Question in need of answers

The question could not be more valid.

And the response of the Daniels administration could not be more insufficient.

Indiana Senate Minority Leader Vi Simpson has been trying for nearly a month now to find out - as precisely as possible - where the Daniels administration has been cutting spending.

The cuts themselves have been much in the news, but only in the broadest sense.

There's been little detail about specifics and about the decision-making process that determined where and how cuts would be made.

In a letter to the State Budget Agency in early May, Simpson asked for - among other things - the following:

•A list of cuts that have been implemented, those that have been proposed, and distributions of state funds that have been withheld, breaking it down by agency and program.

•Information on the methodology used to determine what cuts to make.

•Dates for the implementation of all budget cuts and personnel layoffs.

That seems pretty reasonable to us.

If the state's cutting spending, taxpayers have a right to know where the cuts are being made and how they were determined.

The budget agency's response?

That information is unavailable.

As Simpson put it this week: "Either the office is totally incompetent or they're keeping secrets."

While incompetence in state government isn't unheard of, our bet is that secrecy is what rules the day.

After all, Gov. Daniels has cut hundreds of millions of dollars from the state's budget since it was enacted last June.

The last thing he wants is someone - anyone - looking over his shoulder and second-guessing his decisions.

That's the way autocrats like it.

But the last we knew Indiana's governor was not granted the powers of a potentate and the first requirement for good government will always be transparency. - J.R.[[In-content Ad]]