Some decisions are just too important to leave to politicians. Chief among those decisions is how we citizens decide who will represent us. That process goes by a nameâredistrictingâthat is a cure for insomnia. But it matters, perhaps more than any other question. Thatâs be â...â
The ancient Romans had a myth they revered. It concerned the patrician farmer turned general, Cincinnatus. In a time of extreme threat, the Romans offered Cincinnatus absolute power. He was reluctant to assume it. When he defeated the enemy, he relinquished the power he held and â...â
When he was a small boy, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita must have been the kind of kid who had to touch a hot stove multiple times before he figured out it burned. Time and age havenât taught him much. The Indiana Supreme Court just rejectedâfor the second timeâRokita â...â
Power, sadly, often responds only to power. Thatâs the reality of the redistricting process in which the Indiana General Assembly now is engaged. Advocates for responsible and responsive government made many creative suggestions. They have called for lawmakers to establish a pr â...â
Itâs not often an entire state sees a member of the bench administer a public spanking to a 51-year-old man. Now, courtesy of Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, Hoosiers have witnessed such a humiliating spectacle. Marion County Judge Patrick Dietrick did the paddling. Dietr â...â
June 16, 2021 Gerrymandering is the problem that prevents us from solving just about every other problem. The fact that we have set up a system of electing to the legislative branch unreasoning and unrelenting partisans who feel accountable only to people who think exactly the wa â...â
Life is full of surprisesâand some of them are pleasant ones. We Hoosiers received one of the good surprises a few days ago when we discovered that U.S. Rep. Trey Hollingsworth, R-Indiana, has both a conscience and a spine. Hollingsworth was one of 35 Republican members of the â...â
There must be something about the office of Indiana attorney general that attracts people who are, as my late grandfather used to say, âhalf a bubble off of plumb.â Back in the 1970s, the office was occupied by a martinet named Ted Sendak, who famously demanded that everyone â...â
Indiana Republicans sure know how to fuss and feud. They have a dandy fracas going on right now. During the just-suspended session of the Indiana General Assemblyâmore on that in a momentâour lawmakers passed a bill limiting the governorâs emergency powers. It should be not â...â
One former Indiana state legislator called it âa massive (expletive) power grab.â Another told me it was âa back-door way to get to a full-time legislature.â The two former lawmakers are from different parties. The first is a Democrat, the second a Republican. What they w â...â