...I told you so. And so did quite a few other organizations around this state.
I'm talking about the Mitch Daniels Plan for Tax Salvation, wherein he urged the State of Indiana to assume 100% of public school operating costs, shifting the tax burden from the hated-but-stable property tax to the slightly-less-hated-but-instable sales tax.
ISTA hated it, and I echoed what may were saying in this 2007 post:
Doesn't it make more sense to leave the operating funds with the more stable funding source and move the building projects under the umbrella of a tax structure that might face shortfalls during times of economic recession? If we were facing a big deficit in revenue at the state level, would you rather that school building projects were put on hold, or that remedial ISTEP tutoring was ended for the students that need it?
Well, we got our answer.
The Courier & Press took a look at the growing problems associated with the current funding scheme, and determined that legislators have only themselves to blame.
The current fiscal downturn began just months after the change took effect - a fact that forced legislators to make some tough choices in June 2009, as they prepared the biennial budget.
Legislators had to decide who would feel the most pain - urban and rural districts with declining enrollment but greater challenges, or rapidly expanding suburban districts where class sizes are growing quickly.
The funding formula they came up with left all sides somewhat displeased.
In a lot of ways, the public school crisis mimics the approach toward public programs that we've seen from Daniels and his crew from Day One: if you starve them, cuts will come.
Yesterday I posted a video from the recent WTHR investigative report that revealed Governor Mitch Daniels and his minions -- namely Mitch Roob, of FSSA privatization infamy -- have been a bit generous in their job creation numbers.
As in, roughly 40% of the jobs they're citing don't exist.
Daniels wasn't featured in the first report, but yesterday's follow-up brought out Bad Mitch. You know, the spiteful, snarling Mitch that can't stand it when people question his judgment.
(See also then-OMB director Mitch Daniels dismissing critics of the Iraq War by calling their $200 billion price tag "very, very high" -- the current tab has pushed past $1 trillion.)
Regardless, it appears that the Mitch's got their signals crossed:
To help clarify how many job commitments have resulted in actual jobs, WTHR asked the governor if the state would release specific information to show which job commitments have been fulfilled and which ones have not, along with the number of jobs each company has created in Indiana.
"The IEDC board meetings are public, and plenty of enterprising reporters choose to attend them and those numbers are available there," Gov. Daniels replied.
His statement contradicts what Roob told 13 Investigates a week ago when WTHR asked for the same information.
"Most of what IEDC has is sheltered from public disclosure for competitive reasons," Roob explained. "That is a competitive weapon that companies believe can be used against them by their competitors... the confidentiality we promise to companies that do business in Indiana is very important to us. That is confidential information."
In the four stages of crisis recovery that Mitch Daniels has used, we're almost to step four. For those of you keeping track, we've gone through (1) Ignore, (2) Dismiss, (3) Irrationaly Defend, and are almost back to...(4) Ignore.
As you have probably read this morning, yesterday saw Governor Mitch Daniels make his sixth State of the State address before the General Assembly, an annual ceremony that for the last few years has served as the launching point for numerous now-(in)famous policy campaigns.
But, alas, last night was anything but a wonkfest. Of all people, I quote Matt Tully:
The state of our state is, well, at least better than the other guys'.
That was the message Gov. Mitch Daniels delivered over and over -- and over again -- Tuesday night during his annual State of the State address. Actually, Daniels didn't so much deliver that message. To be more accurate, he pummeled it into the heads of Hoosiers.
No doubt Mitch was forced to go rest up after the speech, as both his right arm and shoulders were surely sore after the thirty-minute back-patting session that he had just endured. A testament to Daniels' ability to look on the sunny side of (his political) life, Hoosiers were treated to a half-hour treatise on why we should quit our nagging about jobs and the whatnot and just thank our lucky stars we don't live in -- shudder -- Michigan.
Absent was any discussion of the top three priorities for most Hoosiers: jobs, jobs, or jobs. Also off the agenda was the implosion of Daniels' Family and Social Services Administration privatization or his equally damaging plan to downsize public education in the state.
Quoth the Tully:
Still, there was something disappointing about Daniels' speech. So much of it looked backward and seemed back patting, exposing what for Daniels is an abnormally mild legislative agenda. Instead of talking about big ideas, Daniels talked about harder-hit states.
If your house goes up in flames and the local fire department shows up and spends a half-hour lecturing you on how this house fire doesn't hold a candle to that three-alarm fiasco on Elm Lane from last week, I doubt you'd be impressed. That's how I would imagine most Hoosiers felt after last night's State of the Other States address.
As predicted he has danced to the constant drumbeat of,
“We reduced everything else first, and much more deeply, but K-12 education is half the entire budget, and it became unavoidable for it to become part of the solution,” he said.
He knew that from the first few months of the downturn. And yet he did nothing to prepare Hoosiers except to offer small dribs and drabs of how, “Gosh I hope we don’t have to cut education.”
He tells them that there are options for avoiding the firing of teachers but none realistically can make up the difference he is proposing and these excuses are only that. They are convenient cover for a long planned assault.
Read the whole post at http://aloyalopposition.in/2009/12/29/daniels-cannot-wait-to-fire-some-teachers/.
1. Not straightforward or candid; insincere or calculating: "an ambitious, disingenuous, philistine, and hypocritical operator, who ... exemplified ... the most disagreeable traits of his time" (David Cannadine).
2. Pretending to be unaware or unsophisticated; faux-naïf.
A Loyal Opposition has been telling you for weeks that Governor Mitch Daniels intends to cut public education. For months he has dribbled out funding cuts always with the promise that he was doing everything he could to not cut education, but he has always known that he would have to cut education or dip into his surplus.
It's spelled d-i-s-i-n-g-e-n-u-o-u-s.
The governor hasn't been forthcoming. He hasn't told Hoosiers this from the start because he wants Hoosiers to think it is his last resort and that he had no intention of ever cutting education. He has put together this slow movement towards what he knew was inevitable so he could make it look like his hands were tied even when he has long been a proponent of getting the state out of the business of schooling.
In today's Indianapolis Star he continues to pump out his party line:
Schools must slash spending by at least 3 percent - about $300 million statewide - under emergency budget cuts that Gov. Mitch Daniels called a necessary "last resort."
The State Board of Education will meet Thursday, and Daniels said he wants recommendations on his desk by Friday on how to make the cuts without laying off classroom teachers or increasing class sizes.
The governor said the decision was forced by continued shortfalls in state tax collections and a new revenue forecast, delivered just before his announcement Tuesday, that projects Indiana will take in $1.8 billion less in revenue during the next year than expected only six months ago.
My now, semi-regular round up of blog posts relating to Indiana. Obviously, I'm a fan of Masson and A Loyal Opposition. What other left of center, statewide Indiana blogs out there should I be reading?
Our regional FBI branch is a busy little hive of activity these days. With plenty of Republicans under the microscope. Not only are they conducting raids on Indianapolis businessmen who write very large checks to Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi ($150,000) and Governor Mitch Daniels ($50,000) but they are also looking into whether or not members of the Perry Township Constable’s Office run by Constable Roy Houchins was selling badges and using some of the loot for campaign funds.
In discussing the George W. Bush build-up to the Iraq invasion, he points out Bush’s unprecedented tax cuts at the time of preparation for war. Of special note is how Governor Mitch Daniels, then head of the Office of Management and Budget is complicit in the deception leading up to the war:
Disgruntled citizens might suggest that *lots* of lawmakers are guilty of impersonating public servants; but, former representative Dennie Oxley plead guilty to the formal, legal crime of impersonating a public servant.
When asked if they would support a tax to pay for the additional cost of war in Afghanistan, Senator Bayh, Senator Lugar, and Representative Pence all indicated they would not.
This indicates their concern about the deficit is selective. They raise the specter of debt only when the issue is something they would prefer not to pay for.
The committee took testimony on SJR 1 which places the property tax caps into the Constitution. This is state law, currently, but some folks want to get it into the Constitution so that future lawmakers can’t change it if they decide that the current structure is no longer good policy. My position is that there are too many moving parts to the tax cap specifically and our tax structure generally for us to cement the current cap legislation into the constitution.
Long ago the citizens of Indiana voted to send Evan Bayh to the U.S. Senate. His two largest donors in 2008 were Goldman Sachs ($123,750) and Eli Lilly ($65,722). Also in that hall of shame are Blue Cross and the corporate welfare case AIG. Billions of your tax dollars bailed out overcompensated AIG executives who then put nearly $27,000 into Evan Bayh's pocket. Where his loyalties lie are clearly visible to everyone in Indiana.
Update: To answer my own question, I added Reverent & Free to my feed reader. Should have been on there already.
In other words, Pence is in favor of more war and death, so long as the President or Congress doesn't try to find a way to pay for it. His efforts will be applauded by the conservative-dominated media and he will continue to be labeled a "fiscal conservative", even though such a label is completely meaningless.
Over at A Loyal Opposition aloyalopposition.in, we have posted our interview with Pete Buttigieg who has opened an exploratory committee to run against Richard Mourdock for State Treasurer.Here is a brief excerpt:
It is more than apparent that Pete Buttigeig (pronounced Boot-uh-jig) is a guy who could do all sorts of very interesting and lucrative things. It begs the question why? Why would he run for state treasurer?
The answer is apparent in the energy of his voice during the conversation. He is excited about what he could do for citizens as a state treasurer. He’s excited about it most because he knows there are interesting creative approaches out there that can better the state and he can’t wait to bring them to bear.
“A more proactive state treasurer can do things from bolstering financial inclusion and raising financial literacy rates so fewer citizens are reliant on pay-day loans and other predatory lenders, to ensuring through standards what types of banks the state will do business with so banks treat their customers right.”
He talked about several examples of poor customer practices from banks and financial institutions like credit card rate jumps often without any notice and virulent hidden fees. “The Treasurer doesn’t regulate the banks,” he makes clear, “but the treasurer does a lot of business with them so there can be a carrot and a stick. By saying, ‘we’re happy to do a lot of business with a lot of different banks as a state, but we are going to ask that they conform to a certain standard.’”
Part of that is making sure companies and funds the state invests in aren’t doing business with rogue states or predatory banks and credit companies.
“There is a chance to make this about values in a very constructive and creative way. Treasurer is often seen as a kind of technical, parochial, obscure office. But it’s an important one and it can have a lot of helpful influence and a lot of impact. That’s why I’m getting into this. I think its fun and you can do a lot of good.”
Yesterday we published a piece about the lack of leadership from Indy Mayor Greg Ballard and Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels on public health policy and smoking. It was in light of the Mayor's promise to veto a smoking ban and an Indianapolis Star report on Indiana's number 2 ranking for smokers in the US.Here are some select quotes some attributable to A Loyal Opposition and some selected from The Indianapolis Star:
Mayor Greg Ballard’s Deputy Chief-of-staff Robert Vane punted the smoking issue to the state saying that Ballard, “can only worry about Indianapolis and not the entire state.”
Mayor Ballard has now punted this issue to the state and Governor Daniels, but, as he seemed uninformed of in the recent smoking ban ordinance discussion, he has a role he can play in lobbying for a state solution.
“As an administration, we can only worry about Indianapolis and not the entire state,” said Robert Vane, Ballard’s deputy chief of staff. “The mayor made his decision (about the ban) based on what he thought was best on Indianapolis — it’s considering the free market and economic impact.”
If Ballard is concerned with solving problems from a market-based approach, perhaps he might read A Loyal Opposition’s piece suggesting that smoking is really a state health and tax issue that could be better managed by the state excise department which already commands the tobacco regulating chores round these parts.
We wrote: For our two cents, we think this snafu makes it high time that the Governor and General Assembly start looking at this issue. Seriously.
Here is the logic: If tobacco is a controlled substance that State Excise polices, which it is and since the largest objections to the non-smoking ban are certain bar-owners, also governed by excise. And under present state law a bar-owner has to pay an additional premium to excise for the right to sell tobacco in his bar, what is called a tobacco stamp. Then isn’t this really an excise issue?
Why can’t some wise state representative draft a bill that would offer an all-21-and-over establishment (so no family room and no under 21 employees) the ability to pay a sizable premium to excise in order to be a smoking establishment.
Thus a market-driven proposal. If said establishment feels like passing that cost on to their customers and feels smoking is truly needed for their customers, then they have an avenue to satisfy their customers.
Worried about some county objections to a ban? Let a county opt out of the ban, but keep the license premium. A portion of the money taken in from the premium and the penalties could be channeled to the state’s Tobacco Use Prevention and Cessation Trust Fund.
But like many other state agencies, Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation saw its budget shrink by about 30 percent this year, Sneegas said. Even fully funded, the agency can’t match the efforts of tobacco companies that spend about $425 million a year on marketing, promotions and discounts in Indiana.
Ah, Organization Day. That time-honored tradition of nothingness that all political junkies long for after the doldrums of summer. Tomorrow brings us this year's edition, and per usual we'll likely hear a lot from both sides in the General Assembly as positioning begins in preparation for next year's session.
Indiana lawmakers return to the Statehouse on Tuesday for their first meeting since a June special session in which they approved a state budget just ahead of a looming government shutdown.
Four months later, that budget is more than $300 million out of balance, as state income and sales tax revenue have plunged during the recession.
What to do about the deficit is likely to be the subject of many conversations during Tuesday's largely ceremonial Organization Day session.
The rest of the article takes a look at the logistics of tomorrow's shindig, but the last line of the piece was what caught my eye the most.
The governor has repeatedly said he will not raise taxes on Hoosiers during a recession.
Except, of course, unless we're talking about local income taxes, sales taxes, cigarette taxes...
The Superintendent of Education in the state of Indiana, Tony Bennett, along with Governor Mitch Daniels, want to de-professionalize the teaching profession in the name of U.S. Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan's Race to the Top funding plan.
Bennett, through his proposed Rules for Educator Preparation and Accountability (REPA), wants to tie teacher evaluation, retention, and licensing to student test scores. No longer would teachers be required to meet professional standards, no longer would they be required to continue professional development, and one person, one school principal who may or may not have an educational background, will decide whether or not a teacher gets to keep a state license.
This is WRONG. Bennett must be stopped.
Bennett had this to say about today's release of the final application procedures for Race to the Top funds:
"In Indiana, we are eager to compete for the historic funding available under the Race to the Top. This competition catches us mid-stride in bold education-reform efforts that align well with the grant's criteria. Our application will be aggressive and comprehensive, designed in collaboration with schools, communities and leaders around the state.
"Our reform efforts already under way closely mirror the pillars of Race to the Top, because they have been crafted with the goals of increasing accountability, freedom and competition in our schools to increase students' academic achievement. Securing funding for our state will only increase the scope and speed of change for Hoosier students.
"For this reason, I am disappointed in the USDOE's choice to set target amounts for specific states, capping the funding for states regardless of their approach and commitment to reform. It's my belief that America's students would benefit more from Race to the Top if the quality, aggressiveness, and comprehensiveness of states' reform plans determine the funding amount.
"For Indiana, Race to the Top isn't about securing more funds; it's about accelerating reform. I am committed to ensuring Indiana's application secures our position as a national leader in education reforms that will help us reach our common goal - outstanding achievement for all Indiana's students."
Bennett is spewing a bunch of baloney.
First of all, this plan was conceived and drafted by Bennett and his conservative ilk and does not have the widespread support of professional educators across Indiana.
Secondly, Bennett's claim that his proposals "mirror" Race to the Top ideals is just plain garbage. They go far beyond funding requirements and are a blatant attempt to take away collective bargaining rights from Indiana teachers: in fact, there are going to be coordinated efforts in the Indiana state house to pass just such legislation, to break teachers' unions in Indiana.
Lastly, Bennett's disappointment is merely his veiled conservativism showing through, and when he speaks of "reform" he is really talking about taking away local control of schools and continuing Mitch Daniels' legacy of union-busting. The application and disbursement rules announced today insist that state teachers' unions be on-board with the states' applications; at present, this is NOT the case, though Bennett plans to push his "reform" down local schools' throats, changing rules in committee as much as possible without legislative changes to Indiana Code.
Bennett attempted to push his plans through last summer, when most teachers are out of the classroom. After an outcry, public comment period was delayed until school was in session; still, Bennett is scheduling sessions during the week when teachers are in the classroom and not able to express in numbers their opposition to his plans.
The Indiana State Teachers Association had this to say about Bennett's proposed rule changes:
November 3, 2009
Dear ISTA Member,
Thanks for the activism on the part of those of you who submitted comments online or attended and testified at one of the recent REPA hearings. By our count, more than 600 members took time off from school to attend one of the 10 a.m. hearings. We know that thousands of you also took the time to email your comments to Dr. Bennett and members of the Division of Professional Standards Advisory Board. We hope that the volume and quality of the testimony and comments alter the thinking and decision making of Dr. Bennett and the Board regarding teacher relicensure.
I also wanted to let you know that this morning I attended the Indiana Education Roundtable meeting co-chaired by Gov. Daniels and Dr. Bennett. Topics of discussion at today's meeting included:
* Elimination of tenure and seniority, meaning that every teacher would only be issued a one-year license;
* Evaluation of teachers by student test scores;
* Pay based on those evaluations;
* School choice;
* Teacher licensure retention tied to passing a test;
* Allowing multiple and non-traditional paths to become a licensed educator;
* Elimination of collective bargaining in Indiana.
When given the opportunity, I spoke to the Roundtable on behalf of all of Indiana's dedicated public educators.
After sitting through today's Roundtable meeting, I believe the groundwork is being laid for legislative efforts in the upcoming session of the General Assembly that will advance the same agenda that was shared at today's meeting. Once the legislative session starts in early January, I will be calling on you and other supporters of public education to help me as ISTA works to prevent the passage of legislation that will severely undermine the basic tenets of the public education system in our state.
Rest assured that ISTA will continue to monitor all education issues and advocate on behalf of public education, Indiana's students, and you.
Sincerely,
Nate Schnellenberger
The ISTA had posted a statement on August 31st saying that they were trying to work with Bennett on ensuring the continuation of tenure programs and fair teacher licensure, but their language and concern is obviously elevated now as Bennett was openly opposing the union's concerns at the Indiana Educators Roundtable.
With the NEA, they have an action alert page set up to alert your state legislators of concerns regarding Bennett's plans. Please take the time to contact your legislators and let them know that school reform, particularly regarding teaching licensure and professional standards, should not be rushed through, and that Tony Bennett's plans are NOT good for the state of Indiana.
Another setback for Governor Mitch Daniels and his desperate attempts to salvage the legacy of his now-infamous decision to privatize Indiana's Family and Social Services Administration, as a federal judge has added concrete benchmarks to the repair process. Ken Kusmer reports:
U.S. District Judge Robert Miller issued a preliminary injunction last week in a class-action lawsuit covering every food stamp applicant in Indiana over the past 19 months. The order represents the latest setback to one of nation's most ambitious welfare privatization efforts and came just days after Gov. Mitch Daniels fired vendor IBM Corp. from its $1.34 billion contract to lead the project.
The early problems met by IBM and its partners led LaPorte attorney Shaw Friedman to sue on behalf of eight welfare recipients in state court last year, and the state got the case moved to federal court. The IBM team's tardiness in approving or denying applications became so big an issue that federal food stamp officials in June 2008 asked the state for a formal correction plan.
[...]
Federal law requires all states to approve or deny most food stamp applications within 30 days, but Indiana usually falls short, deciding only 64 percent of cases on time last month. The preliminary injunction requires the state to decide 80 percent of new cases on time within 12 months and 90 percent within 18 months.
Kudos to Shaw Friedman and the advocates who have been working tirelessly on behalf of their fellow Hoosiers for the last three years on this issue.
Mitch Daniels swept into office back in 2004 with lofty rhetoric about "aiming higher," and a promise to bring a model of constant and consistent privatization to the Hoosier State. And to a large degree, at least in terms of the latter, he was telling the truth.
From the Indiana Toll Road to our prison system to the now-infamous welfare services plan, Daniels pursued a model of state government in which bureau heads became CEOs, and state workers became, well, non-state workers.
Last Thursday saw that house of cards come tumbling down:
State Democratic Party Chairman Dan Parker said the decision was a "major victory for hundreds of thousands of Hoosiers" but should have come sooner.
"From the start, there were questions about putting such vital services in the hands of a for-profit company, and the problems have been mounting for years," Parker said.
[...]
[Brian] Vargus [of IUPUI] said Daniels' privatization efforts, including leasing the Indiana Toll Road to a foreign consortium, have fueled speculation about him as a potential candidate for president in 2012 even though he has said repeatedly that he is not interested.
But if he were to change his mind, the IBM deal "causes him a bit of a problem," Vargus said.
More critically, and despite what my colleague Abdul says over at the WatchBlog, I do think this will be an issue in some portions of the state come next year's election. There's a reason that even GOP legislators were jumping on the anti-privatization bandwagon in recent months -- hundreds of thousands of Hoosiers have day-to-day interaction with FSSA services, and they won't soon be forgetting the problems they have faced over the last three years.
A major defeat for Mitch Daniels, and a major victory for Hoosiers all over the state who for three years have had to deal with flat-denials from Daniels and his staff.
Gov. Mitch Daniels today canceled the state's $1.34 billion contract with an IBM-led group to privatize Indiana's welfare system.
The cancellation is a stunning turnaround from Daniels' December 2006 decision to award the contract.
The modernization was meant to streamline the application process for food stamps, Medicaid and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families.
But complaints about the system's high error rate mounted from the beginning, and the system was never fully implemented statewide.
Now there's a headline that Governor Mitch "We don't need no stinkin' jobs" Daniels probably didn't want to see just days after asserting that the federal stimulus funding his own administration says is creating jobs isn't, uh, creating jobs. Confused? So is Mitch, apparently:
But as the two-year, $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act continues forward, a higher percentage of money will be distributed through competitive grants.
"These grants are the next phase of the stimulus program," said Cris Johnston, who as Indiana's executive director of government efficiency and financial planning has tracked much of the state's stimulus spending.
"The federal government spent most of the summer putting together the guidelines for these programs, so this is really starting to take off now."
Governor Mitch Daniels, yesterday on Fox News, talking about federal stimulus spending in Indiana:
"I don't think you can point to much effect so far. Government spending doesn't create jobs...We have to improve the conditions for people to create wealth," Daniels said. "I'm very concerned that a lot of policy in Washington is headed in the wrong direction."
Governor Mitch Daniels, today and for the last six months, talking about federal stimulus spending in Indiana:
Governor Daniels has already taken action to utilize stimulus funds in the smartest and fastest ways possible. Before the federal package was signed into law, Indiana had identified 'shovel ready' highway and clean water projects throughout the state. These projects will put more Hoosiers to work. Indiana was among the first states to certify its participation with the U.S. Department of Labor to provide an additional $25 weekly to Hoosiers eligible for unemployment insurance.
The South Bend Tribune pokes some holes in the favorite myth of Mitch Daniels and his cadre of GOP cheerleaders. As it turns out, his tax cuts have been tax increases:
It appears many taxpayers will actually pay more overall despite property tax reform, although the $70 million in savings could lessen some of the burden.
Statistics previously reported in The Tribune mentioned that a household with an adjusted gross income of $80,000, owning a Portage Township home assessed at $81,300, enjoyed a $581 property tax cut this year, according to an analysis by Crowe Horwath, the county's accounting consultant.
But under the proposed income tax hikes, they would pay $760 more in income tax per year. Add $155 more they are likely paying because of the state's 1 percent hike in the sales tax - which was a part of the property tax reform law - and such a household's overall annual tax burden would increase by $334.
Daniels loves to hang his hat on the property tax caps that he pushed through the General Assembly, but the result at this point has been limited to cash-strapped local governments cutting vital services, public schools facing the same, and a tax burden that has nudged up for middle-class homeowners while low-income renters face an even bigger boost.
Yet again, my journalistic friends, this was a tax shift, not a tax cut. Discussing it as such will help everyone understand what is going on around the state right now.
Another day, another state newspaper condemning the problems associated with Governor Daniels' privatization of Indiana's Family and Social Services Administration.
But the time is fast approaching when Murphy, Daniels and lawmakers will need to decide whether to end the contract with IBM and ACS. The State Budget Committee meets again late next month and will discuss its options.
If the contract is canceled, the state will need to quickly put in place a system to handle FSSA claims.
If the contract continues, the state should insist that specific goals be achieved during 2010, with a functioning system in place by the middle of the year.
IBM and ACS have not met their contractual obligations. Vulnerable Hoosiers are bearing the brunt of the failures of this venture, and taxpayers are being shortchanged.
This must end, one way or the other.
The problem with the "give them another six months" argument is that we've been doing that -- for years now. These problems are not new, and the idea that we could be talking about nearing the halfway point of our contract with IBM/ACS without receiving the full services we're entitled to is insane. Hoosiers deserve better.
On an already bad news day for Governor Mitch Daniels and his social services privatization ideology, things just got a whole lot worse:
A federal food stamp administrator has told Indiana's human services chief that his staff must be consulted before the state rolls out its troubled welfare automation program to additional regions.
Regional Administrator Ollice Holden of the U.S. Food and Nutrition Service also said in the letter that his staff has ongoing concerns about the food stamp program, now known formally as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Remember, the taxpayers continue to pay full-price for statewide coverage even while the state and federal authorities assert that continuing the roll-out of this program could prove even more disastrous than the scheme has already proven.
That's the question being asked by -- of all people -- the Star editorial board. This marks the full transformation of the Star from rabid cheerleader of the FSSA privatization to rabid critic.
Complaints of inaccuracies, unwarranted denials of eligibility, confusion over use of the technology, and long delays, even past the deaths of claimants, have been rife in the 59 counties in which the new plan has been rolled out. "Chaos," says state Sen. Vaneta Becker, who is among various elected officials who have found themselves acting as de facto caseworkers for countless frustrated and bewildered constituents.
Can chaos be corrected by next month? It's highly doubtful. Slow to concede that its bold plan to vend out a vital service to more than a million Hoosiers had major flaws, the administration will be hard pressed to justify not taking back this responsibility. The State Budget Committee and Indiana General Assembly must be prepared to curtail funding if all the administration and IBM are offering is more patches on a sinking boat. The cargo is too precious to practice denial, and so are tax dollars.
Wow.
For their part, the Journal Gazette has been hitting the administration on this very topic from the outset. They also pen a piece this morning, and find the delaying tactics of Governor Daniels no more compelling.
Knowing she was going to be quizzed about the contract at last week's meeting, Anne Murphy, secretary of the Family and Social Services Administration, brought previous explanations about the types of problems with the welfare system that prompted Daniels and his administration to contract out some of the work. But she had few answers to the pending questions.
She couldn't say how much money the problems have cost the state or how much the federal government might fine the state over the problems. Current error rates aren't available, and there hasn't been a survey of client satisfaction. The Daniels administration is investigating the contract, but Murphy wasn't sure when its report would be complete. When pressed, she finally acknowledged that it will most likely be by mid-October.
State officials say they will be announcing (in)action in the next few weeks, but it is becoming increasingly clear that public opinion has turned squarely against Governor Daniels and his privatization scheme. There is no chance that IBM will have corrected all (or even most) of the major problems plaguing this system, all the while they continue to rake in more money per day than the original contract, which was for an entire state's worth of services.
With the roll-out of this "modern" system on hold, it's only a question of when Hoosiers get fed up with footing the bill for Mitch's Folly.
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