State House Politics: "The Process Reflects the Mess"

RE: IPS Chief among critics 12-04-07

Letter to the editor Indianapolis Star

Monday’s open door first public response on property tax solutions is a great strength of Democracy shown in the Statehouse, but was the ‘process’ fair? Picture a Father or Mother taking off work to represent family and home, fearing government seizure for failing to pay into an unfair system of property tax. Approaching the Statehouse can be intimidating, and then there are 2 closed entrances, going through airport-like security, and finally putting your name on a list, or in this case two lists. You are asked if you are for or against the plans being discussed and told that the Democrats set the agenda so that those for the policy go first and those against on a 2nd list can be heard later, which was about 4:00 pm. Withstanding some exceptions, if you were for the elimination of property taxes, it was already off the table, and your all day affair went into the evening if you hadn’t starved to death or gotten a ticket on your 2 hour meter. Stacking the deck in favor of some to the disadvantage of others is the kind of politics that got us into this mess. Minority viewpoints to the back of the bus please may not seem so minority come November.

Paul Wheeler

625.3549