Category Archives: Indiana Politics/IBRG

Poll: Legislators Could Have Done Better

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Categories: Government, Indiana Politics/IBRG

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Those who voted in our most recent blog poll were not overly impressed with the work of the Indiana General Assembly in 2013. The grades and the percentage of votes received:

  • C: 29%
  • D: 29%
  • B: 23%
  • A: 16%
  • F: 3%

We conducted a roundtable for our BizVoice magazine earlier this week. Giving their views on the session were Chamber President Kevin Brinegar, two House legislators (Democrat Phil GiaQuinta of Fort Wayne and Republican Jerry Torr of Carmel) and Evansville Statehouse reporter Eric Bradner. You'll be able to check out their analysis in the July-August issue.

Our new question, top right of this page, seeks your opinion on federal health care reform as implementation moves closer.

The Political Brain: Can Brain Scans Predict Your Affiliations?

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Found this interesting article on Huffington Post about how brain scans can predict political affiliation. This does make sense; my experience is that after interacting with someone only for a brief period of time, I can accurately guess which way they lean. Not always, of course — and some turn out to be centrists or libertarians, who wouldn't necessarily fit into the left/right model. But it's an intriguing scientific approach to the madness.

Comparing the Democrat and Republican participants turned up differences in two brain regions: the right amygdala and the left posterior insula. Republicans showed more activity than Democrats in the right amygdala when making a risky decision. This brain region is important for processing fear, risk and reward.

Meanwhile, Democrats showed more activity in the left posterior insula, a portion of the brain responsible for processing emotions, particularly visceral emotional cues from the body. The particular region of the insula that showed the heightened activity has also been linked with "theory of mind," or the ability to understand what others might be thinking.

While their brain activity differed, the two groups' behaviors were identical, the study found.

Schreiber and his colleagues can't say whether the functional brain differences nudge people toward a particular ideology or not. The brain changes based on how it is used, so it is possible that acting in a partisan way prompts the differences.

The functional differences did mesh well with political beliefs, however. The researchers were able to predict a person's political party by looking at their brain function 82.9 percent of the time. In comparison, knowing the structure of these regions predicts party correctly 71 percent of the time, and knowing someone's parents' political affiliation can tell you theirs 69.5 percent of the time, the researchers wrote.

IBRG: Thoughtful Discourse Unfortunately Taking Backseat to Fury and Fear

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A couple of months ago I had the pleasure to attend the Indiana Chamber’s statewide summit on the Indiana Vision 2025 plan. A very diverse group of a couple hundred leaders from business, community, academic and research had a very engaging and cooperative discussion. There was real energy and excitement about coming together to do big things.

This came in stunning contrast for this writer, fresh off another election cycle, a few more bruises, stories, wins and losses. Elections are seldom about big ideas, cooperation or, certainly not, bipartisanship. Election campaigns are about political combat, contrast, division, and lining up in camps. It has always been this way, varying only by tone and degrees.

This all came to mind in reviewing a recent speech by former Senator Richard Lugar at Duke University on partisanship and our political climate. An excerpt:

Perhaps the most potent force driving partisanship is the rise of a massive industry that makes money off of political discord. This industry encompasses cable news networks, talk radio shows, partisan think tanks, direct mail fundraisers, innumerable websites and blogs, social media, and gadfly candidates and commentators. Many of these entities have a deep economic stake in perpetuating political conflict. They are successfully marketing and monetizing partisan outrage. In some cases, these partisan practitioners are true believers whose economic interests coincide with their political views. But in other cases, they are just executing a business model predicated on appealing to the prejudices and fears of their adherents . . . The cumulative result is that extremism has a much greater chance of being rewarded electorally than it did even a decade ago, and good governance has suffered.

As a practitioner in the political industry, I think this is a fair criticism. However, Sen. Lugar’s assertion that “extremism has a much greater chance of being rewarded…” is a particularly important one.

Fury and fear have become the fuel of our political discord. The competition for attention in a rapid-fire, all-encompassing communication world creates a need to be creatively outrageous, loud, brief and divisive to get attention and to motivate people to act.

Policy intricacies, open and deep discussions around finding a broad vision, encouraging cooperation are, well, boring in the new and old media worlds alike. Conflict, name-calling, grenade throwing and “gotcha” politics are more entertaining and, ultimately, entertainment gets attention.

With the lines blurred and almost gone now between election campaigns and the governing/public policy making process – the incentives have escalated the trend to rhetorical excess, criticism and divisiveness in our political discourse. To steal Adam Smith’s imagery, the invisible hand of the political market provides a powerful incentive to breed fear, fury and factions in our system.

Jeff Brantley is the Indiana Chamber's VP of political affairs and leads Indiana Business for Responsive Government (IBRG). Follow him on Twitter at @jbrantleyIBRG.

Finding the Vote Digitally and Socially

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Categories: 2012 Political Races, Indiana Politics/IBRG

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Some social media platforms may come and go in popularity, but the overall impact is only going to continue to grow. Assessing that impact in the 2012 presidential election is an Indiana Chamber partner in BIPAC (Business Industry Political Action Committee), focused on electing pro-economy, pro-jobs members of Congres.

Romney may have captured voters over 30, but he still lost. Obama on the other hand captured the women's vote, minority vote and youth vote, giving him the edge he needed to win. Digital and social media is where he found these votes and it's what set him apart from Romney. It is where he fundraised more than 700 million dollars and activated mobs of volunteers. He was able to reach more than 5 million youth votes via Facebook. Michelle Obama connected with women on Pinterest and the Obama campaign reached scores of Hispanic voters through mobile.
 
With 31 million election tweets being sent on Election Day, this cycle was not only deemed "The Twitter Election," but it is being characterized as the first full digital election. Social media is a fundamental change in how our society communicates and for those with hopes of reaching voters, employees, Members of Congress and other stakeholders, your efforts need to be online as well as offline.
 

Saying So Long to Senate Seniority

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We know about Indiana's changes in Senate seniority — from Richard Lugar and Evan Bayh a few years ago to first-termers Dan Coats and Joe Donnelly. Although Coats served previously, his 12-year gap between terms puts him back in the pack, for the most part, when it comes to seniority.

BIPAC, the Business Industry Political Action Committee in Washington, has some interesting insights on the rapid changes in seniority across the country and some of the impacts.

Seniority in the U.S. Senate has always been viewed as beneficial.  More senior members usually have increased clout in the chamber and higher positions in committees.  However, in a year where almost half of the senators have been serving less than six years, lack of seniority and experience can also be a good thing.  This is a great time to reach out to the newer members and introduce yourself and your issues.
 
There are currently 45 senators (this includes Senator Kerry's successor) that have served less than six years.  In 11 states – Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Indiana, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Virginia and Wisconsin – both senators have served less than six years.
 
Since the 2012 elections, changes in the Hawaii and Massachusetts delegations have drastically altered seniority in both states and the Senate.  When Senator Inouye passed away, the Senate lost its most senior member and Hawaii lost its seniority as a state in the chamber.  Both Sens. Schatz and Hirono have served less than two months, a major change from the long careers of Sens. Inouye and Akaka.  Schatz is considered Hawaii's senior member, since he was sworn in on December 27, 2012 and Hirono was sworn in on January 3, 2013.
 
Now that Kerry has submitted his resignation to become Secretary of State, Massachusetts lost the seniority it held for decades.  Kerry was the seventh most senior senator and Ted Kennedy, before he passed away, was the second most senior member.  Once Kerry's seat is filled, both senators from Massachusetts will have been in office for less than a year (This will still hold true if Scott Brown is elected to take Kerry's seat.  He lost his seniority when he left office in January 2013 after losing to Elizabeth Warren).
 
Two states that still hold considerable seniority in the Senate are Iowa and California.  For Iowa, Senator Grassley is the sixth most senior senator, followed by Senator Harkin who is seventh.  Iowa's position will change following the 2014 election now that Harkin has announced his retirement.  California holds the 14th and 15th most senior spots, with Sens. Feinstein and Boxer.   Senator Leahy from Vermont is the Senate's most senior member.
 

Voting on the Colts and Candidates

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Categories: 2012 Political Races, Indiana Politics/IBRG

Based on a 1-2 start, the Indianapolis Colts are on track to win five games in the 2012 season. As the season kicked off, we asked for your prediction on the number of victories in the post-Peyton Manning era. The most popular answer matches the current pace.

  • 4-5 wins: 47%
  • 6-7 wins: 28%
  • 8 or more wins: 17%
  • 3 or fewer wins: 8%

Of course, the 1-2 should be 2-1 (an 80-yard TD allowed in the final two minutes against Jacksonville was unforgivable). The continued improvement of Andrew Luck, injuries and so many other factors will determine the ultimate outcome.

Our new question returns to politics. Tell us (upper right) what result you most look forward to seeing on November 6.

Lugar: 13,000 Votes and a Few More to Go

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Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar may be in his final year of representing our state in Washington, but his place in history earned another footnote last week when he cast vote number 13,000.

Congratulations and thank you — words that will be repeated often between now and the end of the year. A few facts regarding the latest milestone:

Lugar is in 10th place on the all-time Senate voting list, having passed earlier this year former senator and current Vice President Joe Biden (D-DE) who cast 12,959 votes.
 
Lugar has maintained a better than 98 percent attendance record during his more than 35 years of Senate service.
 
There have been 1,931 individuals to serve in the United States Senate since it was convened on March 4, 1789. On January 3, 1977, Lugar was the 1,705th Senator sworn into the Senate.
 
On May 1, 1996, Lugar became the longest-serving senator from Indiana when he surpassed Daniel Wolsey Vorhees (1877-1897).
 
Active Senators who have cast more than 13,000 votes include Daniel Inouye (D-HI) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT), who cast his 14,000th vote at the same time as Lugar’s milestone.  

Lugar has served with all the senators on the all-time top 10 list:
 
Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) 1959-2010                  18,689
Strom Thurmond (R-SC) 1955-2002                16,348
Daniel K. Inouye (D-HI) 1963-present              16,265
Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) 1963-2009          15,236
Ted Stevens (R-AK) 1969-2008                       15,033
Ernest Hollings (D-SC) 1967-2004                   14,194
Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT) 1975-present              14,000
Pete V. Domenici (R-NM) 1973-2008                13,666
Claiborne Pell (D-RI) 1961-1996                       13,214
Richard G. Lugar (R-IN) 1977-present              13,000
 

2012 Primary: Here’s What You Need to Know

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Need a comprehensive review and analysis of what took place in the 2012 primary elections, as well as a look ahead to November. Indiana Business for Responsive Government, the Chamber’s non-partisan political action committee, has the report. A few highlights:

  • 18 IBRG endorsed candidates (out of 23) were winners in their primaries
  • All 11 endorsed incumbents facing primary challengers were successful
  • Various national and state dynamics played a role in the competitive nature of the campaigns thus far, yesterday’s vote and what is still to come leading to the general election
  • A new factor was added to the above mix with the defeat of six-term U.S. Senator Richard Lugar. The impacts of that race will continue to be felt

The report has results, vote totals and general election matchups at both the state and congressional levels. It will be updated as additional results become available. Access the full report.

We’re Still Legislatively Speaking

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The 2012 Indiana General Assembly session concluded on March 9. We’re wrapping up the post-session analysis over the next few weeks. Here’s the lineup of current and upcoming communications:

  • Take our blog poll (top right of this page) and give your grade on the lawmakers’ efforts
  • Members can look for the Chamber’s Final Legislative Report later this week, offering a full session recap of key priorities for Indiana companies and their employees as well as a scorecard of bill outcomes
  • Our April 6 Policy Issue Conference Call (members only). We’ll not only talk about the final week of the session, but shift gears to a busy primary election season. Sign up to listen in or ask questions of Chamber policy and political experts

Still to come after that are a session recap in the May-June BizVoice magazine, the annual Legislative Vote Analysis publication that grades legislators on their votes and a return on investment that calculates Chamber member savings from the positive policies passed and the costly measures that were defeated.

Here’s a Vote for Cleaning Up the Rolls

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When you read as many reports, studies, analyses and similar materials as I do, it’s difficult to be shocked by many of the facts that emerge. But check out these numbers from the Pew Center on the States regarding voter registration:

  • 24 million vote registrations either invalid or largely inaccurate
  • 1.8 million dead people still listed as active voters
  • 2.75 million who are registered to vote in more than one state
  • 51 million (estimated) voting-age U.S. residents who are not registered

Here’s a portion of the NPR story on the findings.

Election officials say one problem is that Americans move around a lot. And when they do, they seldom alert the local election office that they’ve left.

Ben Skupien, a registered voter who now lives in Northern Virginia, is pretty typical. He has moved repeatedly over the years and says he’s probably registered to vote in about a half-dozen states.

"The assumption, I would think, is that they would do the courtesy of letting the other states know that if you’re registered with a new state, [the old registration] would no longer apply," said Skupien.

In fact, states seldom share such information. The Pew study found that almost 3 million people are registered to vote in more than one state.

Voters also die, which leads to another problem, says Linda Lamone, who runs Maryland’s elections.

"If a John Smith lives in Maryland and goes to another state, say on vacation, and dies," Lamone said, "the law of the state where John Smith dies dictates whether or not the Maryland vital statistics people can share that information with me."

And even when they do — or if a person dies in-state — there’s often a delay before election officials are alerted. It’s also not always clear that the individual on the death certificate is the same one who’s registered to vote. Election officials still have to do a lot more digging to avoid accidentally taking someone off the rolls who is very much alive.

Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed says it’s amazing how many times his state has come across names on the voter rolls that appear to be the same person, but turn out not to be.

"We’ve even had cases, in very small counties, people [with the] same name and same birth dates," added Reed.

He said that has led to inaccurate reports that "dead" people are voting. He admits there have been a few cases in his state where widows or widowers have cast ballots for former spouses, but he said such fraud is very rare.

Still, election officials say it’s important that the public have confidence in the system.

So Washington and seven other states — Oregon, Colorado, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Utah and Nevada — are joining a pilot program to share more voter information and other databases, to try to make their lists more accurate.