City of Indianapolis decides instead of buying American to buy like an American and purchase Toyota hybrids over Chevy Malibus as part of a pilot program.

3.  Indiana lawmakers pass property tax reform; it’s amazing what a 2007 mayoral election can accomplish.

2.  Wall Street collapses.  The only other comparable meltdown was the Jill Long Thompson campaign for Governor.

1.  Barack Hussein Obama, a Black attorney from the South Side of Chicago is elected President of the United States, proving there is hope one day for Abdul-Hakim Shabazz.

Thanks again for listening to WXNT in 2008.  2009 promises to be a busy year and I plan to bring you as much perspective and entertaining analysis as possible.  And special thanks to all the folks here at Entercom Radio who are great to work with.

Just when I thought the situation in my home state could not get any more bizzare, it just did.  Soon to be formally indicted Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich today appointed former state Attorney General Roland Burris to the seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

Burris is a nice guy, but hasn’t held elected office since 1994 and lost every race he ran for (Governor and Mayor of Chicago) since then.  His term as Attorney General was mediocre at best.  As soon as he was elected his goal was to run for Governor.  I know this because I worked with his staff when I went to work for his successor, Jim Ryan.

What I can’t understand is why Burris is letting himself be pimped by Blago like this.  Anyone can see Blagojevich is trying to pander to Black voters by appointing Burris, thinking they will get up in arms if he is not allowed to take the seat.  Also, President-elect Obama was a longtime Burris supporter.

However, someone should remind Burris that Blago is more radioactive than Uranium 236 and there is no way, he will be allowed to serve in the U.S. Senate without a court fight.  The only hope he has is a case involving Harlem Congressman Adam Clayton Powell who Congress tried to deny seating back in the 1940s.  Powell won that case as the Court held Congress could only decide if someone met the qualifications for the office, and unfortunately Blago still has the legal authority to fill the vacancy.

And just a note, will someone tell Gray Panther Bobby Rush to get somewhere and sit down.  He looks like he had a stroke and made absolutely no sense what-so-ever.

If this is what my home state is turning into, maybe I can start calling myself a Hoosier or Missourian or Hawkeye.  Heck, even British Columbia looks good right now.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery to John Marshall Middle High School Principal Jeff White.   White tells me he suffered serious stress-related chest pains, but not a heart attack, this week and had a defibrillator installed.  He’s in good spirits and on medication and bed rest.  I knew the some folks in the IPS administration was after him, but I didn’t think they’d go so far and put so much stress on the man that he’d end up in the hospital.

 White has been recognized for his efforts in turning around John Marshall and taking steps to decrease student absenteeism and increase parental involvement.  

I sat down with the Mayor of Indianapolis this morning for the standard end of the year interview.  Here are some of his thoughts local issues.

Biggest Accomplishment: An honestly balanced budget and being a good steward of the taxpayers’ dollars and saving them close to $50 million in his first year.

Crime: The city is working to get better.  Homicides are up slightly over last year, but crime is down in other areas.  Expect a big push for community policing in 2009.

Poor Relief: The county could easily take over poor relief in the event township government is eliminated.

Parks & Arts Budget: Although the parks and arts lost money, much of the parks budget for after school programs has been recaptured in the form of grant dollars.  And when it came to the arts budget, the Mayor said he fought for arts funding, because there were calls to eliminate the funding altogether.

Lobbying: The Mayor acknowledges that some lobbyists have sat in on city staff meetings, however, they lobby for the city and need to know what’s going on to better advocate on behalf of Indianapolis.

Candidness: The Mayor acknowledged he can “think out loud” at times which has caused some misunderstandings with the public.  He promises to be a bit more guarded in the future.

Economic Development: The Mayor says he’s continuing to work to bring companies, both domestic and international, to Indianapolis.  

Vision: A safe, livable city.

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels plans to present the budget to lawmakers on Tuesday, January 6. He sat down with us media folks Monday morning and answered some of our questions on the budget, education, government reform and other issues. Here’s a summary of portions of that conversation.

Biggest Accomplishment of 2008: Property tax reduction. It brought long overdue relief to homeowners and makes Indiana a better place for business to invest, but the caps need to be put in place to protect taxpayers from future legislatures; also, a balanced budget.

Indiana as an island of Growth: Indiana is in the black and surrounding states are in the red. Indiana was hit hard by the national downturn. Despite the increase in unemployment, Indiana will be one of the better positioned states. Indiana is a magnet for new investment, but unfortunately no one is investing. It’s like being the prettiest girl in school and prom gets canceled.

Scaling Back New Initiatives: The State may have to set aside plans to expand full day kindergarten since the money is not there. Other state initiatives may be postponed for a year as well.

Education Funding: Daniels says he plans to flat line education spending. He disagrees with the argument that flat lining spending amounts to a budget cut as inflation is practically non-existent. Daniels also said all educational institutions need to be more efficient as well. He says 40 cents of every K-12 dollar doesn’t make it to the classroom and a change of one percent to the classroom would result in up to $120 million in new funding.

Rainy Day Fund: The state should make every effort not to tap into its more than $1 billion budget surplus, because the national economy could still get worse and no one knows how long the recession will last. He says the preservation of the surplus, as well no tax increase or budget gimmicks, are his top priorities.

School Transportation: School districts could save money by pooling their transportation resources, particularly in counties with small school districts. He also said he’d support legislation that called for statewide purchasing of buses to save money.

Tax Cap Constitutionality: Daniels said he doesn’t worry about any immediate challenges to the property tax caps. He doubts courts would step in and hold the tax caps unconstitutional while lawmakers are in the process of putting them into the Indiana Constitution. He says a challenge would make more sense of lawmakers halted the process of putting the caps in the Constitution.

Unemployment Trust Fund: The economy has aggravated Indiana’s unemployment insurance shortfall because the state was giving out more in benefits than it was taking in revenue. He also says the system will have to be reformed, including having large employers with scheduled seasonal layoffs in down times picking up more of the burden from smaller employers whose workers are year-round.

Government Reform: Daniels says he would open to grandfathering in elected officials who also work for the municipalities which govern them, while banning the practice for future officials.

Redistricting: Daniels says he will veto any redistricting plan that comes out of the two party headquarters. He says districts should not look like inkblots on a Rorschach test.

The Next Four Years: Improve education. Make Indiana the top state for job investment. Finish the job of property tax reduction and government reform.

Delaying Passage of Tax Caps: Daniels says there’s no real reason for lawmakers to delay passing property tax caps and Kernan Shepard. He says while the budget is important, the house will have plenty of time to work on those issues while the Senate works on the budget.

Stadium Bailout: Although Lucas Oil Stadium could potentially run operating deficits in the millions, Daniels says the city should not expect a bailout from the State. The governor says he is open to helping local lawmakers find a way to cover those costs using local dollars, but a bailout from general state funds is out of the question.

Federal Bailout Dollars: Indiana should treat any bailout this money as a one-time deal don’t use it to delay putting off tough decisions down the road because the current budget forecasts show the state taking in less money in 2011 than 2009.

His Favorite Christmas Present: A white t-Shirt that given to him by his family that read, “I’m more honest than Rod.”

Although vacations are notorious for accomplishing absolutely nothing, there were some things that I learned while being “gone” for the last week or so.  Here they are.

1. The people who are still trying to prove Barack Obama is not eligible to be President have way too much time on their hands.
2. You know your future in-laws are cool when they get you alcohol as a Christmas gift.
3. There is very little on television worth watching during the middle of the day.
4. Althought it’s alright to sleep past 8 a.m., it’s even better to stay out past midnight.
5. It totally rocks to wake up everyday and have your breakfast and coffee waiting for you.
6. Pizza with bacon and goat cheese is the best.
7. Every once in a while you need to get together with all your political, media and governmental friends and enjoy each other’s company.  (Off the record, of course.)
8. There is still too much government in Indiana.
9. If you leave town to visit your parents, try not to do it with tornado watches and thunderstorm warnings.
10. You know you have a cool job when you don’t mind going back after being gone for a few days.

Have a great Christmas!  Back in a couple days.

Only in my home state of Illinois is something like this possible.

A Christian group wanted to put a  nativity scene in the Capitol, so the Secretary of State who oversees the facility, against his better judgement, put one up.

Then the atheists got mad and then they got a display.

Then the Jews were upset and got a menorah put up.

Now the Seinfeldians were mad and got a Festivus pole put up in the Capitol.

I can’t wait for the flying spaghetti monster worshipers show up.

Only in Illinois.

I recently came across an on-line list of things that are “vanishing” and may not exist in a few years.  I’ve listed some of them.  What do you think should be included?

1. The printed “Yellow Pages”
2. Answering machines
3. Handwritten letters
4. Personal checks
5. Drive-in theatres
6. Honey bees
7. News magazines
8. Analog TV (this is going away in February 2009)
9. Incandescent bulbs
10. Cameras that use film
11. VCRs
12. Home Phone landlines
13. Dial-up Internet Access

So what do you think?  Anything that should be here, that isn’t?

I’m technically on vacation this week.  By “technically”, I mean I have days I have to use or lose.   But since there are still interesting things to write and talk about I figured I’d keep our conversation going on the blog.  Here are my thoughts on a few stories that have surfaced lately.

Government Consolidation

• Just as it is ridiculous to think every township should have a prosecutor and every precinct a sheriff, it is silly to think one person should run everything.  If you actually read Kernan-Shepard, you will see it’s about streamlining government and having more accountability.  What is the crime in a county executive who appoints officials approved by a county board?  This is not a new concept in the civilized world.  In fact this is how it works more times than not.  Indiana has two percent of the nation’s population, but eight percent of the local elected officials.  Honestly people, how is this a good thing?

School Choice

• The debate is heating up over whether there should be a moratorium on charter schools.  Full disclose, I work with the folks at the GEO Foundation on occasion.  Now with that said, if parents are taking their kids out of traditional public schools and putting them in charters, why are charters the problem?  This is like me acting a fool and fiance leaves me for another man and I blame him.  Instead of complaining about charter schools, TPS’ should be looking at taking steps to improve themselves.  And if they really wanted to put their money where there mouths were, they would require all district employees make their children attend their schools.

Legal Eagles

• I was asked the other day to comment on the 21st floors relationship with Barnes & Thornburg as outlined in the paper this past weekend.  Here’s my take.  In every major and minor city I have lived in there are large firms that do work with state and local government.  One tends to lean Democrat, one Republican, one right up the middle.  So the administration doing business with B & T doesn’t surprise me at all.  Now when the firms start directing city policy, there’s a problem and they should be called out on it.  The Ballard folks got burned once this year and learned their lesson, so I don’t worry too much.  What I think the public doesn’t understand is that there is a lot of legal work that needs to be done and city legal can’t do it alone.  And while I think the concern about the influence of major firms overstepping their bounds is a valid one, I honestly think most of the complaining is coming from people who wishes it were them getting the work and not B & T.

Those are today’s thoughts.  I’m going back to bed.  Enjoy your day.