Help Indiana Republicans Win Back The State Legislature

A lot of conservatives from across Indiana are interested in not just winning back the US Congressional Seats we lost in 2006, but also our state’s House of Representatives, which we tragically lost as well.

I’ve written before that thanks to the immediate results of Governor Mitch Daniels’ amazing first term, Indiana has faired somewhat better economically, relative to the rest of the country, and the Indiana Republican Party is, at the moment, probably the strongest state Republican Party in any of the 50 states, despite the unusually low popularity of John McCain, our party’s national candidate in our Hoosier state. The unpopularity of Jill Long Thompson doesn’t hurt either.

That means we’re one of the few states where ground can be made up in both the US Congressional races and our local elections, as well. Whether you’re from Indiana and want to help Governor Daniels and his second term agenda, or you’re from out of state and want to invest money in races where Republicans are much more likely to win seats,I highly recommend checking out House Victory ‘08, the website being used by the Indiana House Republican Campaign Committee.

Pennsylvania Makes a Major Move

Governor Ed Rendell (D-PA) announced the winning bid for the lease of the Pennsylvania Turnpike yesterday.  A team led by Citi Infrastructure Investors won the competitive bid by offering $12.8 billion for a 75-year lease of the Turnpike.  The deal offers many of the same protections as the lease of the Indiana Toll Road in terms of limited toll increases and guaranteed improvements to the road.  In terms of the dollars and cents, the deal is very close to what Indiana received.

It's Payback Time

Governor Mitch Daniels has ordered the remaining money owed to local government be repaid by the end of the month, a full year ahead of schedule. This completes a payback program that Daniels started in 2006 to repay local government and schools money that was withheld starting in 2002 to "balance" the state's budget. This would be a rough equivalent to you withholding payment to the phone company so you can pay your credit card and tell people you don't have any debt. That's the way the State of Indiana used to work, but not anymore.

Voter ID law is good for families

Last week I had the opportunity to interview Indiana Secretary of State, Todd Rokita about the recent Supreme Court decision upholding Indiana's voter ID law and what that might mean for Indiana families.  We had a frank and open discussion that merits mentioning.

When I asked Secretary of State Rokita what he had to say to families who may have had their votes offset by others voting illegally in past elections, he told me that the "Photo ID law protects the family from being disenfranchised."  He went on to say that thanks to the recent Supreme Court decision upholding the voter ID law, "Their vote won't be stolen by someone who cheats the system."

NRA Ratings for Selected Statehouse Primary Races

The National Rifle Association has released the following endorsements in the following selected Statehouse races:

State Senate

Brent Waltz - State Senate District 36 - A rated and endorsed

State House

Donald Lehe - State House District 15 - A rated and endorsed
Bill Ruppel - State House District 22 - A rated and endorsed
John Ulmer - State House District 49 - A rated and endorsed
Phyllis Pond - State House District 85 - A rated and endorsed
Mike Murphy - State House District 90 - A rated and endorsed