Off to a promising start (1/21/05)

This is going to be interesting.

After eight years of the Bayh administration’s caution and eight years in which the O’Bannon and Kernan administrations concentrated on damage control during an economic downturn, Mitch Daniels has arrived in Indianapolis intent on shaking up the status quo.

That’s certainly the message conveyed by the new governor’s impressive first State of the State address delivered earlier this week.

Not known as an orator, Gov. Daniels spoke in plain, honest language about Indiana’s difficult fiscal straits.

And he laid out a series of proposals which seemed built upon fairness, equity, and sharing the pain that will be necessary to get the state’s budget back into something close to sanity.

He did so despite the political risks that come whenever spending restraints or tax increases are mentioned.

The Daniels prescription for Indiana’s fiscal health calls for straight-lining school funding, which will require some belt-tightening, and the imposing of a modest one-year income tax surcharge on Hoosiers making more than $100,000 a year.

Neither one is pleasant, but taken together they constitute a reasonable approach toward getting the books balanced.

Already, political forces on both sides of the aisle are lining up to oppose various aspects of what the new governor has proposed.

So now comes the real test.

Having shown political courage and real leadership with his first major address as governor, will Mitch Daniels be able to hold his package of proposals together while pushing it through the Indiana General Assembly?

Will he be able to convince members of his own party to match his courage by approving the tax surcharge?

Will he be able to resist the importunings of vested interests who never want to see state spending restrained?

This is going to be interesting. — J.R.

[[In-content Ad]]