« Law - " The Last Stand of the 6-Percenters? " | Main | Ind. Courts - "As abuse cases mount, judge shares concerns" »

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Ind. Gov't. - Are the Indiana Week in Review pundits going to be wrong again?

My thoughts: On January 23, 2006 an ILB entry began:

I watched WFYI's Indiana Week in Review last weekend. "Lifetime Health Insurance for Lawmakers" was one of the topics discussed. The lead-in featured Rep. Billy Bright, who it was said won election in 2004 in part by criticizing the plan. He called it "an egregious benefit." * * *

The panel discussion was superficial. One panel member actually said that the expense was not that great. When someone responded "now" she continued "in the larger school of things, compared to the Medicaid budget"! As they wound up, Mike McDaniel asked the reporters: "Where were you guys when all this was going on? Where was the press? Jon Schwantes said "that's a good question." Jim Shella said "That is a very good question."

I was astonished. I knew about these bills at the time, in 2001 and 2002. Rep. Billy Bright had to know about them since, as they said in the program's introduction, he won election by criticizing the plan. And of course Brent Waltz defeated longtime senator Larry Borst by running against legislative perks.

We haven't seen the results of the general election yet this year, but in the primary the Senate President Pro Tem, Robert Garton, was defeated by an unknown, to the shock of the IWR panel.

Another legislative benefit that surfaces now and then is the employment by Ivy Tech (and to a lesser extent other state educational institutions) of high-ranking legislators. A March 13, 2006 story in the Bloomington Herald-Times by Steve Hinnefeld reported:

Ivy Tech — now Ivy Tech Community College — employs four legislators. Senate President Pro Tem Robert Garton, R-Columbus, House Minority Leader B. Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, and Rep. Craig Fry, D-Mishawaka, all make more than $100,000 a year. Rep. William Crawford, D-Indianapolis, makes $66,991. Purdue, Ball State and Vincennes universities and the University of Southern Indiana also have employed legislators.

Indiana University now has two full-time employees who are legislators: Rep. William Cochran, D-New Albany, an assistant to the chancellor of IU Southeast; and Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, an education professor at IU Northwest. Both make about $57,000.

But under a new policy, IU officials will have to jump through hoops to hire legislators or anyone else who holds public office, including federal, state, county and city elected officials and people involved in state higher-education governance.

Herbert, the IU president, implemented the policy in December in response to a recommendation in the labor studies audit. It says anyone who hires a public official to work for IU must justify the employee's salary and get approval from the president or the campus chancellor or provost.

The fact that Ivy Tech employs both the Senate President Pro Tem and the House Minority Leader (or Speaker, depending on the year) has been a subject of conversation for years. But nothing has been done about it.

Friday on IWR, after discussing the retirement of longtime Ivy Tech president Gerald Lamkin, the question of whether "we should expect a culture change at Ivy Tech" came up. Jim Shella said "One of the things I'm getting at -- we've talked here about all the legislators and members of legislators' families who work ... "

Jon Ketzenberger interrupted: "You mean [do] they still have jobs after this?"

Shella: "That is the thing I'm wondering about."

Ketz: "You know -- if they do the right thing they will make that culture change because it's a conflict of interest to have jobs at Ivy Tech directly like -- I think they should reconsider that issue."

Shella: "Do you think that will happen?" [Mike McDaniel laughing in the background]

Ann DeLaney: "I think whenever you have a long-term administrator that is stepping down, changes happen."

McDaniel: "Of course it's not gonna happen. Who's gonna consider it? [Shella laughing in background] You're not gonna have that kind of change as far as legislators working for Ivy Tech -- it's not gonna happen, not in our lifetime. * * * A lot of people have wondered about it but it's not gonna happen -- who is gonna consider it, the legislature? Duh!"

Two weeks ago today the Indianapolis Star provided a link to a database of the salaries of "all state employees." See the ILB entry here.

In an entry about the database the ILB noted:

Salaries of the Legislative Services Agency do not appear to be included in the database. Neither do the salaries of House and Senate staff. All of these salaries are paid, of course, by the taxpayers. * * *

University salaries are also included, including both high officials, and instructors whose names I recognize here in Indianapolis. One wonders then why Senator Robert Garton's and Rep. Patrick Bauer's names only appear with their General Assembly salaries, when they are also high up on the staff of Ivy Tech.

Legislative employees were not part of the "database of all state employees." Ivy Tech was not one of the five universities included in the database. Why these specific omissions? Readers of Taking Down Words asked the same questions. One wrote:
I did notice that the House and Senate Staffer salaries were missing from the database. Anyone know why?
Another responded:
I believe legislative leadership did remove some of the salaries from this database two or three years ago. I am told it was a bipartisan agreement. I have no idea why it happened.
Another asked:
Where are the Ivy Tech salaries? I looked for Bauer and Garton but the list only had their legislative salaries.
Dennis Ryerson of the Indianapolis Star wrote in his column last Sunday August 27th about the Star database, but did not mention the omissions. In fact, he said: "We also posted the salaries of every state employee, including those at five state universities, on our Web site, IndyStar.com." Well, the Star didn't fulfill its objective and thus missed out on what may be the best justifcation for posting such a list -- that it is all inclusive.

So how did this come about? How is it that the employees of one branch of government, the legislative, and the employees of one state university, Ivy Tech, are omitted? Does this mean these positions are not a part of the public state manning tables?

Recall that similar issues have arisen in the past (and continue) in accessing legislative pension information and information about the state's future obligation for paying the lifetime healthcare benefits of retired state legislators, their families, and their staff. These records too are said to be inaccessible as the result of bipartisan agreement.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 3, 2006 06:33 PM
Posted to Indiana Government | Indiana Law | Legislative Benefits