As lawmakers get ready to vote on a budget today, there’s some question over whether the plan to address to the Capital Improvement Board’s shortfall is actually legal.

Under the plan the city would borrow $27 million from the state over the next three years to cover operating expenses, however that money would be paid back with interest from increases in the car rental and ticket taxes.  However, those taxes won’t kick in for three years which puts the CIB back in the same position that it is right now.

At first I was shocked and all I could ask my self is what political baboon would come up with something like this?

And then I remembered;  State Senator Mike Young of Indianapolis, the only lawmaker I’ve ever know to make Dennie Oxley, Jr. look good.

Indiana lawmakers continue to work today in order to reach a budget agreement by tomorrow.

Lawmakers have been at odds over school funding, charter schools, and the Capital Improvement Board.

Both Republican and Democratic sources involved in the budget talks tell me progress is being made, however the question is whether they can make enough progress to avoid a government shutdown.

“We’re making progress, but it’s a moving target”  said one Democrat involved in the negotiations.

“I’m optimistic, but we still have a lot of ground to cover” noted a Republican involved in the talks.

Governor Mitch Daniels has said if there is no budget he will close down BMV’s, state parks, the lottery and casinos.  Also, more than 30,000 state workers will be furloughed.

Although the practical side of my nature says these guys cannot risk a government closure, because the political price may be too much to pay.  Here is still a small part of me that wonders what would happen if the whole thing just explodes.

Hopefully, we won’t have to find out.  Check back here throughout the course of the day or follow me and my updates on Twitter.

Here’s what I can tell you about the chances of a government shutdown from my sources close to the negotiations.

Democrats think they have a 50-50 shot at getting a budget passed.

Republicans think there’s an 80-20 chance the government shuts down on Tuesday.

Negotiations continue today.

Care to place your own bets?

Here we go again!

Conservative Politician A, with Presidential aspirations and who loves to preach family values, gets caught with his hands, or other parts of his anatomy, in somebody’s cookie jar.

When will these people learn?

Whether it’s South Carolina Governor Mark Sandford, John Ensign, John Edwards, Elliot Spitzer, the list goes on, it never changes.

What makes matters worse is a good chunk of these individuals have built their careers on preaching morality and family values, but somehow they managed to miss out on having their own.

Although I am not a big fan of the family values crowd because I think a healthy economic climate is the best thing that can build strong families, they are still entitled to express their opinion and be part of the national debate.  But for crying out loud people, get with the program.

And for those of you who want to say all form of hypocrisy are equal, I am inclined to agree with you, but there is just something about sexual hypocrisy that real gets under Americans’ skin that they have a hard time letting slip by;  it must be our puritan upbringing.

And I have to say when I heard Sandford say “he spent the last five days of his life crying in Argentina” all I could think of was Eva Peron.

I don’t think anyone will cry for Mark Sandford, no matter how sad he looks.

I did a quick sprint through the Statehouse yesterday as lawmakers were about to enter into the home strech of the current budget phase.  I spoke to several of them both on and off the record.  The on the record interviews are below.

Off the record many lawmakers think that this has gone beyond disagreements over policy and it has become personal and who has the bigger pair of “you know what.”   I’ll let you listen to the interviews and then you make the call.

Luke Kenley

Bill Crawford

Jeff Espich

Oh, and to make matters worse, lawmakers are feeling less optimistic that they will get out of here by Tuesday with a new budget in place.

I will freely admit to not spending as much time at the Legislature during this special session as I thought I would have.  I’ve still managed to keep tabs on everything via watching lawmakers on the Internet, a few phone calls and some text messaging.  And surprisingly enough, even though I’m not there, I have come to the conclusion I have not missed a thing.

Republicans want a 2-year budget, Democrats want one year.  Republicans want a school funding formula that follows the student, Democrats want money to go to school districts.  And don’t even get me started on the CIB.

Regardless, if lawmakers don’t pass a budget by the end of the month, then each one should write the taxpayers a check for how much they’ve been paid for the past six months.   The only thing lawmakers have to do when they convene is pass a budget. That’s it.  All the other stuff is extra.  So if they don’t pass a budget by June 30, they haven’t done their job.  And if you or I don;t do our jobs, we don’t get paid.  Why should lawmakers be any different?

The average salary in the legislature is about $44,000 in salary, mileage, and other benefits.  So if there is no budget by next Tuesday, somebody needs to write the taxpayers a check for six months worth of work that didn’t get done.

Rep. Dan Burton: trying to keep Congress safe?

Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) seems afraid of being on the House floor.

Burton offered an amendment to H.R. 2918 that said the following: “Would require the Comptroller General to submit a report to the Committee on House Administration within 6 months of enactment analyzing the security arrangements of the House Chamber, including whether enclosing the House galleries in a transparent shield would be an appropriate and cost-effective measure.”

Basically, Burton wanted a study to be done that would determine whether closing the House galleries would be “a cost effective security measure,” explained his spokesman John Donnelly. Or, in laymen’s terms as told to us by someone familiar with the situation, “he wants a plexiglass wall to stop the public” from doing anything dangerous from the House gallery.

He has nothing against visitors or the Capitol Police who do a great job Donnelly tells Shenanigans, but the fact remains that “the Capitol Building is one of the top 2 targets for terrorists in the world,” Donnelly explains.

And at first if you don’t succeed, try again. This isn’t Burton’s first go at talking about closing the House galleries - or to have a study to see if closing the House galleries worthwhile - back in the 1980’s Burton asked the same thing.

“It’s a perennial of Burton’s,” another source says. “It has been routinely rejected because both parties have viewed it as separating the people from their House, and sends the wrong message. Rules has never highlighted.” And, sadly that’s what happened Thursday after the vote-o-rama, the Rules Committee didn’t approve it to be considered.

House Democratic Leader Pat Bauer was one of the speakers at Saturday night’s Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner in Indianapolis.

The speaker went after the Governor on schools, the budget and accused him of engaging in a “hostile takeover” of state government during the special session.  He also encouraged Democrats to circumvent the news media and “twitter” their message to the public directly.

The Speaker was in somewhat rare form.  You can hear his entire commments below.

It’s about six minutes long.

Enjoy.

Pat Bauer