Building A Better Indiana

California: Baking the Fun Out of School Fundraising

Matt L. Ottinger — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 13:15:28 +0000

So you like the weather in California? That’s fair. And yes, the beaches and celebrity sightings are undoubtedly a benefit. (My friends saw Andy Dick at diners twice in one weekend!)

But if you like baked goods, you might want to stick to the Midwest, where we don’t snub our noses at a heavenly slice of good old-fashioned banana bread.

The New York Times has the story of school bake sales that had to be moved off campus before getting burned in the fiery ovens of oppression:

The old-fashioned school bake sale, once as American as apple pie, is fast becoming obsolete in California, a result of strict new state nutrition standards for public schools that regulate the types of food that can be sold to students. The guidelines were passed by lawmakers in 2005 and took effect in July 2007. They require that snacks sold during the school day contain no more than 35 percent sugar by weight and derive no more than 35 percent of their calories from fat and no more than 10 percent of their calories from saturated fat …

Melissa Luna, considered the über-mom of Crocker Highlands Elementary in Oakland, said that sometimes calories mattered less than the importance of a cause — like the bake sale organized to raise money for Christopher Rodriguez, a student who was shot and paralyzed last March by a stray bullet from a gas station robbery while he was taking piano lessons across the street. The sale, attended by members of the Oakland Raiders and Oakland Athletics, raised $30,000.

I’ve got to side with Mrs. Luna on this. And look, I’m all for putting healthier foods in school vending machines and not serving hormone-riddled meat in the cafeteria, but we also need to maintain some perspective here. Our kids need to learn a little about the benefits and responsibilities of free choice and commerce, too.

Hat tip to 13th Floor.

Rupert Murdoch: Media Dug Its Own Hole

Matt L. Ottinger — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:52:25 +0000

For those of us with a media/newspaper background, the following comments from Rupert Murdoch – whose company owns Fox News, Wall Street Journal and MySpace — are quite interesting. He basically claims the media’s condescension toward its readers paved the way for its sharp decline and the emergence of private blogs as news sources:

"It used to be that a handful of editors could decide what was news-and what was not. They acted as sort of demigods. If they ran a story, it became news. If they ignored an event, it never happened. Today editors are losing this power. The Internet, for example, provides access to thousands of new sources that cover things an editor might ignore. And if you aren’t satisfied with that, you can start up your own blog and cover and comment on the news yourself. Journalists like to think of themselves as watchdogs, but they haven’t always responded well when the public calls them to account."

To make his point, Murdoch criticized the media reaction after bloggers debunked a "60 Minutes" report by former CBS anchor, Dan Rather, that President Bush had evaded service during his days in the National Guard.

"Far from celebrating this citizen journalism, the establishment media reacted defensively. During an appearance on Fox News, a CBS executive attacked the bloggers in a statement that will go down in the annals of arrogance. ‘60 Minutes,’ he said, was a professional organization with ‘multiple layers of checks and balances.’ By contrast, he dismissed the blogger as ‘a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas writing.’ But eventually it was the guys sitting in their pajamas who forced Mr. Rather and his producer to resign …

(more…)

Some Good Economic News for a Change

Tom Schuman — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 13:38:23 +0000

Economic hardships aside, small and mid-sized companies in a recent survey expressed cautious optimism about their business prospects over the next year. They weren’t as positive about technology spending, to the chagrin of the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), which conducted the survey.

Key results:

Eighty-five percent of the 772 companies in the U.S., Canada and U.K. plan to hire new employees; 54% expect revenue growth of at least 10%; and 40% are looking to add new business locations.
On the information technology side, 51% intend to spend more while 49% see flat or declining tech expenditures. This compares to 62% planning tech spending increases in the previous year’s survey.

It’s been reported for years that small businesses provide nearly all the net job growth. It doesn’t look like that is going to change based on these results.

Behind the Numbers: How New Voters Put Obama on Top in Indiana

Michael Davis — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:32:13 +0000

Here is one giant reason why and how Barack Obama won Indiana – new voters. 13% of voters this year were first time voters participating in their first election. Among this group, Obama beat McCain 67% to 32%. This very lopsided number resulted in Obama beating McCain in Indiana by a total of 125,671 among new voters. Obama won Indiana by just 26,012 votes. His advantage for newly registered voters was enormous.

There were 525,314 total newly registered voters in Indiana this election and 67.8% of those voted. This turnout percentage was higher than the overall turnout percentage of 60.8% (for voting age population, not registered voters). For registered voters, the turnout was 63.4%. Clearly, newly registered voters were more interested and voted in a higher percentage than already registered voters.

What does this prove? Most importantly, it proves that a far superior ground game driven by a superior registration drive can — and will – work, resulting in Indiana voting for a Democratic presidential candidate for the first time since 1964. Obviously, there were many other reasons why Obama won Indiana, but this is one very significant reason why.

2008 marked the first election in a number of years that any political party or candidate made truly serious efforts to grow the electorate — and these efforts paid off in a big way for the President-elect. Future candidates, from any political party, better spend considerable time and effort on these newly registered voters and make serious efforts to increase the electorate with like-minded voters if they want success in the future.

This certainly goes for the business community, too!

Note: You can also find our updated Election Report here.

IBRG-backed Truitt Victorious in HD26

Michael Davis — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:59:28 +0000

After all of the provisional ballots have been counted, Randy Truitt emerges victorious in HD26. At the start of the day, 414 provisional ballots needed to be counted. Of these, 112 were in HD26. Truitt increased his lead from 21 to 26 over John Polles. The final result stands at 14,049 for Truitt to 14,023 for Polles.

Indiana Business for Responsive Government (IBRG) provided significant assistance in Truitt’s effort by producing and paying for a TV spot and invested nearly $50,000 in his campaign. Randy is a strong pro-business individual and will be a strong ally in the upcoming legislative session. Congratulations to Randy!

The House remains at 52-48 Democratic control.

Truitt/Polles HD26 Vote Count Coming Down to Wire

Michael Davis — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:47:15 +0000

Here is the latest on HD26: Tippecanoe County election officials have looked at the 414 provisional ballots. Of those, only 80 will be allowed and they are in the process of doing exactly that right now. Of the 80, we are unsure how many are in HD26. Even if all 80 are in HD26, John Polles (D) would have to win 50-30 to catch Randy Truitt (R).

It’s looking good for Truitt, but there are still a couple of hours to finality.

Watch Gingrich’s Annual Dinner Keynote Address

Matt L. Ottinger — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:35:56 +0000

Newt Gingrich keynoted the Indiana Chamber’s 19th Annual Awards Dinner on November 6.

During his address, Gingrich moved freely about the stage and seemed quite comfortable, eloquently assessing the 2008 election. He was also quite complimentary of President-elect Obama, the Hoosier state and Gov. Mitch Daniels, with whom he’d worked during Daniels’ tenure at the White House Office of Management and Budget. In fact, the two had the opportunity to meet for 10 minutes before Gingrich took the stage.

The entire keynote address is now available to view on Gingrich’s web site.

Great Lakes Region Not Trending So Great for GOP Houses

Michael Davis — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 18:28:33 +0000

The 10 states in the Midwest/Great Lakes region have undergone significant shifts in party control in their State Houses. Following the 2004 election, eight of these 10 states had a Republican Speaker of the House. Today, nine of the 10 states have a Democratic Speaker of the House. The Midwest has been seen as a battleground the last several years for party control and for the Presidential races, but it has also shown dramatic power shifts.

During these last three elections, the Democratic Party has gained seats in ALL 10 states in both the 2006 election and the 2008 election. This has resulted in a net gain of 101 seats for the Democratic Party in this 10-state region since 2004. The most dramatic shift has been in Minnesota where the Democratic Party has gained 20 seats in the last two elections. Illinois and Indiana have changed the least with a shift of four seats each.

This sets up the Democratic Party nicely for the next decade if they are able to maintain their majorities in these nine states and control the reapportionment process in 2011. Control of the legislative agenda for the next decade has already been sealed by the Democratic Party in many of these states before the 2010 election is even over.

Shuttleworth: Small Indiana Company Earns Big Publicity for Innovation

Matt L. Ottinger — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:02:32 +0000

Here at the Indiana Chamber, we feel very fortunate to have the confidence of our 4,800 members to work on their behalf. Their partnership often makes life easier on us, too. For example, when BusinessWeek Online contacted our communications VP Tom Schuman to inquire about a small company whose made great strides in switching to "green collar" industries, Tom had an easy answer — Shuttleworth (of Huntington).

The leading paragraphs of the article actually feature Shuttleworth, focusing on the company’s ingenuity in a greening world:

As a maker of conveyor systems for manufacturers, Shuttleworth always changed with the times. The 100-employee Huntington (Ind.) company’s strong business in electronics dropped off about five years ago as more production moved overseas. After that, the company focused on conveyors for food, health care, automotive, and paper products—until this year, when it entered what could be its most profitable niche yet: solar panels.

"It’s got some of the biggest potential of the markets we’ve been in," says Jim Bonahoom, Shuttleworth’s vice-president for finance. Even though Shuttleworth only just entered the market, the company expects solar to account for one-fifth of its roughly $20 million in revenue this year, Bonahoom says.

A heartfelt kudos to our friends at Shuttleworth.

Legislative Leaders to Have Their Say

Tom Schuman — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:03:20 +0000

Members of the Indiana General Assembly are coming to town November 18 for their annual Organization Day. What do they do on that largely ceremonial occasion? Organize things.

The day before, however, is when leaders of the four caucuses come together to share some insights on what might happen when the action heats up in January. The Indiana Chamber’s Central Indiana Legislative Preview takes place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Monday, November 17 at the Indiana Convention Center.

The best things about the preview: you get to ask questions and make comments, and whether it’s the wonderful food or just the pleasant atmosphere of a few hundred interested people in the audience — the legislators typically speak their minds. They don’t mind emphasizing their priorities and noting a few things that aren’t likely to happen if they have any say in the matter.

So, make your reservation, take a slightly longer than normal lunch and move from the political to legislating mode on November 17.